Month: June 2024

Everyman 4,052

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There is much in last Sunday’s blog quoting Alan Connor’s attitude to the difficulty of the Everyman crossword (see, in particular, Shanne@42). It looks as if AC is unaware of the fact that the Everyman has moved far from the entry-level crossword that it used to be. Some of the clues in this puzzle, although perfectly sound, are really quite tricky. Of course there are some which are pretty straightforward, as there should be in any broadsheet crossword, but by no means all of them. The long complete anagrams were often hard to see.  By me, anyway.

There are seven complete anagrams here, so far as I can see, which is a quarter of the clues: quite an achievement. There are also the rhyming answers at 11ac and 20ac (although I can’t see any others). The ‘primarily’ clue, which had always apparently been there, has disappeared: difficulty of setting or a further disregard for the novice solver?

In a blog about a year ago I mentioned that there always seemed to be 28 clues (no criticism at all), and pointed out that the setter saved himself work that way. Someone posted and said that it was sometimes more than 28. I’ve never seen such an Everyman crossword.

Definitions underlined, in crimson. Indicators (homophone, hidden, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.

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Azed 2713

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We have a standard puzzle from Azed, no competition clues and no quirky cluing devices.       That said, I reckoned there were more new words for me than in the majority … Read more >>

Quick Cryptic 12 by Maskarade

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This is the twelfth Guardian Quick Cryptic, a series of 11 x 11 crosswords designed to support beginners learning cryptic crosswords.  The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here.  The puzzle can be found here.

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Guardian 29,414 / Paul

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I was quite surprised to see that it’s five months since I blogged a Paul puzzle. (Please read through to the end of this preamble!) From time to time, I comment that a … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations No.1646 – Borderline by Vagans

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“Two down entries are on the BORDERLINE and clued without definition. Three other contiguous border entries are appropriate to their location. Wordplay in all other clues indicates the answer with an extra letter that is not entered in the grid; these spell out an instruction affecting 32 cells. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 37a is in the Oxford Dictionary of English.”

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