Azed

Another wordplay debacle in the SE corner. I had the rest done in an hour or so (The Big Red Book consoling me as needed) — however, I struggled through the bottom-right for … Read more >>

I am always full of admiration for Azed’s grids. Here he has what seems to me to be a great achievement, four twelve-letter words, two next to each other going down the centre … Read more >>

Apologies for the late appearance of this analysis and for the lack of any real comment. I cannot remember too much about this puzzle having completed many more crosswords in the time between … Read more >>

Apologies for the late posting: I’d got my dates confused and only realised I was supposed to be blogging this puzzle just before I had to go out for a few hours. I … Read more >>

“Wrong Number” is a long-standing type of special – I can’t remember whether it was Azed or Ximenes who invented it. Here’s the standard preamble for these puzzles: Each clue contains a one-word … Read more >>

A distinctly Antipodean flavour to this week’s offering, with a couple of pieces of Aussie (or Kiwi) slang, and a Maori word as well. Lots of other unfamiliar words, or unfamiliar meanings of … Read more >>

Apologies for the late posting — this has been an unusually busy week, including the small matter of celebrating an England test victory at Lord’s; I have also been working on information about … Read more >>

Only realized this morning (Friday) that it was my Azed turn this week. A couple of hours of quality time spent with Chambers led to a full grid and a short list of … Read more >>

A very satisfactory Plain Azed with no particular features, merely the  sound clueing that you would expect. Across 1 O F(FISH)LY 7 AMIS — the French for friends 10 REPOUSSAGE — (sea groups)* … Read more >>

My apologies for this being posted later than usual. There appears to have been a problem with the scheduled blog. As with my Azed blog a couple of weeks back, I didn’t know I … Read more >>

The luck of the draw is giving me all the Azed specials to blog these days. Right and Left is another one that comes up fairly regularly: I think the format was devised … Read more >>

As usual with an Azed, I came across some words I had not met before, though all could be readily determined from the wordplay and a little help from Chambers. It took me a … Read more >>

A difficult enough puzzle anyway, made more so by the fact that the clues for 23 and 24 down were transposed in the version printed in The Observer (and of course in the … Read more >>

If you’re finding the bottom half harder than it should be … It’s been announced elsewhere that in the printed paper, the clues to 23D and 24D were swapped. In case the online … Read more >>

A pretty straightforward Azed, though containing some unusual words, including lots of Scottish words. Unusually for an Azed, there are no ‘hidden in’ answers this week. There’s no competition for my favourite clue … Read more >>