This is the first ‘Cherchez la Femme’ since Azed 2,515 on August 22, 2020, which was one of the first few Azed puzzles that I ever attempted, and the first Azed “special” that I completed, so it is a particular treat for this to have come up on my turn at the blog.
Observer
Everyman 3,985/5 March
Another pleasing and tractable puzzle from Everyman for our Sunday morning entertainment. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) removed definitions … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,645 Plain
A typical Azed plain.
Everyman 3,984
A good crossword from Everyman, not quite so easy as last week’s I found, but not too bad. It looks to me as if he has given up on the alliterative clues (remarkably clever while they lasted, but one must run out of such things) — the grid has very little colour in it — and instead has disciplined himself to having whole-word anagrams; or at any rate a large proportion of them. It’s hard enough to fill a grid and set a crossword without all these extra restrictions (the ‘primarily’ clue, the self-reference, now this anagram thing, and no doubt more that I haven’t noticed) that he imposes on himself.
Definitions underlined, in crimson. Anagram indicators shown like this *(anagram) or (anagram)*, indicators (homophone, reversal, anagram, juxtaposition etc) in italics, link-words in green.
Azed 2644
Sorry for the late appearance of this blog – I’d started it earlier in the week, but was distracted by other matters and forgot to finish it. As a result some of the … Read more >>
Everyman 3,983
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3983.
Azed No. 2,643 Plain
How Azed manages to produce these grids is a source of amazement. I think he does it all by hand in an exercise book, and doesn’t call upon electronic help. We have three eleven-letter answers from top to bottom, and nothing seems to be strained (although perhaps caa’s was a bit of a stretch). There are one or two places where I’m not quite sure; no doubt all will be explained.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Everyman 3,982
Everyman doing his Sunday stuff for us.
Azed No. 2,642 Plain – Competition Puzzle
A plain 12 x 12 puzzle for this month’s competition.
Everyman 3,981/5 February
Another pleasing puzzle from Everyman for our Sunday entertainment, with a good variety of eminently gettable GK required for the solve and the usual trademark solutions on display. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd … Read more >>
Azed 2641
A plain puzzle from Azed this week. This was a standard Azed offering with precise wordplay and interesting surfaces hiding plenty of misdirection. As ever, my vocabulary increased as a … Read more >>
Everyman 3,980
Everything fits together very neatly in this, the getting-better-by-the-week Everyman, and judging from the time I took to solve it he is getting the standard more like that in the old days. Only one or two clues leave me feeling something is wrong, and quite possibly that’s my own fault.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (juxtaposition, reversal, homophone, anagram, etc.) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Azed No. 2,640 Plain
A mostly straightforward Plain offering this week, with a few wrinkly clues in the mix.
Everyman 3,979
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3979.
Azed No. 2,639 Plain
A plain Azed that relies less on Scots and archaic terms than I’ve become used to.