A sound and pleasing puzzle from Everyman, with all the usual trademark inclusions.
Observer
Gemelo No. 19 – first things first
I’m writing this here with no fear that passers-by will get information that detracts from their enjoyment of the puzzle, because it is all quite open: nothing has to be discovered (except perhaps the hint from the first clue). Gemelo has quite brilliantly used the first letters in the words of a well-known poem (until there are no more clues) to restrict the words in the clues and he has achieved this with the minimum of strain, although it must have been incredibly difficult. In fact I solved it all before bothering to look at the preamble. It wouldn’t have helped me in my solving. No doubt because of the restrictions I found this rather harder than Gemelo’s usual.
Why Gemelo makes it so difficult for himself I’m not sure. I eagerly await the day when he produces a puzzle like one of Azed’s excellent Specials, where the solver has to discover something. He seems quite capable of doing so.
Everyman 4,132
A pleasantly accessible crossword from Everyman this week. There is nothing so far as I can see that is controversial.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Observer Jumbo Cryptic: 2025 by Calypso
Happy Mummers’ Day!
Azed No. 2,774 Plain – Christmas Competition
An unusual Christmas competition, in that there is nothing Christmassy about it.
Everyman 4,131
The puzzle may be found at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4131 in the interactive form and at https://cdn.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/media/documents/obs.everyman.20251221.pdf as a pdf.
Everyman 4,130
This puzzle can be found at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4130
Gemelo 18
We have a plain puzzle form Gemelo this week in The Observer
Azed No. 2,773 Plain – Competition Puzzle
I feel privileged to have received an Azed puzzle for my turn at this blog.
Everyman 4,129/7 December
Another pleasing puzzle from Everyman with the usual trademark clues. I have the sense from comments in recent weeks that some of our solvers outside the UK are having difficulty accessing the Everyman puzzle, but I hope they have found a way round that so that they can contribute their thoughts on this one.
Gemelo No. 17 – plain
A plain puzzle from Gemelo.
Everyman 4,128
Since Everyman is in general so Ximenean I’m surprised that he allows the grid to contain two entries with less than 50% checking. But they’re long ones and perhaps it’s not really that important. The crossword as a whole was mostly very satisfactory, with the usual characteristics, which are highlighted in the grid, until I came to a little group (described below) where I found it hard to finish. I have done, but hope I’ll be told how these clues really work, for I’m not convinced.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, hidden, containment, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Gemelo 16
I’m still finding it hard to get on Gemelo’s wavelength, though in retrospect there’s nothing to cause too much difficulty here, apart from some unfamiliar words (which are part of the fun of these puzzles, so no complaints there). Thanks to Gemelo for the challenge.
Everyman 4,127
The puzzle may be found at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4127 in the interactive form and at https://cdn.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/media/documents/obs.everyman.20251123.pdf as a pdf.