Never knowingly undersolved
A pleasant Everyman, not too difficult; sound so far as I can see, except for one minor thing that’s mentioned in the blog. There are the usual Everyman trademarks: the first letters &lit, the rhyming pair, the self-referential clue. Maybe some others but I can’t see them.
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 educates and entertains.
The puzzle may be found at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4139 in the interactive form, or at https://cdn.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/media/documents/obs.everyman.20260215.pdf as a pdf.
Another “constrained” puzzle, where Gemelo has enforced a rule that makes the setting harder for himself without making the solver’s job harder (or easier)…
Gemelo has again produced a nice crossword with some very good clues. I don’t think there will be any problem with his taking over fully from Azed in due course.
My guess is that anyone who does these crosswords will have a copy of Chambers to hand and so won’t need everything to be spelled out. In the parsing I have confined myself to explaining when the wordplay is not immediately clear.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*
Puzzle published on 8 February – pdf available here
Another pleasing puzzle from Everyman for our Sunday morning entertainment.
Bridgesong has the honour of blogging the last Azed monthly competition puzzle. Please take a moment to read his review in the following blog:
This is the first Azed puzzle to appear since the announcement last week of his retirement from the monthly clue-writing competition.
The usual trademarks of Everyman are in this crossword, which was largely good I think and the one or two places where I am in doubt may be down to me not to Everyman.
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 is settling down into an Observer routine and I am getting onto his wavelength a bit more.
This is the first Gemelo “special” that calls upon the solver to manipulate the solutions in some unconventional fashion. The puzzle opens with these instructions:
The puzzle may be found at https://observer.co.uk/puzzles/everyman/article/everyman-no-4135 in the interactive form, or at https://cdn.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/media/documents/obs.everyman.20260118.pdf as a pdf.
An enjoyable challenge from Everyman, which can be found here.