Chambers Everyman Crosswords

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I read somewhere (probably on the fifteensquared blog, which I find very useful) that there was a lot of grumbling when Colin Gumbrell started. If this is the way the Everyman puzzle is going to be from now on, I won’t be wasting any more time on it. Yes, it’s certainly better than last week (which isn’t difficult), but not really up to Colin’s standard. It seems the Observer had to find a crossword setter at short notice, which is some kind of excuse for the offering above, but it’s still the worst crossword puzzle I’ve ever seen in a supposedly quality newspaper. TOFU doesn’t taste of anything much and only really becomes edible with drying out and lots of flavouring.

They’re not as challenging as Azed, but I always like to tackle the Everyman puzzle as a sort of warm-up exercise before doing that one. I can imagine that they would need to proficient in both areas, ie understanding the rules, but also prepared to look outside the square and challenge. I still have no idea how 10a is parsed - I can see the definition but have no idea how it's derived from "top spy"! It should make finding your question easier for others and, the easier it is to find, the more likely someone is to answer it! MacNutt – who was a stickler for fairness and precision in his clues – must be turning in his grave.Because of the time of year, there is a bit of a fireworks theme and 4dn and 9dn don’t rhyme, as in the past, but are related in their subject matter.

Down clues were `normal’, which helped a lot in providing checked lights to help in solving the trickier across clues. The puzzle was fairly tricky to solve but, as always with the Azed Competition entrants also have to compose a clue of their own. Well after yesterday's mauling by Kite (DNF) I was ready for a more gentle offering from Everyman but it took a good hour to finally complete. Spine lightly rubbed at ends and edges, small black mark to front (possibly ink); pages lightly tanned, binding sound.To build an easy to find question title simply select the paper and quiz, enter the quiz number if relevant and fill in the Publication Date.

I resumed in 2017 but have found it difficult to get back into the swing of writing clues (at which I’ve never really been very good anyway). I have been entering this competition for almost 20 years with decidedly modest success, though I did reach the dizzy heights of 15th place in 2010/11. As a subscriber to the Azed Slip detailing the outcomes of the monthly Azed crossword puzzle competition, I knew a week or so ago that I’d got a VHC (`Very Highly Commended’) in Azed No. In case you’re wondering the reason it gives Cardiff as my address is that (a) I still have a house there and (b) I’ve had some problems with things being delivered to Ireland from the UK and (c) I recently found a stash of sticky address labels with the Cardiff address on which saves the hassle of writing my address out on each entry.

When I came back to cryptic crosswords again recently after a long hiatus, I started doing the daily puzzles in the Guardian.

That took a lot of brain power, very few clues were straightforward for me, but ultimately made finishing even more enjoyable. As always, when I’m blogging at least, a carefully constructed puzzle which should entertain and in places stretch the less experienced solver and provide a diversion for those who’ve been doing the puzzle for decades and have moved on to more challenging cruciverbal contests. If you think your favourite Quiz, Crossword or Puzzle should be listed here don’t hesitate to contact us. This small piece of kit is designed to make building your Quiz, Crossword or Puzzle question more effective.I mush prefer the fermented bean curd, Chau, which tastes of blue cheese and the Vietnamese use as a dip. The phrase is used in legalese to mean 'the reasonable person', and has gone into the language to mean 'the man in the street', a modern Everyman. The erne is commonly seen flying in the corners of American crosswords where the setter has backed himself in, so all I needed was the definition on that one.