duncanshiell

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!

Inquisitor 1389: Who Ya Gonna Call? by Kandy

Thu June 18, 2015 at 4:06 pmWed June 17, 2015 at 12:01 am by duncanshiell

This is Kandy’s first outing in the Inquisitor series. For some reason, I have a suspicion that this is a collaborative name. I am always suspicious that way when I see AND in … Read more >>

Independent 8941 / Nestor

Thu June 11, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

A puzzle from Nestor is always an enjoyable challenge There were a number of clues with complex wordplay. Regular readers of my blogs will know that I am partial to … Read more >>

Independent 8936 / Hob

Fri June 5, 2015 at 2:20 pmFri June 5, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

Hob is a once a month setter on the Independent weekday series. This was a puzzle that looked as it might have had a theme given the number of possible … Read more >>

Independent 8927 / Raich

Tue May 26, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

I haven’t blogged a Raich puzzle for a while so it was good to see his name against today’s puzzle Raich is a man for a theme and today was … Read more >>

Azed 2241

Sun May 24, 2015 at 10:28 amSun May 24, 2015 at 12:01 am by duncanshiell

A plain Azed this week with its usual precise cluing leading to a mix of common and obscure words. I was held up for a while with the misdirection at … Read more >>

Independent 8922 / Dac

Wed May 20, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

Dac’s strength lies in his very subtle misdirection through the surface reading of his clues. The wordplay in Dac’s clues is very rarely complex although there were a couple of … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1385: ICE by Schadenfreude

Wed May 20, 2015 at 12:01 am by duncanshiell

The sight of the name Schadenfreude tends to strike fear into the mind of a blogger when he or she first sees it as the setter of puzzle to be blogged, but there is … Read more >>

Independent 8917 / Tyrus

Thu May 14, 2015 at 8:48 amThu May 14, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

Tyrus has given us a good challenge today with only one entry that I don’t remember coming across before. The one word that was new to me was ALAMEDA at … Read more >>

Independent 8912 / Phi

Fri August 30, 2019 at 9:04 amFri May 8, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

If you are still awake after staying up all night to watch the Election results, Phi has given us a good sound Friday crossword. I can’t see any obvious theme. … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1383: Pub Crawl by Wan

Wed May 6, 2015 at 12:01 am by duncanshiell

Ken Mackenzie asked for a stand-in to do this week’s Inquisitor blog, hence another appearance from me out of the normal four week cycle. There was a fairly short preamble to this … Read more >>

Independent 8903 / Tees

Tue April 28, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

Tees makes his monthly appearance today. There was a clear theme today with the many references to Margaret (MAGGIE) THATCHER and incidents in her political career. There is no obvious … Read more >>

Independent 8898 / Dac

Wed April 22, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

It’s mid month, it’s a Wednesday, it’s going to be a puzzle from Dac. There were a couple of clues today where I had to go beyond three colours when … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1381: Scare by Kruger

Wed April 22, 2015 at 12:01 am by duncanshiell

This Inquisitor by Kruger had a fairly short preamble. The definition in each clue contains a single letter misprint. In order, the correct letters give words associated with a series … Read more >>

Independent 8893 / Nestor

Thu April 16, 2015 at 6:03 pmThu April 16, 2015 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

Nestor is an irregular contributor to the Independent weekday series. He is more often seen at weekends. This was a puzzle I returned to a few times before I cracked … Read more >>

Azed 2235

Sun April 12, 2015 at 12:01 am by duncanshiell

Given that this puzzle was published on Easter Sunday I was expecting an Azed special, so I was slightly surprised to see just a plain Competition puzzle. There was the … Read more >>