This will be the last Azed for The Observer under present management, a plain that is probably on the easier side. Let’s hope that his crosswords can continue in their present form.
Definitions underlined in crimson. Anagram indicators in italics.
John
Everyman crossword No 4,096
I think this is one of Everyman’s better efforts. There are some very nice clues and the surfaces (except for one of them, which I grumble about in the blog) are on the whole tight and sensible.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophones, juxtaposition, missing letters, reversals, anagrams, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Everyman 4,092 by Everyman
A pleasant Everyman, of around medium difficulty in my opinion, except for the odd clue where we are treated to the sort of thing Everyman meets when doing The Listener crossword. All the usual trademarks, which are coloured (in random colours, simply those I thought were prettiest) in the grid.
Definitions underlined in crimson. Indicators (anagram, hidden, homophone, insertion, reversal etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Azed No. 2,751 Plain
A pleasant enough crossword from Azed this week, with no major comments to make, except that it has always struck me that his signposting of archaisms/obsolete words might be more consistent. We usually get things like ‘once’, ‘of old’, ‘no longer’ etc, but not always. Chambers tells us that the word is archaic or whatever but we are left to solve the clue without being aware of this.
Definitions underlined, in crimson. Anagram indicators in italics.
Everyman 4,088 by Everyman
Everyman seems to have listened to us, or at any rate to someone, because this is a more straightforward crossword than some of his earlier ones. No major criticisms: perhaps the surfaces could sometimes have been honed a bit, but generally I think it’s pretty good and sound.
Definitions underlined in crimson. Indicators (anagram, hidden, homophone, missing letter, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.
Everyman 4,084 by Everyman
Generally sound clues this week, usually fairly straightforward, but Everyman hasn’t been able to resist making one or two of them a bit tricky to disentangle.
Azed No. 2,745 – Plain
Pleasant crossword from Azed this week. I didn’t think it was all that difficult by the usual standards, but would have appreciated a bit more guidance for words that are not in Chambers.
Everyman 4,080 by Everyman
A nice crossword from Everyman. The clues are neat, often imaginative, and not tortuous, as they have sometimes been.
Azed No. 2,739 Plain
A pleasant but not a terribly demanding Azed before the trials of next week’s Christmas competition. There are unusually several mistakes, which makes one feel that he’d have benefited from an editor, who could have noticed them. But who’d be Azed’s editor? What he says goes, and it’s amazing that for well over 50 years every week we’ve had a nice crossword with very few mistakes. I shall be surprised if next week we find any, even though it will no doubt be highly complicated.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Everyman 4,076 by Everyman
Pretty difficult this week I thought — I often solve Everyman when I’m not blogging and it can be far easier than this. Why do I always get the tough ones? The usual Everyman trademarks are there and coloured above. It seemed there were more cases than usual of there being a need for explanation.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, reversal, hidden, homophone etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.
Everyman 4,072 by Everyman
I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy this very much. It was incredibly difficult; I used electronic aids quite freely once I became stuck, and some of the clues seemed rather clunky and impenetrable, but that’s probably just my incompetence. No doubt in due course all will be explained. (On the other hand one or two I thought were very good.)
Azed No. 2,733 Plain – Competition Puzzle
A reasonably straightforward crossword from Azed today (straightforward that is if you can handle the weird words, something you should be able to do if you have a copy of Chambers to hand).
Everyman 4,068 by Everyman
What is now the usual Everyman, with a few tricky clues, but everything sound so far as I could see. Rather too many CDs for my liking. The rhyming pair is highlighted, as are the first letters clue and the self-referential clue.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophones, hidden, anagram, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
What is now the usual Everyman, with a few tricky clues, but everything sound so far as I could see. Rather too many CDs for my liking. The rhyming pair is highlighted, as are the first letters clue and the self-referential clue.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophones, hidden, anagram, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Azed No. 2,727 – Plain
A medium-difficulty Azed plain. I was a bit surprised to see two homophone clues: these always excite comment from people whose regional accents don’t make them obvious and Azed has in the past expressed misgivings about using such clues, for just this reason. In my case although I don’t have a regional accent one of them I pronounce differently from what is intended. But never mind; I won’t (like some) make an issue of it: it’s quite obvious what is intended.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Everyman 4,064 by Everyman
Apart from one or two small criticisms that appear in the blog, this is a good well-constructed crossword. Everyman seems to be paying more attention to the surfaces of his clues nowadays. It’s quite impressive that he manages to produce a pleasant crossword week after week, with all the restrictions that he imposes on himself (the rhyming pairs, the first letters clue, the self-reference).
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, homophone, hidden, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams shown (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.