duncanshiell's avatarduncanshiell

Born in 1948. I retired from full-time work in May 2007, after 37 years with Ordnance Survey and associated bodies and now have time to devote to crosswords, something not available for many years. Product of 17 years in the Scottish education system, but lived overseas or in southern England for virtually all of the time thereafter. I moved back to Scotland in 2010. Regular road runner and recently returned to orienteering and golf after a 35 year gap. Developed interested in cryptic crosswords in the mid 1960s (Scotsman, Sunday Express skeleton), but working overseas and then raising a family, meant dropping out of crossword solving for about 30 years. Now a regular solver of Times, Guardian, Independent, Inquisitor, Listener and Magpie crosswords. Reasonably regular finisher of the first four. Started blogging in late 2007. Any solving ability far outweighs any clueing ability. Krypton Factor contestant 1983; eliminated in the first round, but the obstacle course finish made good television!

Azed 2618

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The Azed crossword is a standard plain puzzle without any of Azed’s special twists. So we just have a well-clued journey through the many words that Chambers Dictionary has on offer. Entries range … Read more >>

Independent 11153 / Hippogryph

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Tuesday’s setter is Hippogryph.  As far as I can see from the fifteensquared search facility, this is Hippogryph’s first foray into weekday Independent setting.  There is one Independent on Sunday puzzle by Hippogryph … Read more >>

Azed 2612

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As is often the case, Azed presents us with a grid having 36 entries.  For this competition puzzle, there is no wordplay for 3 down.  Solvers are asked to submit a clue for … Read more >>