Azed No. 2,497 Plain

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My weekly dose of obscure and interesting words, I never tire of learning them. Thank you Azed. ACROSS 1 DRESS-IMPROVER Mrs with pride’s shown off during traditional bustle (13) anagram (shown off) of … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations No.1430 – Trap by Gaston

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“Three pairs of cells are TRAPPED by two symmetrically and thematically placed chains of 11 cells each. All 28 cells must be highlighted in the final grid to illustrate the TRAP. The three unclued entries of a kind are also thematically positioned. Two separate groups of consecutive clues (19 in total) contain a single superfluous letter in their wordplay. Reading these in clue order will give a hint as to where to find details of the TRAP. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

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Guardian 28,116 – Qaos

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I was half-expecting a Paul puzzle today, but having Qaos instead was no hardship. I found this one quite straightforward, with only one parsing holding me up. There’s a theme of ARCHBISHOPs of … Read more >>

Independent 10,462 by Phi

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Phi has as usual not let us down. There are some excellent clues here as always. I just don’t know how he can produce these things week after week. Definitions underlined, in teal. … Read more >>

Financial Times 16,457 by GOZO

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Super puzzle, I enjoyed this very much. Thank you Gozo. I particularly liked the anagrams in this puzzle, very appropriate for the surface readings. Unusually for Gozo there doesn’t seem to be any … Read more >>

Guardian Cryptic 28,114 by Vlad

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THe puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28114. This started off easily enough – for any setter, yet alone Vlad – but the last few caused a fair amount of head scratching, ending up … Read more >>