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!

Independent 9008 / Phi

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It’s Friday – it’s Phi with a fairly typical broadsheet puzzle.       Even although it’s Phi I can’t see any obvious theme or message this week.  Yes, there were a couple … Read more >>

Independent 8999 / Kairos

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Kairos’s monthly appearance today – always good fun.       We got our money’s worth today.  You don’t often see 36 clues in a daily broadsheet puzzle.  Often, an increased number of … Read more >>

Azed 2253

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A plain Azed this week, but one that I enjoyed.       It felt a bit like a home town crossword with the reference to Jedburgh.  I have lived in Jedburgh for … Read more >>

Azed 2247

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A plain Azed this week with plenty of evidence of Azed lovingly lifting the most obscure definitions out of Chambers dictionary       There is one clue that I can’t parse – … Read more >>