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 1189: Banker by Lato

Wed August 17, 2011 at 2:00 am by duncanshiell

The preamble seemed quite complex on the first read through. It stated “possible associations (not themselves in the grid) of eight unclued entries must be correctly paired. Each pair is then completed by … Read more >>

Independent 7740 – Saturday 6 August 2011 – Tyrus

Sat August 13, 2011 at 2:00 am by duncanshiell

IThis puzzle was published on the first weekend of the new Football League season in England. A new team in League 2 was AFC Wimbledon. This was the club that was formed when … Read more >>

Guardian 25,397 / Crucible

Wed August 10, 2011 at 4:14 pmWed August 10, 2011 at 9:55 am by duncanshiell

The appearance of a Crucible puzzle in The Guardian today was flagged in the Fifteensquared comments on yesterday’s Independent puzzle from Radian. Crucible is The Guardian incarnation of Radian. Perhaps compilers could tell … Read more >>

Azed 2044

Sun August 7, 2011 at 1:00 am by duncanshiell

This is the first AZED puzzle I have blogged. Azed was my introduction to barred puzzles many years ago, but I drifted away as I began to have a go at Listeners and … Read more >>

Guardian 25,383 / Brendan

Mon July 25, 2011 at 9:02 am by duncanshiell

I am standing in this morning for Andrew who is unavailable. I suppose I was expecting a puzzle from Rufus this morning, but as we see, this is an offering from Brendan. It … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1185: Trilogy by Plumrot

Wed July 20, 2011 at 2:00 am by duncanshiell

Plumrot is a new compiler to me so I wasn’t sure what to expect in this puzzle. The grid was a fairly compact 11 * 11 size, presumably to fit with key elements … Read more >>

Guardian 25,377 / Rufus

Mon July 18, 2011 at 8:06 am by duncanshiell

This was a standard Monday offering from Rufus which took longer to blog than it took to solve. However, The Guardian offers puzzles to suit a wide range of solvers during the week. … Read more >>

Independent 7710 – Saturday Prize Puzzle 2 July 2011

Sat July 9, 2011 at 6:06 amSat July 9, 2011 at 2:00 am by duncanshiell

I found this to be at the gentler end of the Nimrod spectrum when I solved it although it became more interesting when I started to blog it and analyse the wordplay properly. … Read more >>

Guardian 25,363 / Boatman

Fri July 1, 2011 at 7:24 am by duncanshiell

I have written this blog fairly early as I will be travelling for most of the day. If the wi-fi on East Coast Mainline works well, I should be able to read comments … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1181: Repetitive Practice by Charybdis

Wed June 22, 2011 at 9:18 pmWed June 22, 2011 at 2:00 am by duncanshiell

The preamble stated that unchecked letters of the 10 unclued grid entries, including mutual crossing letters, spell CELIBATE BEDTIME WEEK. The unclued entries could be described by 13 contiguous cells (3,6,4) which extend … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1177: Problem by Phi

Wed May 25, 2011 at 2:00 am by duncanshiell

Another puzzle, another preamble that has me wondering ‘What?’ on the first run through. In the end though it all made sense. This was a wonderful puzzle which took a couple of days … Read more >>

Guardian 25,326 / Araucaria

Thu May 19, 2011 at 12:18 pmThu May 19, 2011 at 9:24 am by duncanshiell

This was another eclectic offering from Araucaria, with its mix of literary allusions, foreign language, science and geography, all interwoven with the main theme. We were told that the four entries were unoficially … Read more >>

Independent 7650 / Nimrod – Saturday Prize Puzzle 23 April 2011

Sat April 30, 2011 at 10:04 amSat April 30, 2011 at 2:18 am by duncanshiell

Nimrod is one of the most prolific compilers at the moment, under a variety of pseudonyms. He is also Enigmatist in the Guardian, Io in the Financial Times and Elgar in the Daily … Read more >>

Inquisitor 1173: Not Fare by Lato

Wed April 27, 2011 at 2:10 am by duncanshiell

This puzzle had a preamble that I had to read a few times before I really understood it, and even then the whole thing didn’t make complete sense until I had completed the … Read more >>

Guardian 25,305 / Rufus

Mon April 25, 2011 at 7:59 amMon April 25, 2011 at 7:17 am by duncanshiell

As I am double booked with another commitment early this morning, I was a bit worried that Easter Monday was going to produce a Guardian humdinger with a double grid and a complex … Read more >>