BS: AZED crossword

Subject: BS: AZED crossword
From: weerover
Date: 22 Mar 04 - 05:08 AM

I haven't seen anyone pick up on my reference in the newspaper thread to the AZED crossword. Surely there are some erudite Mudcatters who relish this weekly challenge? I particularly like the more unusual puzzles, but have never been able to get a handle on how to start to encode the solutions in the "Playfair" type.

wr.

Subject: RE: BS: AZED crossword
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 22 Mar 04 - 05:46 AM

I've never tried any of them - probably far too much for me... but I think my father takes them on onece in a while. Both him and his father used to be fond of Ximenes which I believe was the predecessor of Azed.

Jon

Subject: RE: BS: AZED crossword
From: weerover
Date: 28 Jun 22 - 10:40 AM

This week they printed the wrong solution. I went online to see if there was a correction there: when there was not I started to solve some clues to see if I could knit them together After two days of hard work I had a complete solution and e-mailed the correct (blank) grid to my brother: he replied to point out that after a short delay the grid had indeed been put on the website. I was, however, so pleased with the success of my endeavour that I might have a go at doing it without looking at the grid in future...or maybe not!

Subject: RE: BS: AZED crossword
From: HuwG
Date: 28 Jun 22 - 04:22 PM

Apparently, "Deza" is the reverse of the surname of Cardinal Diego de Deza, who succeeded Tomas de Dorquemada in charge of the Spanish Inquisition.

Well, I didn't expect that!

Subject: RE: BS: AZED crossword
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 29 Jun 22 - 03:19 AM

The Observer has quite a long history with Spanish Inquisitors for setters.

It starts with Edward Powys Mathers in 1926 who used the pseudonym Torquemada after the First Grand Inquisitor.
Derrick Somerset Macnutt took over in 1939 as Ximines after Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros
Jonathan Crowther replaced him in 1972 as Azed, name chosen as you explained.

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Sounds quite impressive to me, weerover. I still haven’t tried AZED and would need the grid and letters from solved clues even for simple crosswords.