This is the first ‘Cherchez la Femme’ since Azed 2,515 on August 22, 2020, which was one of the first few Azed puzzles that I ever attempted, and the first Azed “special” that I completed, so it is a particular treat for this to have come up on my turn at the blog.
Azed
Azed No. 2,645 Plain
A typical Azed plain.
Azed 2644
Sorry for the late appearance of this blog – I’d started it earlier in the week, but was distracted by other matters and forgot to finish it. As a result some of the … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,643 Plain
How Azed manages to produce these grids is a source of amazement. I think he does it all by hand in an exercise book, and doesn’t call upon electronic help. We have three eleven-letter answers from top to bottom, and nothing seems to be strained (although perhaps caa’s was a bit of a stretch). There are one or two places where I’m not quite sure; no doubt all will be explained.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Azed No. 2,642 Plain – Competition Puzzle
A plain 12 x 12 puzzle for this month’s competition.
Azed 2641
A plain puzzle from Azed this week. This was a standard Azed offering with precise wordplay and interesting surfaces hiding plenty of misdirection. As ever, my vocabulary increased as a … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,640 Plain
A mostly straightforward Plain offering this week, with a few wrinkly clues in the mix.
Azed No. 2,639 Plain
A plain Azed that relies less on Scots and archaic terms than I’ve become used to.
Azed 2638
Thanks to Azed Across 1 SPRINGAL Drinks knocked back, including round, in early youth (8)RING (round) in reverse of LAPS – “early” means it’s an archaic word 7 IDLE Eric, maybe, not … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,637 Plain – Competition Puzzle
Apart from the problem (so far as I can see) with 29dn, this is a good example of the elegant clueing that we have come to associate with Azed. I sometimes grumble about his surfaces (what does 20ac for example actually mean?), but he does produce these things week after week, not to say a whole lot of clue-judging and regular specials, and he generally does try hard to get decent surfaces; there are as always some lovely clues (like 30ac and 27dn).
Definitions underlined in crimson. Anagram indicators in italics.
Azed 2636
It’s the Azed Christmas special this week. There was quite a lengthy preamble explaining what solvers were asked to do and stating that some entries would not be found in … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,635 Plain
I finally managed to acquire a copy of Chambers Dictionary (2016), which made completing this puzzle immeasurably easier . . .
Azed No. 2,634 Plain – Competition Puzzle
A slow burner for me.
Azed 2633
A higher-than-usual proportion of unfamiliar words in this one, I think, which tends to increase the difficulty. A satisfying challenge as always – thanks to Azed. Across 1 U-SHAPED Scottish expert bagging … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,632 Plain
A nice plain from Azed with the usual sound clues. In one or two places I’m a bit doubtful but that’s very possibly me. In his latest slip he mentions that some people find the 11×13 grid (as here) often a bit easier to solve that the usual 12×12.
I used to blog Azed’s crosswords some years ago and seem to remember making the same remark then: the actual wordplay is usually fairly simple; the difficulty lies in the extraordinary words, which I have usually not explained.
Definitions underlined in crimson. Anagram indicators in italics.