Never knowingly undersolved
Another sound as a pound puzzle from Everyman. Struggled with the bottom half this morning. It’s all there, though: when in doubt, read the instructions. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd … Read more >>
A quick solve for me this week with the SE holding me up the longest.
Although the structure of most of these clues is fairly straightforward, as witness the number of them that can be parsed in one bit, I found this one of Azed’s harder crosswords, with many difficult words and shades of meaning. Coomassie blue and makunouchi aren’t things I talk about every day. Indeed there are red squiggly lines under two of these words and they won’t go away.
As usual I’m not going to explain all these difficult words. I don’t want to be up all night.
Definitions underlined.
I’ve never been a great fan of DLM (definition and letter-mixture) puzzles: I tend to find them very hard to get started on, but once even a couple of answers are in it … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3541.
A straightforward Everyman, easier than the last one I did.
My first Azed puzzle as a regular blogger entailing a very enjoyable trawl though Chambers. The great thing about blogging an Azed puzzle is that it gives me the perfect excuse to spend the afternoon reading the dictionary without attracting unwelcome comments about ‘needing to get a life’ etc. Thank you Azed.
A plain competition puzzle this month after the intricacies of July’s competition.
Everyman on good form this morning. One or two definitions which I thought were a bit imprecise, but otherwise all sound, with some clever anagrams. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition … Read more >>
My first Everyman blog, alas the normal blogging software is not available to post this so it’s a bit old school today. Not overly difficult, recent ones have been more so I gather. … Read more >>
A plain competition Azed this week. I enjoyed this, especially the two clues where there were two sets of wordplay leading to the entry – SCANDAL SHEETS (34 across) and LIND … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3537.
I found this quite hard. Lots of “indirect” clues — where the wordplay requires solving for this. A good example is 33A. Across 1 Twangy instrument I am, bass, kept in box? GU(I’M,B)ARD … Read more >>
The first Everyman I have done in quite some time. This was where I cut my solving teeth a few years ago, and it was fun to go back. If the purpose of … Read more >>
How Azed produces these grids I just don’t know. He doesn’t so far as I know use technology but compiles them neatly in an exercise book, something that I would find virtually impossible. He sticks comfortably to the Ximenean advice about unchecked letters in words and both grid and clues are full of words that require a close examination of Chambers. Amazing, week after week.
Definitions underlined.