Andrew

I started off on Everyman in The Observer, and began solving Azed while I was a student at Cambridge (reading maths) shortly after it started. I do the Guardian puzzle most days and others sporadically. In real life I work as a software developer (still in Cambridge), and for non-crossword recreation play the piano and am involved in amateur theatre.

Azed 2740 – ‘Christmas Playfair’

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Several Azed bloggers, myself included, have commented that the appearance of a Playfair puzzle is a scary prospect, as it involved both cold-solving the italicised clues, and deducing the codeword from the answers and the crossing letters.

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Guardian 29,582 – Yank

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A few American terms and references in this one, as befits the setter’s pseudonym, but nothing too outrageous. I enjoyed this, though there’s one parsing I’m not sure of. Thanks to Yank.   … Read more >>

Azed 2740 – no blog yet

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The Azed Christmas puzzle has a stated closing date of 29th December. This is unusual in two ways: first by being a Sunday, and secondly by not giving an extra week, as is … Read more >>

Guardian 29,575 – Arachne

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A Boxing Day treat to see a puzzle from Arachne – a fairly gentle one, to suit anyone who may have overindulged yesterday, but beautifully constructed as ever. Thanks to Arachne, and Merry … Read more >>

Guardian 29,569 – Imogen

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I found this quite slow going: in retrospect most of the clueing is reasonably straightforward, though with quite a few double definitions. Thanks to Imogen.   Across 1 STIGMATISATION Getting denounced, recollecting satanism? … Read more >>

Guardian 29,562 – Anto

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Regular readers will know I’m not generally a big Anto fan, but I enjoyed this one. A bit of a science-y feel to it, though perhaps not enough to constitute a full theme. … Read more >>

Guardian 29,555 – Vulcan

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In contrast to Friday’s puzzle from his alter ago Imogen, Vulcan gives us the traditional “gentle start to the week”, with a generous helping of cryptic definitions. Thanks to Vulcan.   Across 1 … Read more >>

Azed 2734

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Thanks to Azed for another quality puzzle.   Across 1 GRAITH Scottish dress (old-fashioned) one kept in sanctuary once (6)A (one) in GRITH (sanctuary) 7 YACCA Evergreen causing hard grind for Aussie by … Read more >>

Guardian 29,532 – Jack

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Quite easy by this setter’s standard, I thought, but ingenious and enjoyable as ever. Thanks to Jack. Jack’s puzzles (and those of his alter egos Serpent and Basilisk) usually include a Nina of … Read more >>

Guardian 29,523 – Tramp

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A good mixture of clues, with some easy ones to get things started and a few that took a bit of working out. Thanks to Tramp for the entertaining challenge. Best wishes to … Read more >>

Guardian 29,516 – Paul

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It was a bit of a relief to see a Paul puzzle without multiple cross-referenced answers. Although I found it mostly straightforward, there were a few clues where I couldn’t at first see … Read more >>