Gemelo gives us a special puzzle this week where, for 12 entries, we have to put the opposite of the clue answer into the grid.
Observer
Everyman 4,159
The puzle may be found as a pdf at tinyurl.com/Everyman4159 or (behind a paywall or as a free trial) at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4159 in interactive form.
Azed No. 2,781
It is starting to feel like a privilege to have an Azed land on my rotation.
Gemelo No. 39
Apologies for the late blog…
Everyman 4,158/28 June 2026
A PDF of this puzzle can be found at https://tinyurl.com/Everyman4158
Everyman 4,157/21 June
All the usual Everyman trademarks in this Sunday’s puzzle.
Gemelo 38
Thanks to Gemelo for another ingeniously clued puzzle.
Everyman 4,156
Most of the usual things are here and highlighted in the grid. A pleasant crossword from Everyman, and the only criticisms are not very major and indicated in the blog.
Definitions in crimson (?? It looks as if I’ve made a mistake in setting things: the answers are in crimson but not the definitions; sorry), underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Gemelo No. 37
An excellent crossword, not easy but — as should be the case — its difficulties were conquerable with some persistence. It seems to me that, with one or two very very slight exceptions, Gemelo has been scrupulous in his accuracy.
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
Everyman 4,155
The puzzle may be found as a pdf at https://tinyurl.com/Everyman4155.
Azed No. 2,780
It’s the first Sunday of the month, so it’s Azed’s turn to provide our weekly barred puzzle.
Everyman 4,154/31 May 2026
A PDF of last week’s puzzle can be found here: https://content-api.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/api/mobile/v1/puzzle-data/1f7c315e-6b87-40ad-90cc-ddd7ea87556a/file/puzzle.pdf
Gemelo 36
Gemelo in his usual Sunday Observer slot – probably be Azed today when this blog is published, as today is the first Sunday of the month.
Gemelo No. 35 – Bonus Shares
Really an ingenious special puzzle this week from Gemelo.
Everyman 4,153/24 May
I got back into cryptics twenty years ago by trying the Everyman every Sunday, but didn’t always complete it for quite a time. I do remember the first time I did finish one, and got so excited that I posted it off to try to win the dictionary I already had. Failed on that account, but I’ll always be thankful to the setters of this puzzle, because here I am now blogging it once a month. And still enjoying the solving process.