We have a plain puzzle from Azed this week
Observer
Everyman 4,081/5 January
Another sound Sunday puzzle from Everyman, with the usual trademarks which I am sure you will have discovered for yourself if you are a regular solver. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,742 Plain – Competition Puzzle
Some of the clues in this week’s Azed felt a bit quirkier than usual. I think that I have provided a fair parsing for everything, but I look forward to any further elucidation that might be forthcoming in the comments.
Azed No. 2,741 Plain
Sorry this blog's a few hours later than normal.
Everyman 4,080 by Everyman
A nice crossword from Everyman. The clues are neat, often imaginative, and not tortuous, as they have sometimes been.
Azed 2740 – ‘Christmas Playfair’
Several Azed bloggers, myself included, have commented that the appearance of a Playfair puzzle is a scary prospect, as it involved both cold-solving the italicised clues, and deducing the codeword from the answers and the crossing letters.
Azed 2740 – no blog yet
The Azed Christmas puzzle has a stated closing date of 29th December. This is unusual in two ways: first by being a Sunday, and secondly by not giving an extra week, as is … Read more >>
Everyman 4,079 by Everyman
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/4079.
Azed No. 2,739 Plain
A pleasant but not a terribly demanding Azed before the trials of next week’s Christmas competition. There are unusually several mistakes, which makes one feel that he’d have benefited from an editor, who could have noticed them. But who’d be Azed’s editor? What he says goes, and it’s amazing that for well over 50 years every week we’ve had a nice crossword with very few mistakes. I shall be surprised if next week we find any, even though it will no doubt be highly complicated.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Everyman 4,078 by Everyman
Everyman to be solved so time to persuade the dog to take me to the pub
Everyman 4,077/8 December
A reasonably straightforward Everyman this week, I thought, with some nice misdirections as well as the usual trademark clues. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,738 Plain
Another straightforward plain puzzle from Azed this week.
Everyman 4,076 by Everyman
Pretty difficult this week I thought — I often solve Everyman when I’m not blogging and it can be far easier than this. Why do I always get the tough ones? The usual Everyman trademarks are there and coloured above. It seemed there were more cases than usual of there being a need for explanation.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, reversal, hidden, homophone etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.
Azed 2737
It’s competition week for Azed, but it’s just a plain puzzle. No doubt there will be complex puzzles around Christmas and New Year. I found this more difficult than many … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,736 Plain
Apart from a couple of quibbles and one exceptionally clever clue, this solve was mostly straightforward.