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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 7094 (Prize Puzzle 11 July) by Radian

Fri July 17, 2009 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

09:00 Saturday morning, 11th July, before I had gone out to buy the Independent,  there was a news item on the radio that indicated it was 150 years to the day since the … Read more >>

Categories Independent 2 Comments

Inquisitor 130 – CINEMA CLASH by Lato

Fri July 3, 2009 at 7:35 am by duncanshiell

When I see the word ‘Cinema’ in a crossword title I tend to go Ugh! as I am not film literate. However, as is often the case with barred cryptics, the title turned … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 8 Comments

Inquisitor 126 – Fatal Attraction by Ikela

Fri June 5, 2009 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

The preamble to this puzzle was fairly complicated and needed reading a two or three times before I got it clear in my mind as there was reference to clued entries, unclued entries, … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 10 Comments

Guardian Genius 71 by Enigmatist

Sun June 28, 2009 at 11:56 amSun May 31, 2009 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

This was a entertaining, but aggressive crossword that took longer than it should have because I had  the wrong answer at 18d (KEG) for a while.  I thought to begin with that 18d was … Read more >>

Categories Guardian Genius 10 Comments

Independent Prize Crossword 7051 by Monk (23 May 2009)

Fri May 29, 2009 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

A tricky challenge from Monk that took me a little while to solve.  The clues were fair and the surfaces were excellent, but some of the answers or definitions were fairly obscure – … Read more >>

Categories Independent 2 Comments

Inquisitor 122 – Papa by Phi

Fri May 8, 2009 at 7:32 am by duncanshiell

The preamble stated that ‘eight double clues lead to two solutions (two of two words); straddling the two in the order presented is a thematic word.  The thematic words (one of two words) … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 7 Comments

Independent 7028 / Mordred (Prize Puzzle 25-04-09)

Fri May 1, 2009 at 8:02 amFri May 1, 2009 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

My first attempt at blogging a daily crossword, having previously blogged The Inquisitor regularly and Guardian Genius (once so far). I thought the clueing in this crossword was elegant with a number of … Read more >>

Categories Independent 4 Comments

Inquisitor 118 – Crazy Couple by Poat

Fri April 10, 2009 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

We were told that wordplay in twelve clues was deficient by a single letter, the omissions making an arrangement for what the couple failed to provide when it was first demanded. Further, solvers … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 8 Comments

Inquisitor 114 – Monkey Runs by Dysart

Fri March 13, 2009 at 7:35 am by duncanshiell

We were told that the initial letters of extra words in twenty-two (of forty-seven) clues would spell out the source of a quotation explaining what happens to seven answers. These initial letters would … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 4 Comments

Inquisitor 110 – Tragedy by Schadenfreude

Fri February 13, 2009 at 7:35 am by duncanshiell

On my last blog, Inquisitor 106, Pared Down by Kea, I commented that I was lucky to have to blog only twenty-one clues. I shouldn’t have celebrated so much as I have lurched … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 3 Comments

Inquisitor 106 – Pared Down by Kea

Fri January 16, 2009 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

There was a very short preamble on this puzzle – ‘each Across clue contains an extraneous definition of one of the Down Clues, which are otherwise unclued’. There were twenty-one Across clues. A … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 4 Comments

Inquisitor 104: Merry-Go-Round by Eddie

Fri January 2, 2009 at 7:30 am by duncanshiell

The preamble stated that five words (one in a shortened form) of a song title would be spelled out in clue order, by single extra letters generated by wordplay in each of 25 … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 4 Comments

Inquisitor 103 – The Top Ten by Charybdis

Fri December 26, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

Solvers were told that nine clue-answers had to be jumbled to form new real-word grid entries. We were also told that the first letters of these nine clues would spell a word, referred … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 2 Comments

Inquisitor 102 – Responsibility by Kruger

Fri December 19, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

I have certainly increased my knowledge of obscure Gods and Goddesses from different mythologies as a result of this puzzle, but am very grateful that I had a copy of the specific reference … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 2 Comments

Inquisitor 101 – HKL by Raich

Fri December 12, 2008 at 7:00 am by duncanshiell

I suspect this puzzle should have been published the previous week rather than the 29th November when it did see the light of day. It obviously got bounced by Inquisitor 100 with its … Read more >>

Categories Inquisitor 2 Comments
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