Comments on: Azed 1,882 “Cherchez la Femme” – Tough search

By: Alan O'brien

Alan O'brien — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:50:24 +0000

I think Azed made a small mistake.
7D ALBE became ALAE – but ALAE is a word, probably summit to do with wings. The preamble said that only non-words were found after altering them. It slowed me up for one second.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:18:24 +0000

Names in Azed prize lists are familiar because the numbers entering have fallen a bit in recent years. The standard of clues is incredibly high (they are also very difficult) so I’d guess competitors spend quite a while drafting and redrafting. While I’ve not had time to enter in the last year or so, I have got 15 HCs (thanks to John Tozer’s site I know the exact number!) but never a VHC since I began to enter about four years ago. What I could always see though was that the clues which got the HC were better than those that did not. So I’d say Azed’s judging is perfectly fair and I think in a poll some years ago he was voted favourite setter by setters.

By: petebiddlecombe

petebiddlecombe — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:12:56 +0000

Just to be crystal clear: ‘obvious “Oxford cronies” ‘ reflects the tone of the deleted posting from ‘Roland’, not my own opinion. My own pretty limited experience of Azed competitions showed that Azed thought the same about my clue-writing as I did – for some reason I could dream up good Printer’s Devilry clues but struggled with the plain ones. So I have two PD VHCs, and three HCs for non-PD clues. I think I entered two or three PD contests and about half a dozen others.

(The comments about the annual table rankings are after 12 of 13 competitions, so the numbers will be slightly different when the last one is added.)

By: neildubya

neildubya — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:44:25 +0000

Your comment was deleted because it was abusive. In response to your point about bias in the Azed comp, here are some statistics (courtesy of Pete Biddlecombe):

The 36 1st/2nd/3rd places this year have been shared between 27 people. Only one person has won first prize more than once, and only about 6 of the 36 have won more than one of these places. Manley and Dexter, the obvious “Oxford cronies”, are in equal 6th and equal 8th, which I suspect they both think is pretty disappointing. Awards down to HC have gone to about 100 different people over the year, and about
65 have had at least a VHC. (See http://www.andlit.org.uk/azed/ann_hons_table.php?year=2007 ).

By: Roland

Roland — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:12:34 +0000

You have to be quick in this game. Just because you delete a post on this site does not guarantee that it will not be seen (principally by those copied into one’s own e-mails). Plenty of people have already agreed with my earlier comments on this site, which is why I politely invite you to reproduce them without censorship. Ximenean “rules” are pretty worthless unless they are deployed appropriately. A site so obviously tailored to suit the requirements of pedants should be among the first to recognise this.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:28:17 +0000

The Guardian Crossword Editor’s monthly newsletter regularly has to apologise for the problems on the site, saying the software they use is “not fit for purpose”. Reading between the lines I assume the Powers That Be are not prepared to spend any money on imroving the service.

By: Chunter

Chunter — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:33:12 +0000

My previous remark was aimed at anyone from the Guardian who is reading this discussion. I should have also said that I am obliged to you for pointing out that the PDF has all the necessary information. Not thinking very clearly at the moment – various real-world problems to deal with.

By: Peter Biddlecombe

Peter Biddlecombe — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:38:38 +0000

I’m only describing what’s available! For me at least, the printed PDF clues are larger and clearer than the “Print version” clues. And small instructions are better than none.

By all means send feedback to the Guardian about improving the print version so that while still using only one A4 page it has full information, a decent font size, and none of that guff about “Gunga Din should be in italics”. But don’t hold your breath …

By: Chunter

Chunter — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:06:12 +0000

But the font size used in the PDF for the instructions is so small that (for me at least) they are difficult to read either on the screen or on paper. I’d also much prefer a bigger font for the clues.

By: Peter Biddlecombe

Peter Biddlecombe — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:10:35 +0000

The Guardian site has a pretty dire record on presenting puzzles with special instructions. Azed puzzles on the site (and the Guardian dailies now, I think) always include a “click here for a printable PDF of this puzzle” link. This gives you the puzzle EXACTLY as printed in the paper, complete with instructions.