Guardian 27,288 – Pan

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Mostly very straightforward clueing from Pan (who is a recent addition to the cryptic slot, after many years of setting Quiptics), with only 7d causing me any difficulty in parsing. Pleasant enough, if … Read more >>

Financial Times 15640 Sleuth

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Thanks to Sleuth. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 Close to perfect, fantastically original element in a man’s suit? (9) TAILORING : Last letter of(Close to) “perfect” + anagram of(fantastically) ORIGINAL … Read more >>

AZED 2,358

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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.

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Guardian Prize 27,280 by Paul

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Great fun.  As usual with Paul I found this difficult until I got my mind into Paul’s way of thinking.  Then the previously intractable solutions started flying in. Thank you Paul.

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