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.^[1] 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. ^[2]

The 2000th Azed puzzle was published on 26 September 2010. The 500th competition puzzle was published on 1 August 2010.