azed 1866

[meabby]

am struggling to try to do this for the first time - can someone give me a hand to get started please

thanks

[kayakamina]

1d Klootch...anag cloth Ok

5a Casca....Casa = mansion C (cold inside) = envious one.

25d Nomos...Greek Dept....No(t) Mos(t)

That should give you a start to a lot of clues.

Good luck

[cinnabar]

Hi meabby

Be warned - you are entering into a whole new world!

The first thing to say is that Azed crosswords actually aren't all that difficult - but you will probably only know about a third of the words clued (unless you are a lexicogrpaher like Azed). You will find Chambers dictionary essential to check the answers - also 'cheating aids' like Mrs Bradford's dictionary are a great help

Also note that for this week's puzzle, as with the first Sunday of every month, you will have to submit a tie-breaker clue - and these competitions tend to be won by professional (or at least semi-professional) setters. Colin Dexter of Inspector Morse fame has actually won it more than anyone else. All the statistics and so forth are available at www.andlit.org.uk

Also I strongly recommend you take a look at http://home.freeuk.net/dharrison/puzzles/ where you will find a link to Dr. Watson's reviews of past Azed competitions, with lots of clues solved to show you how they work

But the main thing is that Azed's puzzles are great fun once you get the hang of his style - enjoy!

[cruciverbali]

In fact there are just 15 names appearing at the top of the Roll of Honour since the first in 1972/3, with only 4 appearing four or more times. In pole position is the great Don Manley with 12 wins, 9 of them outright. Colin Dexter is joint 4th with 4 top spots, though these are all shared. Even Morse appears on the list !

[cinnabar]

See, I warned you this would be a whole new world . . .

The Roll of Honour is the list of the great and the good who have won the monthly competition most often in each year, which I find slightly intimidating as I have never got beyond Highly Commended. And without wanting to argue about it, according to the adjacent Cup Winners page, Colin Dexter has won the competition 29 times over the years, and Don Manley (whom I also greatly esteem as Pasquale in the Grauniad and elsewhere) 26. Next in line is indeed Morse - actually Sir Jeremy of that ilk, but the man who gave his name to Dexter's character by virtue of winning a crossword set by one of Azed's predecessors, Ximenes . . .

But I still think the greatest setter of all is Araucaria!

[meabby]

thanks fir all the advice - Im still struggling but I'll keep with it as it's a good challenge.

abby

[bathtub]

Good luck! This is my favourite puzzle, despite its idiosyncracies and (unfortunately rather common of late) compilation errors. I'll try to give some pointers if I can.