Azed

I solved this with the help of a Google friend (Howard Trickey — thanks!).   Unlike a typical Listener, we cracked the theme well before solving all the clues (with the help of … Read more >>

A fairly standard Azed, I think.  Lots of words of which I’d never heard, fairly predictable and verified in Chambers, and as usual a very well-constructed grid, with words of many lengths (except that … Read more >>

Apologies for the late publication of this blog. I’m a last minute substitute and pressure of work prevented me from filing it yesterday as I had intended. The puzzle itself was an elegant … Read more >>

Another moderately difficult Azed. I’ve been struck down with a horrible cold over the last coouple of days so haven’t ben able to write a very full blog: I’ve shown the basics of … Read more >>

A moderately difficult Azed, which I somehow found more of a slog and less of a pleasure than usual, though as always it’s scrupulously fair and there are some excellent clues. Key: dd … Read more >>

A relatively easy Azed for me this time around. That means I did it easily in one evening after dinner, I suspect Peter B could have polished this one off within 30 minutes. … Read more >>

A straightforward puzzle this week, with a fair proportion of unfamiliar words.  Nevertheless, it’s worth making the point that Azed puzzles can in fact be easier to solve than a daily cryptic, as … Read more >>

A bit of a treat this week — the most challenging Azed for a while. For those who have not tried this kind of puzzle before, the first step in fitting the answers … Read more >>

Still restricting myself to a Listener-only diet, Azed comes as a welcome relief in the advanced cryptic scheme of things. I found this puzzle to have the normal level of well-constructed clues requiring … Read more >>

A nice crossword from Azed, with several good clues. His grids are always excellent: how he manages to fit in so many long words and avoid using three-letter-words I don’t know. Across 1 STARCH BLOCKER — … Read more >>

Greetings Time for an occasional posting.  Quite good fun from Azed this week with several witty clues and the usual smattering of obscure words. ACROSS 1    BUSHWHACKING    BUSH + WHACKING (large as in … Read more >>

Solving time: 36 minutes, with Chambers used for about the last 30% of answers. One query left from me about wordplay – so maybe a wrong answer (34), one minor slip-up by Azed … Read more >>

As always, an enjoyable challenge from Azed, with some lovely clues. The two long answers at 1ac and 1dn were pretty easy to spot, and were a big help in getting going with … Read more >>

I found this a relatively easy Azed. The four long answers on each of the edges provided a good lever to open up the grid. All were anagrams or near complete partial anagrams … Read more >>

Now that many crossword devotees have bought Jonathan Crowther’s book, Collins have decided to remainder it. It is now available for the knock-down price of £5.99 from the online, high quality, remainder bookshop … Read more >>