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Azed
Azed is a crossword which appears every Sunday in ''The Observer'' newspaper. Since it first appeared in March 1972, every puzzle has been composed by Jonathan Crowther who also judges the monthly clue-writing competition.Jonathan Crowther (2006) ''A-Z of Crosswords'' p. 44, Collins , The pseudonym Azed is a reversal of (Fray Diego de) Deza, a Spanish inquisitor general. This combines the inquisitorial tradition of Torquemada and Ximenes (the two previous composers of the "advanced" ''Observer ''crossword) with the wordplay element of a British cryptic crossword. It challenges its followers with a much higher proportion of obscure and archaic words and allusions to the Classics than would normally be found in a modern blocked puzzle, thus providing an extra aspect of difficulty for the seasoned cryptic solver. The 2000th Azed puzzle was published on 26 September 2010. The 500th competition puzzle was published on 1 August 2010. The puzzle The puzzle's barred grid signals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan Crowther
Jonathan Crowther is a British crossword compiler who has for over 50 years composed the Azed cryptic crossword in ''The Observer'' Sunday newspaper. He was voted "best British crossword setter" in a poll of crossword setters conducted by ''The Sunday Times'' in 1991 and in the same year was chosen as "the crossword compilers' crossword compiler" in ''The Observer Magazine'' "Experts' Expert" feature.Jonathan Crowther (2006) ''A-Z of Crosswords'' pp. 44–46, Collins , Career He was born in Liverpool on 24 September 1942, the son of a doctor, and grew up in Kirkby Lonsdale in the Lake District. He was educated at Rugby School before going on to read classics and classical philology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. From there, in 1964, he joined Oxford University Press and he worked for them, in India, London, and Oxford, until his retirement in early 2000. His final position was as a lexicographer writing dictionaries for foreign students of English. Married with two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azed (Jonathan Crowther)
Azed is a crossword which appears every Sunday in ''The Observer'' newspaper. Since it first appeared in March 1972, every puzzle has been composed by Jonathan Crowther who also judges the monthly clue-writing competition.Jonathan Crowther (2006) ''A-Z of Crosswords'' p. 44, Collins , The pseudonym Azed is a reversal of (Fray Diego de) Deza, a Spanish inquisitor general. This combines the inquisitorial tradition of Torquemada and Ximenes (the two previous composers of the "advanced" ''Observer ''crossword) with the wordplay element of a British cryptic crossword. It challenges its followers with a much higher proportion of obscure and archaic words and allusions to the Classics than would normally be found in a modern blocked puzzle, thus providing an extra aspect of difficulty for the seasoned cryptic solver. The 2000th Azed puzzle was published on 26 September 2010. The 500th competition puzzle was published on 1 August 2010. The puzzle The puzzle's barred grid signals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right, the answer words and phrases are placed in the grid from left to right ("across") and from top to bottom ("down"). The shaded squares are used to separate the words or phrases. Types Crossword grids such as those appearing in most North American newspapers and magazines feature solid areas of white squares. Every letter is checked (i.e. is part of both an "across" word and a "down" word) and usually each answer must contain at least three letters. In such puzzles shaded squares are typically limited to about one-sixth of the total. Crossword grids elsewhere, such as in Britain, South Africa, India and Australia, have a lattice-like structure, with a higher percentage of shaded squares ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. History Origins The first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, was the world's first Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editorial content. As a result, the paper soon took a strong line against radicals such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and Joseph Priestley. 19th century In 180 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diego Deza
Diego de Deza y Tavera (1444 – 9 June 1523) was a theologian and inquisitor of Spain. He was one of the more notable figures in the Spanish Inquisition, and succeeded Tomás de Torquemada to the post of Grand Inquisitor. Early life Deza was born in Toro, Zamora and entered the Dominican Order at a young age. He held a number of ecclesiastical posts, and also tutored Prince Juan de Aragón y Castilla, also known as John, Prince of Asturias, the only surviving son of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He was fundamental in granting navigator Christopher Columbus access to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. After first serving as Bishop of Zamora (1487–1494), Bishop of Salamanca (1494–1498), Bishop of Jaén (1498–1500), and Bishop of Palencia (February 1500 – 1504), he became Archbishop of Seville in 1505. Deza was commissioned as Grand Inquisitor for Castile, León, and Granada on 24 November 1498. On 1 September of the following year, his authority was expanded to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Powys Mathers
Edward Powys Mathers (28 August 1892 – 3 February 1939) was an English translator and poet, and also a pioneer of compiling advanced cryptic crosswords. Powys Mathers was born in Forest Hill, London, the son of Edward Peter Mathers, newspaper proprietor. He was educated at Loretto School and Trinity College, Oxford. He translated J. C. Mardrus's French version of ''One Thousand Nights and One Night''. His English version of Mardrus appeared in 1923, and is known as Mardrus/Mathers. He also translated ''The Garden of Bright Waters: One Hundred and Twenty Asiatic Love Poems'' (1920); and the Kashmiri poet Bilhana in ''Bilhana: Black Marigolds'' (1919), a free interpretation in the tradition of Edward FitzGerald, quoted at length in John Steinbeck’s novel ''Cannery Row''. These are not scholarly works, and are in some cases based on intermediate versions in European languages. Some of his translations were set to music by Aaron Copland. He was also a composer of cryptic c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derrick Somerset Macnutt
Derrick Somerset Macnutt (1902–1971) was a British crossword compiler who provided crosswords for ''The Observer'' newspaper under the pseudonym Ximenes. His main oeuvre was blocked-grid and "specialty" puzzles. Even though he only provided conventional blocked puzzles once a week for the ''Observer'' Everyman series for about two years his strong views on clueing, expressed in his 1966 book, have been a source of debate in the cryptic crossword world ever since. Career Macnutt was born at Eastbourne in Sussex and was educated at Marlborough College before achieving a Double First in classics at Jesus College, Cambridge. Between 1928 and 1963 he held the position of Head of Classics at Christ's Hospital near Horsham, West Sussex, as well as being a housemaster. The historian Norman Longmate wrote that he was the "James Boyer of his day, a notable teacher of the classics, respected, even liked, by his older pupils, dreaded by the younger boys, a bully and a brute". At the sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TheGuardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited, Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chambers Dictionary
The ''Chambers Dictionary'' (''TCD'') was first published by William Chambers (publisher), William and Robert Chambers (publisher born 1802), Robert Chambers as ''Chambers's English Dictionary'' in 1872. It was an expanded version of ''Chambers's Etymological Dictionary'' of 1867, compiled by James Donald. A second edition came out in 1898, and was followed in 1901 by a new compact edition called ''Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary''. ''TCD'' is widely used by British crossword solvers and setters, and by ''Scrabble'' players (though it is no longer the official ''Scrabble'' dictionary). It contains many more dialectal, archaic, unconventional and eccentric words than its rivals, and is noted for its occasional wryly humorous definitions. Examples of such definitions include those for ''éclair (pastry), éclair'' ("a cake, long in shape but short in duration") and ''middle-aged'' ("between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner"). These jocular definiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azed Prize Bookplate (Reg Boulton Design)
Azed is a crossword which appears every Sunday in ''The Observer'' newspaper. Since it first appeared in March 1972, every puzzle has been composed by Jonathan Crowther who also judges the monthly clue-writing competition.Jonathan Crowther (2006) ''A-Z of Crosswords'' p. 44, Collins , The pseudonym Azed is a reversal of (Fray Diego de) Deza, a Spanish inquisitor general. This combines the inquisitorial tradition of Torquemada and Ximenes (the two previous composers of the "advanced" ''Observer ''crossword) with the wordplay element of a British cryptic crossword. It challenges its followers with a much higher proportion of obscure and archaic words and allusions to the Classics than would normally be found in a modern blocked puzzle, thus providing an extra aspect of difficulty for the seasoned cryptic solver. The 2000th Azed puzzle was published on 26 September 2010. The 500th competition puzzle was published on 1 August 2010. The puzzle The puzzle's barred grid signals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provisional IRA Campaign 1969–1997
From 1969 until 1997,Moloney, p. 472 the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) conducted an armed paramilitary campaign primarily in Northern Ireland and England, aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland in order to create a united Ireland. The Provisional IRA emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in 1969, partly as a result of that organisation's perceived failure to defend Catholic neighbourhoods from attack in the 1969 Northern Ireland riots. The Provisionals gained credibility from their efforts to physically defend such areas in 1970 and 1971. From 1971–72, the IRA took to the offensive and conducted a relatively high-intensity campaign against the British and Northern Ireland security forces and the infrastructure of the state. The British Army characterised this period as the "insurgency phase" of the IRA's campaign. The IRA declared a brief ceasefire in 1972 and a more protracted one in 1975, when there was an internal debate over the feasibilit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Manley
Don Manley (born 2 June 1945) is a long-serving setter of crosswords in the UK. He has supplied puzzles for the ''Radio Times'', ''The Spectator'', ''Today'', ''The Independent'', ''The Times'', ''The Daily Telegraph'', ''The Guardian'', and the ''Financial Times'' and the ''Sunday Times'' among others. He is crossword editor of ''Church Times''. He writes under the pseudonyms Duck, Pasquale, Quixote, Bradman, Giovanni, and Izetti (all punningly connected with the name Don or Donald). He has also written a book on devising and solving crosswords, ''Chambers Crossword Manual'' (1986, 5th edition October 2014). He has appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game, ''Puzzle Panel'', and anchored the BBC4 documentary "How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword". Don Manley was brought up in Cullompton, Devon, attending local state schools and Blundell's School, Tiverton as a Foundation Scholar. He read physics at Bristol University. After a short spell in a telecommunications laboratory, he worked i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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