Comments on: Azed 2082

By: Jack Cook

Jack Cook — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:54:58 +0000

Thanks for the blog

Did I miss this in discussion? If so, apologies.
6 d Hilldigger? Not Heapdigger. To fit ICE OUT, etc
hilldigger in Chambers is an extractor of material from barrows..
Sorry to post late. Missed 2082 and went back to it after 2083 before spoiler appeared by 2085.

Navan I’m also unhappy with. en avant seemed a decent start but why “but” and not “and” if ‘there’ (i.e. Toulouse) suggests a double (?) French connection.
My French is poor but ‘but’ is ‘goal’ isn’t it? If there is a second connection is it French to English or English to French? …. Just musing out loud.

Didn’t Azed puzzles used to give a ‘proper noun’ alert for words not in Chambers? Or am I confusing this with other Grauniad puzzles?

By: keriothe

keriothe — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:42:06 +0000

Thanks for the blog: I’m relatively new to Azed and didn’t understand 12ac. I need to get used to composite anagrams.
I also had a big question mark next to 26. I thought perhaps the clue was instructing us to remove T and E, which play a “flanking role” in both “there” and “en avant”. No, I’m not convinced either.

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 06 May 2012 16:40:47 +0000

Thank you, Andrew.

I failed on 26d and missed the anagram for GNAR although that answer was obvious.

I usually check parts of solutions in Chambers and invariably find the definition which Azed has used in the clue. So, while I am familiar with the hotel chain, Logis de France, I was not aware that logis = home (9d) and tried to find it in Chambers. I couldn’t, and had to check on the web. Should we expect to find all the subsidiary words in Chambers?

Now, I’m expecting someone to come along and give me the page number for the word!

By: Richard Heald

Richard Heald — Sun, 06 May 2012 16:12:27 +0000

Re 26Dn, my guess is Azed momentarily confused Navan with Cavan, which is a county in Ireland. 'Et' as French for 'but' seems to be a faux pas too.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:58:57 +0000

Thanks all
ditto,last in ‘Navan’.
Could someone have misread the many google replies which start “NAVAN COUNTY town of Meath”?
Is the ET the flanking letters of ‘there’ or ‘Toulouse’? Not very convincing is it?
Otherwise the usual good fun.

By: Norman Hall

Norman Hall — Sun, 06 May 2012 10:05:57 +0000

I also decided that the word ‘town’ was missing from clue 26d, and that ‘ET’ must be the cryptic for ‘but’.
But the answer I got didn’t fit AZEDs definition…at least in the version on http://www.guardian.co.uk/crossword/azed

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Sun, 06 May 2012 05:51:26 +0000

Thanks Azed for the puzzle and Andrew for the blog. My solving experience was similar to Andrew’s. Overall solving time about the middle of my usual range.

26dn: this was last in and took me the most time. I think the word “town” is missing from the clue.

28dn: This must be GNAR not GRAN to fit with 30ac and 34ac.