Observer

Azed 1967 – playing fairly

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So far as I can discover, this is the first Playfair competition puzzle for around two years, the last having been 1804, which must have been in December 2007 (probably the Christmas competition) … Read more >>

Everyman 3306

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Well I think the obvious feature of this one is all the compound solutions. Personally I think these are fun, but that they make the whole thing much easier (the more words they … Read more >>

Azed 1966: Know-how

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Better late than never, I hope. I was relieved finally to retrieve my solved copy of this from the recycling bin, as I did not want to find time for re-solving it before … Read more >>

Azed 1965/groan

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As per usual a wordplay or two which I’m not sure of. Somewhat harder than my last Azed outing (1958). And a surprised groan or two were elicited (Azed isn’t the most humorous … Read more >>

Everyman 3304

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Not my favourite ever – 11ac is a recent, but not very popular television show which I think is perhaps a little unfair. Also, the way that I parse is, 13dn requires BRAIN … Read more >>

Azed 1964

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It can hardly be that I am suddenly becoming quicker at these, but I found this unusually easy. Apart from the strangeness of some of the words, it presented no more problems than … Read more >>

Azed 1963

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I found this a pretty tough Azed, making little progress in my initial cocky “no Chambers for me” mode, and requiring two solving sessions rather than one. Overall time was over an hour, … Read more >>

Everyman 3302

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I rather enjoyed this one. No particularly obscure words and a couple of nice cryptic definitions as part of more precise clues which raised smiles. Also generally the surfaces seemed to read better … Read more >>

Azed 1962

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Azed starts the new year (though not, please, the “second decade of the 21st Century” – that’s next year) with a puzzle that was mostly straightforward: I manage to complete most of it … Read more >>

Everyman 3300

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A rather nice and gentle end to the year – a couple of seasonal clues/answers and what with the slightly more obscure words being anagramatically clued, this was all pretty straightforward. Across 1 … Read more >>