Never knowingly undersolved
Seemed to be the easiest Everyman I’ve done for a while but took a while to be convinced by one piece of parsing. Thanks Everyman. Across 1 Is numb, I suspect, in exploration vessel (7) … Read more >>
Azed has given us another masterclass in precise clueing Solving an Azed crossword is always a good source of general knowledge, although whether I will use much of it outside … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3561.
I solved this rather quickly (for me) and didn’t find myself abusing Chambers. A relatively healthy number of &lits but I struggled to understand the definition of DAFT until an email friend helped me out of my misery.
A steady-as-she-goes Everyman puzzle, with not too much to alarm (or thrill), but a good collection of clues at the shallow end of the pool.
Something very odd has happened this week. The paper and originally the website printed a totally irrelevant clue for 20ac, with Azed’s clue provided (hastily?) after a day or two. Also the website had some extraordinary glitches: it put (5) (5) after 25ac, (7) (7) after 18dn, and (6) (6) after 22dn. Also, 10dn was given as (7) instead of (5), and — at any rate by Tuesday — this hadn’t been corrected.
Which didn’t detract from the usual pleasant solving experience. Everything was straightforward enough and it was obvious what the mistakes were. Azed’s clues are in retrospect nearly always easy to solve: they are difficult simply because they use words that are, to say the least, outside one’s normal experience. This doesn’t take away from their quality, though.
As usual some dictionary research will be needed by you, dear reader, if you are to understand eveything about all the clues. I have underlined the definitions.
In six-and-a-half years of blogging Azed, this is the first time the luck of the draw has brought me a Christmas puzzle. I was a bit apprehensive at the prospect, as some of … Read more >>
Another excellent entry-level puzzle from Everyman, but with a few unusual features, none of which were Christmas-related. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator … Read more >>
My apologies for the late appearance of this post. The scheduled blogger forgot that it was his turn and did not solve the puzzle (I’ll put it down to festive spirit!). Too many … Read more >>
The usual Everyman for me this week.
A plain puzzle for the December competition, although no doubt the Christmas special will be rather more complex.
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3557.
Another fairly straightforward everyman, with a couple of new words and some parsing that escaped me.
This is the last time you will see me for a while unless someone else decides to go on holiday. It is also the first time I have been scheduled to blog an … Read more >>
I often find with Everyman that his references make me go and look up stuff that I kind of knew, but had forgotten. So once I’d finished solving the puzzle this morning I … Read more >>