From this weekend, we will be covering the Azed puzzles that appear in the Observer. Reviews will appear each Sunday, which is the day after the official closing date for the prize draw. We won’t be covering the monthly clue-writing competition puzzles, as they are reviewed here.

Independent 6272/Dac – easy but nice

Solved in 5:05.  Got a reasonable start with 5A and then the easy anag at 5D. Should really have had 1A first time for a sub-5 clocking, but never mind. Don’t be deceived by the lack of a theme into thinking this is an inferior product. Aspiring setters should study these clues carefully for clarity, wit, and fairness. Read the rest of this entry »

Solving time – 10-12 minutes

 This is my first entry in this blog, and also the first time in a while that I have come across Chifonie.  I am not terribly impressed.  I don’t like the capitalisations in 1ac and 5dn, and I find some of the clueing very lazy (for example, using “student” for L twice in the same grid).  The setter seems to have gone for very straightforward composite clues, with rare anagrams, and some of the surfaces make little or no sense.

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