Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Many thanks, all solved!

@kt17 - speaking as someone who has 'bashed' an Azed or two, I think it's fair to say that the major part of the Azed audience is made up of (extremely) loyal followers, who are both highly experienced at solving barred puzzles and familiar with Azed's methods.

When combined with scrupulously fair clues (excepting only the very occasional error) and a difficulty - for the plain puzzles in particular - at the low end of the barred spectrum, this means that there are relatively few Azed solvers who regularly need to seek help. Beyond that there is little to discuss because the clues are so rigorously constructed.

Some time ago I stopped solving the only comparable weekly puzzle, Mephisto in the Sunday Times, but in the days when I used to do both puzzles I found that in any given week Mephisto was usually tougher than Azed. However, Mephisto receives even less exposure on the help forums than Azed, probably for broadly similar reasons as above plus the fact that it is available only to those who purchase or subscribe to the newspaper.

Jacknatter, that was interesting stuff about Azed. It's a crossword I've done (well, attempted!) only occasionally as I find it very difficult. I'd have expected some posts from new solvers of the puzzle, it sometimes takes a while to get into the style of a setter. I know some Listener solvers on the forum have appreciated hints and tips … and those solvers are probably now passing on helpful bits and pieces.

Thank you JackNatter - that makes a lot of sense.

I recently moved from being an EV-er to being an Azed-ist and each week is an education to look forward to.

@Malone - Azed stands alone as a weekly barred puzzle which is always set by the same person (as it has been for the last 47 years!). As such it offers a unique opportunity to 'get into' the setter's clueing style, but since that style is significantly different to most other barred puzzles it can present problems to solvers, even experienced ones, who are new to the series.

I published a weekly Azed blog for several years, in which I tried to explain some of the trickier aspects of the clues. Something that came across very clearly from comments on the blog was that solvers early in their Azed careers found the puzzles quite tough, but those who had been solving them for a few months found the perceived difficulty decreasing substantially (and, for some at least, their satisfaction increasing as they came to appreciate the meticulous construction of the clues).

Incidentally, my comments about degrees of difficulty concerned barred puzzles taken as a whole - quite often the 'straight' clues in an EV or a Listener, say, are easier than those in an Azed, but this is typically outweighed by the extra complexity of clues with gimmicks, clues which have to be cold solved, solutions which have to be mutilated prior to entry in the grid, and the wonderful welter of other thematic doohickeys.

I do see a fair number of queries from relatively new Azed solvers, but not usually on this particular forum, where Azed-related posts tend to be discussions of a point of interest started by long-term Azedistas.

Jacknatter, thanks for all of that. It's hard to think of there being a single setter for 47 years - that's incredible! I might have a few more attempts at tackling the puzzle and see how I'm doing after three or four weeks. My previous experience lead to me coming across a lot of new - and sometimes interesting - words, but it was hard work getting to them.

I hope that you do. You'll need the Big Red Book to hand, of course, but I think that would be the same for pretty much any barred puzzle. Azed still manages to come up with words that I've never heard of (or have forgotten), but the accuracy of the wordplays usually means that I'm looking up a specific word for verification rather than doing a desperate trawl...

JackNatter - that is fascinating for a number of reasons.

Are you Azed, if I may ask?

Is your blog still available? I would love to read it.

And by Red Book you means Chambers 2014? There are other big red crossword books...

M

Ha! No, I am definitely not Azed. I'm not sure whether he even knew about my blog or, if he did, whether given its occasional irreverence he approved of it! I deleted the whole thing some time ago, I'm afraid.

You will see posts on some sites referring to the BRB - the Big Red Book, which is indeed The Chambers Dictionary. Azed still shows the 2014 edition as its primary reference, but this should more accurately be the 2016 printing, wherein the 'enriching' words - which were highlighted in the 12th edition (2011) and then unfortunately omitted from the 13th edition (2014) - were reinstated.

JackNatter, following your earlier comments, I decided to tackle Azed today. I'm pleased to say that I got it done, with quite a few visits to Chambers. There were some good words in the puzzle, getting to them was all quite logical.

PS I won't mind if I hear that this puzzle was slightly easier than many Azeds!