Apologies for the late blog.
Observer
Everyman 4,092 by Everyman
A pleasant Everyman, of around medium difficulty in my opinion, except for the odd clue where we are treated to the sort of thing Everyman meets when doing The Listener crossword. All the usual trademarks, which are coloured (in random colours, simply those I thought were prettiest) in the grid.
Definitions underlined in crimson. Indicators (anagram, hidden, homophone, insertion, reversal etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.
Azed 2752
Thanks to Azed for another quality puzzle.
Everyman 4,091 by Everyman
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/4091.
Azed No. 2,751 Plain
A pleasant enough crossword from Azed this week, with no major comments to make, except that it has always struck me that his signposting of archaisms/obsolete words might be more consistent. We usually get things like ‘once’, ‘of old’, ‘no longer’ etc, but not always. Chambers tells us that the word is archaic or whatever but we are left to solve the clue without being aware of this.
Definitions underlined, in crimson. Anagram indicators in italics.
Everyman 4,090 by Everyman
Sunday – walk the dog on the beach at Dunwich. It used to be one of the most prosperous towns in England but land erosion means little but a ruined Priory and a few houses remain. Anyway time to find dog biscuits and beer and solve this weeks puzzle
New security measure
IMPORTANT (updated) I’ve now changed the security level from “critical” to “high”. Thanks all for your indulgence. Many of you will have experienced slow response times and/or error messages on Monday. This morning, … Read more >>
Everyman 4,089/2 March
Another accessible and sound puzzle from Everyman this week. All the trademark clues are there if you know to go looking for them, and in fact the rhyming pair did prod me in … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,750 ‘Mixed Foursomes’ – Competition Puzzle
It is a privilege to be able to blog this latest milestone in the Azed series.
Everyman 4,088 by Everyman
Everyman seems to have listened to us, or at any rate to someone, because this is a more straightforward crossword than some of his earlier ones. No major criticisms: perhaps the surfaces could sometimes have been honed a bit, but generally I think it’s pretty good and sound.
Definitions underlined in crimson. Indicators (anagram, hidden, homophone, missing letter, etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this). Link-words in green.
Azed 2749
Azed reaches a major milestone in his setting career today. We have a plain puzzle from last Sunday to consider first in this blog.
Azed No. 2,748 Plain
I believe I have managed to arrive at a plausible explanation for the solutions in this week’s offering from Azed . . .
Everyman 4,087 by Everyman
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/4087.
Everyman 4,086 by Everyman
Sunday so it must be a long walk for the dog (woods near Snape in Suffolk this time) then pub, beer and crossword
Azed No. 2,747 Plain
Possibly my quickest Azed solve yet.