Never knowingly undersolved
Azed gives us a standard plain puzzle for the competition this month. The competition clue is the 12-letter entry at 2 down I struggled a bit with the wording of … Read more >>
Azed gave us few more twists and turns in this week’s puzzle, as compared to the most recent Plain puzzles, but nothing too outlandish.
Another sound as a pound Sunday offering from Everyman, with all the regular quirks on display. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram … Read more >>
I always seem to be saying this, but Everyman’s crosswords get better and better. Apart from my doubts over the STRADIVARI clue, which I may well be wrong on, he has produced a set of sound clues with good surfaces and also managed to include all the trademarks seamlessly: the rhyming pairs, the self-referential clue and the first letters clue.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, reversal, missing letters, etc.) in italics. Link-words in green. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this).
A plain puzzle from Azed.
Now that the Observer has amended/clarified the rules for submitting Azed solutions we’re going back to publishing the blogs on the Sunday after the puzzle appears. After my first pass through the clues … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3995.
Azed produces these every year or two and they are very clever and great fun, but when I saw that it was a P.D. my heart sank, as they take me a long time to do and I wasn’t sure that I’d finish in time. However, having done several of these over the years I’m probably finding them easier. Why it should be that they appeal to the majority of solvers goodness knows, but they do, and the names of the prizewinners in Azed’s lists are much the same names as in his regular crosswords. They divide opinion a bit, and a few don’t like them at all. Personally I enjoy them despite their difficulty: the moment of realisation when what was a slightly clunky and incomprehensible sentence reveals itself is very nice.
The instructions I find pretty incomprehensible and it’s only by learning from various other sources that I know what to do. Why Azed bothers to say ‘Preference is given to…’ I can’t understand, since all the clues that I’ve ever seen quoted have been ‘correct’. Should he not make it a rule?
So it’s the Sunday following some sort of bash down London way
A straightforward plain from Azed this week, but one clue had me puzzled.
A thoughtfully constructed and tractable cryptic from Everyman this week. Just like every week, really. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition cad clue as definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] … Read more >>
We have a plain Azed puzzle this week, as is often the case mid month. I wonder how often Azed uses entries that appear under the same headword entry in … Read more >>
Not a lot to say about this crossword: Everyman seems to get better every time I blog. I have slight misgivings in places, but will no doubt be corrected.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, reversal, anagram, juxtaposition, etc) in italics. Link-words in green. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*.
This week’s puzzle seemed relatively straightforward, with some nice surfaces and only a few notes/questions indicated below.
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3991.