My first Azed blog since I returned to blogging, and thankfully it wasn’t too challenging.
Observer
Everyman 3,703
Mostly straightforward this week but perhaps tending towards the more difficult end of the Everyman spectrum. 1ac gave me some problems when trying to sort out the parsing because I became convinced that ‘in connection … Read more >>
Azed 2363 – Letters Latent
I was a little surprised when I saw that this puzzle was a special, but there turned out to be a good reason for it. Letters Latent is one of the “classics”, apparently … Read more >>
Everyman 3702/24 September
Another sound offering from Everyman. Lots of insertions, anagrams and charades, which for an ‘entry-level’ puzzle is fair enough. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = … Read more >>
Everyman 3,701
The usual Everyman crossword, good surfaces, mostly easy-ish clues without the outrageous devices seen in some other papers.
AZED 2,362
Azed has been kind with the vocabulary this week, I did not spend nearly as much time inside Chambers as usual. A very enjoyable puzzle, thank you Azed.
Azed No 2361
With apologies for the delay, here is last week’s plain puzzle.
Everyman 3,700
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3700.
Everyman 3,699
Having solved the puzzle and written up the parsing, now for the difficult bit, finding something to say in the preamble. As usual the puzzle is nigh on flawless, so no quibbles to … Read more >>
Azed 2360
A competition puzzle this week, but it is just a plain one. After I got ALPHABET SOUP at 1 across, a lot of the down entries that fed off it … Read more >>
Everyman 3698/27 August
Another typical Sunday offering from Everyman. Carefully constructed and accessible clues, and a chance for me to chunter on about two misuses of my mother tongue. Abbreviations cd cryptic … Read more >>
AZED 2,359
Another very enjoyable excursion through the lesser-visited areas of the dictionary led by our expert guide Azed. Thank you Azed.
Everyman 3,697
A late blog, sorry about that.
AZED 2,358
I always err in these Azed blogs on the side of giving rather too little information: anyone who is going to look at them will have a copy of Chambers to hand and will be able to understand the incredibly unusual words both in the answers and in the clues. the actual parsing is usually fairly simple. Sometimes I forget the definition in the time between doing the puzzle and doing the blog, but once one has given the wordplay the definition is usually obvious.
But what about those people who are new to Azed solving and want to have the clues properly explained? Well to them I say get a copy of Chambers. And if the price puts you off, the version for the smartphone is a fraction of the price and so far as I can see contains basically the whole of the new edition.
Azed 2357
In contrast to my usual method of solving Azed over Sunday breakfast, I did this one intermittently while on a walking holiday on Scotland, so it’s hard to tell how its difficulty compares … Read more >>