Azed No. 2,709 Plain

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Most of this was quite routine and the usual satisfactory product, but one or two gave me a lot of trouble. One was a complete mystery until I looked up one of the words, which was new to me. I’m still unsure about one of the others and would welcome explanations, since mine is a bit tenuous.

Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams shown (like this)* or *(like this), depending on where the indicator (in italics) is.

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Everyman 4,048

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I thought this was very difficult and there was a period of panic when I thought I’d have to give up and ask for help, but eventually one fell, a fairly obvious one really but it defeated me for a long time, and the others were then solvable. It took a long time to get started, but once I had done so everything went in easily enough, until I reached the impasse already described.

Definitions in crimson, underlined. Indicators (homophone, reversal, hidden, anagram etc) in italics. Anagrams indicated *(like this) or (like this)*. Link-words in green.

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Guardian Quick Cryptic 8 by Picaroon

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This is the eighth Guardian Quick Cryptic, a series of 11 x 11 crosswords designed to support beginners learning cryptic crosswords.  The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here.  The puzzle can be found here.

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Enigmatic Variations No.1642 – Conflict by Skylark

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“28 clues contain a surplus word, which should be removed before solving. In clue order, the first letters give one person’s accusation, whilst the final letters spell out much of another’s rebuttal, which is continued as pairs of surplus words in three other clues. In the remaining 10 clues, an extra letter must be removed before solving (leaving real words): in clue order, these specify the final contents of the shaded cells. The CONFLICT has affected the initial grid, resulting in clashes in seven cells to be resolved in favour of the letters making real words and names. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended”

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