Never knowingly undersolved
A generally pleasing puzzle from Everyman this week, but – and there is often a but – with one or two clues that for me didn’t quite work. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd … Read more >>
The Everyman crossword is definitely improving. There were some nice clues here, and I only had a few very slight doubts in places, as you’ll see in the blog. More like the old Everyman: not all that difficult but sound and a good starting puzzle.
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3900.
The Observer crossword from July 4, 2021
Good crossword this week, and only one away from another centenary.
Another sound puzzle from Everyman this week. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) removed definitions are underlined Across 1 Tell … Read more >>
Quite a good crossword from whichever version of Everyman produced this one. I don’t want to be seen as damning it with faint praise, but after the past few weeks, when there has been some criticism of the crossword, this comes as a pleasant surprise. Recent surfaces have been a bit meaningless, but here Everyman seems to be making an effort. There are a few little points which I make in the blog, but on the whole it was all very enjoyable.
Indicators (anagram, hidden, reversal etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(this). Definitions in crimson, underlined.
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3896.
The Observer crossword from June 6, 2021.
What to say about this crossword?
I found this clunky in many places, but at the risk of repeating myself, I’m only the blogger. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = … Read more >>
I looked at the blog of the previous Everyman and someone was saying what fun this was. Whether it was great fun I’m not sure, partly because I found it very hard, with two problems caused by my entering the wrong letters and trying to think of a cocktail whose first word was D_S, and later failing utterly on 13 down and being totally unable to make head or tail of it until I realised that the sausage was a chorizo not a choriza. There are some quite nice clues here, but the old days of a simple but sound crossword that was a gateway for beginners seem to be in the past. I wonder if we will ever return to them.
And I also looked at the blog of the one before that, which was criticised by several people. Two regular setters from several other papers dropped in to the comments and one of them said ‘Sorry to have to say, but this really is just bottom-of-the-heap Guardian stuff, and a far cry from the craftsmanship we once knew.’ I don’t think this one was so dreadful — there are probably a few setters of The Everyman — but the elegant surfaces and penny-drop moments that one gets from various other crosswords were still largely absent.
Definitions in crimson. Indicators (hidden, anagram, reversal etc) in italics. Anagrams are indicated (like this)*, or possibly *(like this), depending on whether the indicator comes before or after the letters to be jumbled.
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3892.
Having dropped into Sil’s blog a few weeks ago to say I agreed with him about Everyman becoming more consistent as a setter of our Sunday puzzle, I found myself getting slightly grumpy … Read more >>
Only one or two rough edges this week. The Everyman crossword is getting better and is moving towards becoming what it says on the packet, a good sound entry-level crossword like the old Everyman. Are the rhyming clues 8dn and 13dn? Or 12ac and 16ac?
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (anagram, hidden, reversal, etc) in italics. Letters omitted are [like this].
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3888.