Clever ways of removing candle wax, particularly from a non-flat surface?

I love candles, but candle wax stains bother me. There’s the round and thick kind that’s nice and easy to peel off, but also the flat, crumbly kind that you’d have to scratch away flake by flake and you’ll never get it all off.
Are there any neat tricks for removing that?

I know about a trick involving a clothes iron on top of absorbent paper, but that won’t be very practical for cleaning something like my candlestick saucer, for example.
(I know, my desk is a cluttered mess, shaddap.)

Are there any other clever tricks?