Either I’ve been doing this long enough to actually have improved or… (more likely) this was on the easier end of the Azed spectrum. In any event, finished this off in about an hour (v. fast for me) without overly abusing Chambers.
ilancaron
AZED 2,341
Not particularly hard for an Azed — but this was really a solve-by-committee (of work colleagues — thanks Martin and Frank!) so hard to gauge really. Some very nice surfaces (I liked the googly clue for obvious reasons).
AZED 2,335/OPSIMATHY
Well, I learnt quite a bit. So definitely an opsimathic experience. For me. I think this was in the easy to medium range for Azed. Though I might have left a wordplay or two behind.
AZED 2,329
A fairly hard Azed this time — with more than its fair share of heraldic terms, intricate wordplays and one very nice “follow-on” clue.
AZED 2,324/CELEBRATIONS
So playfair puzzles aren’t my favourite cup of tea. Fortunately, my colleague Frank Yellin doesn’t mind them and has a bunch of python code to prove it (we are both Jewish so had plenty of time on our hands this week). So he helped me no end figuring out the actual magic square — which this time had no Q rather than the more usual I/J merging (to produce 25 letters of the alphabet in a 5×5 grid).
AZED 2,318 – transgender
A fun but hard variant of the typical Azed — we ended up solving as a team (thanks Jutta, Martin, Frank!) — given the title, at first thought that likely theme is Armistice Day (Nov 11) or Guy Fawkes day (Nov 5) — turned out to be the latter — “remember, remember, the fifth of November” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night. To be clear, the theme was basically replace male names in answers with female names (“penny for the guy”) as exemplified by 1A.
Azed 2312/Out of order
I found this Azed carte-blanche variant (a “jigsaw”) in which clues are given in alphabetical order of answers rather difficult — mainly, because I pecked at it sporadically throughout the week without a concerted burst … Read more >>
AZED 2,306
Lots of new words but I suppose that should never be a surprise with Azed. Was stuck on 16D (a laxative) for a while and then conveniently became unstuck.
AZED 2,300/mishmash
Surprisingly easy — managed most of the puzzle while watching a replay of Germany/Italy. Probably had to make more trips to the chamberpot than to Chambers. Obviously I was distracted since more than a few sloppy parses pointed out by kind commentators!
Azed 2294 / normal service has resumed…
A rather tough puzzle that I just spent 2 hours solving in the lounge at Heathrow. On a hand-drawn grid. Not a pretty picture. I thought this was rather difficult and I think … Read more >>
AZED 2,288
A fairly straightforward puzzle this week — if that’s an appropriate term for a cryptic. Struggled on a couple of wordplays but nothing that the BRB didn’t resolve. For some reason the grid isn’t showing the D in serdab (22D). I suspect a bit of a laxative theme.
AZED 2,282
A surprisingly easy Azed — which I completed in a single session with only occasional recourse to TBRB — relatively speaking not too many Scots words or Spenserisms.
AZED 2,276
A lot easier than the run-of-the-mill. Almost as easy as this week’s Listener (OK — last week’s). And Paul’s awesome crossword utility automatically parses the (relaunched) Guardian site’s PDF once again which is nice too.
Azed 2270
Making do without Paul’s awesome crossword utility is hard… but I somehow managed. Kind of a medium level difficulty Azed — usual Chambers trawling. There’s one wordplay that I’m unsure of — and a few … Read more >>
AZED 2264
This time on the easier end of the Azed spectrum (did I just say that Azed is on the spectrum??). Didn’t find myself drowning in Chambers as much as dabbling. A question for readers: when should an archaic usage be indicated and when is it acceptable not to do so? Azed seems to be ambivalent.