Observer

Everyman 3324

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A few slightly more obscure answers and a little fiendish wordplay here and there (8dn in particular) made this one a bit tricky, but hopefully pretty fair. Some lovely surfaces dotted about too. … Read more >>

Azed 1983

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A relatively easy Azed this week – I managed to solve most of it without aids, with only the SW corner causing some difficulties. I can’t fully explain 18ac, and there seems to … Read more >>

Everyman 3322

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Nothing much objectionable here, but certainly not an easy one with some slightly more obscure words/phrases and once or twice I ended up knowing that it must be this set of letters, but … Read more >>

AZED No. 1,982 Plain

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Nick:  Typically nice AZED this week which I feel was a tad more difficult than some weeks.  I had to use Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable to confirm 28dn and fully understand … Read more >>

Everyman 3320

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True vintage Everyman this week, in my opinion. Not a single word in the solution that required me to check its definition or an obscure place name to stop me in my tracks. … Read more >>

Azed 1980: Jigsaw

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I usually enjoy a jigsaw, because I like the way that progress accelerates once you crack a critical step. In this case, that step was the realisation that, of the two 11-letter solutions, … Read more >>

Azed 1979/amnesia

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I completely forgot about this blog. Gaufrid kindly reminded me yesterday so I promptly forgot again. And then woke up this morning with something niggling my memory. That was about an hour and … Read more >>

Everyman 3318

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Some lovely surfaces and subtleties this week, and a clue type in 12/13 ac which I’m not sure I’ve seen in Everyman before (which is by no means to say that it hasn’t … Read more >>

Azed 1978

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The usual Azed, full of neat and tightly-constructed clues. Across 1 KEKS — keks are trousers and kex is a dry hollow herbaceous stalk 4 POPESHIP — (hopes)* in pip, and the Pope … Read more >>