Observer

Everyman 3175/Gretna

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Nice to be welcomed by a fairly straightforward puzzle to ease myself back into cryptic solving – having been on a diet of Les Mots Croises for the past couple of weeks. Scotland … Read more >>

Observer Azed 1834: Overlaps

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This was lots of fun — high-quality clues, as ever, from Azed, with a nice twist to make it even more interesting. Each across clue was for two overlapping words — one was … Read more >>

Everyman 3172 (15-07-07)

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Across 1 BY (“buy”) CHOICE – “on the phone” is your homophone indicator. 12 NO MAN IS AN ISLAND – I think I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen this … Read more >>

Azed reports

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Some of you will have noticed that we haven’t had many of these lately.  As I write this, I’m checking which of us are happy to write Azed reports.  We already have enough … Read more >>

Everyman 3169/Partick Thistle

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I think Partick Thistle is the only Scots reference in this puzzle. Of course, my Caledonian theory might be completely incidental but it gives me a goal each week. Overall, pretty easy cluing … Read more >>

Azed 1829

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Apologies for a late Azed report – can’t remember my time for this, or how much I used the big red book – I re-solved from memory after prematurely chucking the original. Across … Read more >>

Everyman 3168

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Not too taxing and therefore perfect for a Sunday morning, especially if Saturday night went on too long and you’re in desperate need of a 23A or similar restorative. Across 8 AIR<,LAND in … Read more >>

Everyman 3166

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This would have been a pretty quick solve were it not for 5D; I also hesitated for a while over 19D as I didn’t fully understand the clue. Across 1 AB,DUCT – “seaman” … Read more >>

Everyman 3165/record time

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Solving time: 12’ Fastest solve for me ever – I think. Even managed to spell AUF WIEDERSEHEN correctly the first time. I recognized SHREVEPORT pretty quickly as well probably because it figured as … Read more >>