Azed 2758

A new proprietor, a new interactive interface, but the same reliable Azed. It feels as if there are fewer familiar words than usual, but despite that I managed to fill the grid fairly quickly. On the other hand, some of the parsing was a bit tricky, with 32 down proving elusive until the 11th hour. Thanks to Azed for the puzzle, and best wishes to those attending the lunch in Oxford today yesterday, which I’m I was sadly unable to attend on this occasion.

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Azed No. 2,757 plain

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.

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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.

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New security measure

IMPORTANT (updated) I’ve now changed the security level from “critical” to “high”. Thanks all for your indulgence. Many of you will have experienced slow response times and/or error messages on Monday. This morning, … Read more >>