Alan Connor continues as the setter of the Everyman under the paper’s new ownership. Another sound puzzle from him here.
Observer
Everyman 4,104
I thought this was rather harder than usual, but perhaps that was because I was having dreadful trouble with my mouse. The blog took longer than it usually does. The usual rhyming pair, the self-referential clue and the ‘primarily’ clue are all as usual and coloured in the diagram. Some nice clues, one or two that I don’t understand, and one or two mild criticisms.
Definitions in italics, underlined in crimson. Indicators (homophone, reversal, anagram, missing letter, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Azed No. 2,765 – plain
A plain puzzle from Azed.
Azed 2764
A reasonably quick solve for me on this one, though I raised an eyebrow at the (unnecessary) use of an outdated derogatory term at 4d. Still, thanks to Azed.
Everyman 4,103
The PDF of the puzzle may be found at https://cdn.observer.co.uk/media/documents/obs.everyman.20250608.pdf as long as it is available.
Azed No. 2,763 plain – competition puzzle
The usual pleasant crossword from Azed. I have one or two slight questions about things but no doubt they will be explained.
Definitions in italics, underlined in crimson. Anagram indicators in italics.
Everyman 4,102
It wouldn’t be Everyman …
Azed postal address
Comment from Bridgesong on his latest Azed blog:
Everyman 4,101/25 May
New owners at The Observer, but happily for Everyman fans, the same old crossword. All the trademark clues in a pleasing and tractable cryptic.
Azed No. 2,762 – plain
Rather more than the usual quota of four letter words made this week’s plain puzzle more challenging than some (although it was particularly easy in another way…)
Everyman 4,100
A pleasant crossword this week from Everyman. No great problems and any (only very occasional and slight) grumble is mentioned in the blog. Nearly 30% of the answers are four-letter words, which are often (but not in this case) tricky; not perhaps the best of grids.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophones, of which there were more than usual, reversals, anagrams, first letters, juxtapositions, etc.) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Azed 2761
A plain crossword from Azed this week.
Azed No. 2,760 – Plain
This week’s Azed seemed mostly straightforward . . .
Everyman 4,099
With the new regime, it seems that the interactive version of Everyman is only available for the current puzzle; the pdf version may be found at https://cdn.observer.co.uk/media/documents/Everyman_4099_11_May.pdf, but it remains to be seen how long it will be archived.
Everyman 4,098
This is the second appearance of Everyman in its/his new home on observer.co.uk