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 1920 – tough one

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An Azed of above-average difficulty this time, with I think what must be a higher-than-usual proportion of rare and obscure words, though in many cases the woprdplay was helpful in leading to the … Read more >>

Guardian 24,651/Paul

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Either this was a very difficult puzzle, or I just wasn’t on Paul’s wavelength today. It took me ages to get started, and things didn’t get much better even when I’d finally got … Read more >>

Guardian 24,644/Rover

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Fairly typically for Rover (who I think of as a kind of Rufus-lite) this started off quite easily, but was rather spoilt for me by some vague and unsatisfactory cryptic definitions, especially 9ac. … Read more >>

Guardian 24,636/Rufus

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A gentle but enjoyable start to the week from Rufus, with no major hold-ups. I just have a slight doubt about my explanation of 12ac. dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition … Read more >>

Guardian 24,634/Arachne

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A mostly enjoyable and not-difficult-for-a-Friday puzzle. A couple of strange clues with obscure but irrelevant references (10ac, 7dn) and a couple of weaknesses (18ac,9dn) Key: * = anagram < = reverse (no double … Read more >>

Guardian 24,623/Paul

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Not, as I’d expected, a St Valentine’s Day special, but a theme based on famous Belgians, of whom there are supposedly very few, though for its size Belgium in fact does pretty well. … Read more >>

Guardian 24,627/Paul

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As usual, good fun from Paul, with a couple of typically cheeky clues, and not too difficult. One or two minor quibbles, but nothing to complain too much about: in fact there are … Read more >>

Guardian 24,620/Chifonie

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A characteristically straightforward but enjoyable puzzle from Chifonie. There’s just one clue (3dn) where I think things have gone astray, but perhaps others can convince me it’s all right. Key: dd = double … Read more >>

Guardian 24,612/Rufus

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Three Guardian blogs in a row – people will be getting sick of the sight of me! Anyway, a nice gentle Rufus for this snowy morning. I particularly liked 15ac and 27ac for … Read more >>

Guardian 24,605/Brummie

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A tough puzzle from Brummie, with a theme that eluded me for some time. The first thematic answer I got was CLOSE, which made me think they were all cricketers. It was only … Read more >>

Guardian 24,610/Arachne

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A fairly tricky puzzle from Arachne which I’ve been intermittently struggling with all morning in between trying to get some work done. Some nice clues, but I think 4dn is very poor, and … Read more >>

Azed 1911 – filling the gap

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There seems to have been a bit of confusion on the blog scheduling front, with Azed 1911 not having been covered. In the interests of completeness I’ve taken the liberty of producing this … Read more >>

Guardian 24,603/Araucaria

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A themed puzzle from Araucaria, with 13 wordplay-only clues for capital cities (highlighted in blue below). I caught on to the theme early on by a lucky guess at PRAGUE, but still found … Read more >>

Guardian 24,596/Quantum

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A straightforward puzzle with nothing particularly exciting and a few very easy clues. Key: dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition * = anagram < = reverse Across 1. TACTFUL (FACT ULT)* … Read more >>