John

Born 1946. Since retiring (maths teacher) have spent an increasing amount of time on crosswords, something that was impossible before – am not in the sub-ten minutes league and probably never will be. Do The Times every day (more often than not in over half an hour), also an assortment of other puzzles. Have been doing Azed monthly for some years and entering his clue-setting competitions, occasionally with some success (I even won once, have had 36 VHCs and 138 HCs — yes, I keep a record, sad isn't it) but not enough for my liking. I've set a few crosswords: five in Oxford Today, a few on Derek Harrison's website, and five in The Independent, under the name Vernon. Also play a lot of chess and golf, although as I age I'm getting weaker at both.

Independent 9,294 by Vigo

Thu July 28, 2016 at 9:27 am by John

When I saw that this was by Vigo I thought that something similar to what happened recently was going to take place: I was going to be blogging a crossword about which I was less than enthusiastic, while the great body of opinion was largely in favour. But no, on the first count, anyway. I’m very enthusiastic about this crossword, which seems to be to be just right for a daily cryptic: not too hard but not a gimme either, with some good clues and the whole thing a pleasant experience. Whether the great body of opinion will be largely in favour we have yet to see, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it is.

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Independent 9,289 by Phi

Fri July 22, 2016 at 9:33 am by John

The usual nice crossword from Phi today, with some excellent clues, such as 7ac and 1dn. I am a little unsure about 13dn, which will I’m sure be explained in due course.

Independent 9,280 by Scorpion

Tue July 12, 2016 at 10:18 am by John

Scorpion is never all that easy, but this wasn’t too bad. There were still several clues that detained me, but apart from one or two minor quibbles, everything seems to be fair.

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Independent 9,275 by Knut

Wed July 6, 2016 at 1:05 pmWed July 6, 2016 at 10:30 am by John

There are two clues here that are as good as any you ever see.

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AZED 2,299

Sun July 3, 2016 at 12:24 am by John

As always Azed provides a masterclass in clueing: not always the most riveting surfaces or constructions, but everything utterly sound.

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Independent 9,270 by Monk

Thu June 30, 2016 at 9:50 am by John

As usual a good crossword from Monk today. His mistake (I assume, using the authority of Google) in 18ac is perhaps a slight blemish but otherwise there is the usual range of nice clues, some of them setting me back for longer than I would like. But we can’t all be speed solvers, can we.

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Independent 9,265 by Phi

Fri June 24, 2016 at 9:45 am by John

A Phi crossword of medium difficulty, I found, although it all seems perfectly straighforward now. The mark of a good setter, they say.

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Independent 9,256 by Lohengrin

Tue June 14, 2016 at 10:29 am by John

Most of this Lohengrin crossword is fine; indeed I suspect more than most of it is fine, but I’m bewildered by one or two of the clues, as I make clear I hope in the blog. There were some imaginative anagram and inclusion indicators — nothing wrong so far as I can see, simply unusual.

Independent 9,251 by Quixote

Wed June 8, 2016 at 9:30 am by John

For some time this week I have been struggling to produce anything like a half-decent clue in a certain clue-setting competition. Yet Quixote, who sets several crosswords weekly, produces smooth and efficient clues that certainly look as if they are written easily. There is seldom any strain or ‘well, I’m not sure I’d have done that …’ at any point.

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Independent 9,246 by Morph

Thu June 2, 2016 at 9:51 am by John

Morph has given us his usual very sound and pleasant crossword. It was always my impression that Morph’s clues were on the wordy side, but I counted them (yes I really did, I have to admit) and the average word-length of each clue is only 7, which compares quite favourably with Dean Mayer’s last Sunday Times puzzle of 6.8. I had always thought that Dean’s clues were particularly pithy, but this one was not all that far behind. Anyway, perhaps it’s a bit silly to focus on length: quality is what it’s about, and there was plenty of quality here.

Independent 9,241 by Phi

Fri May 27, 2016 at 9:45 am by John

A nicely-accessible Phi today. I had no major problems with it.

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AZED 2,293

Sun May 22, 2016 at 12:05 am by John

Nothing really to say. The usual excellent display of sound clue-setting from Azed. I can’t understand what is given in the paper and on the site as 33ac but is really 35ac, but no doubt someone will explain.

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Independent 9,232 by Hob

Tue May 17, 2016 at 11:30 amTue May 17, 2016 at 10:02 am by John

A pleasant and accessible crossword from Hob. Apart from one or two little things that I don’t quite understand, all seems to be fairly straightforward.

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Independent 9,227 by Quixote

Wed May 11, 2016 at 10:15 am by John

The usual very satisfactory crossword from Quixote, despite my misgivings about 22dn. Just as Phi does a crossword for the BBC Music Magazine and so his clues often have musical references, so Quixote is the crossword editor of The Church Times and he tends to use ecclesiastical ideas more often than the average. And it wouldn’t be a Quixote without at least one rare word, possibly two: here they are at 1dn and 20dn.

Independent 9,222 by Klingsor

Thu May 5, 2016 at 10:32 am by John

The love affair with Klingsor continues. He must be wondering if there are any other bloggers. But as I have said before from my point of view this is fine. As always he has given us a nice sound crossword with consistently good clues.