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 8,815 by Nimrod

Thu January 15, 2015 at 10:19 pmThu January 15, 2015 at 11:05 am by John

What you always get with Nimrod, although I must admit that I tend not to do his crosswords nowadays since they are so difficult and I also usually end up being a bit irritated by something, but this time I had to see it through: quite extraordinarily difficult, for some reason, but some imaginative and brilliant clues.

This puzzle had a rather strange grid, which suggests that it was like this for a reason, but that reason is beyond me. Perhaps it was just because Nimrod didn’t want to go down the evil path of having less than 50% checking.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,810 by Phi

Fri April 19, 2019 at 9:09 amFri January 9, 2015 at 10:39 am by John

Phi’s crosswords are almost like Dac’s: there is really very little to say, because all the clues are straightforward and have a nice surface. One can talk about the Nina, but in Phi’s case either — and this is quite often — he doesn’t have one, or it hardly cries out to me and I lazily prefer to let others find it.

Definitions underlined.

AZED 2,221

Sun January 4, 2015 at 12:05 am by John

Something very odd has happened this week. The paper and originally the website printed a totally irrelevant clue for 20ac, with Azed’s clue provided (hastily?) after a day or two. Also the website had some extraordinary glitches: it put (5) (5) after 25ac, (7) (7) after 18dn, and (6) (6) after 22dn. Also, 10dn was given as (7) instead of (5), and — at any rate by Tuesday — this hadn’t been corrected.

Which didn’t detract from the usual pleasant solving experience. Everything was straightforward enough and it was obvious what the mistakes were. Azed’s clues are in retrospect nearly always easy to solve: they are difficult simply because they use words that are, to say the least, outside one’s normal experience. This doesn’t take away from their quality, though.

As usual some dictionary research will be needed by you, dear reader, if you are to understand eveything about all the clues. I have underlined the definitions.

Independent 8,801 by Tees

Tue December 30, 2014 at 10:51 am by John

Tees does sometimes test us to the limits (all right, he did here for me with 16dn, although that was just my fault) but in this enjoyable crossword, with clues that are all so far as I can see good and interesting despite my misgivings about 24dn, he has been fairly gentle to us.

The simple theme uses the unches at the top and bottom and near the sides. In these types of Nina we usually see the unches at the very left and right, not as here, but perhaps it’s easier to fill a more conventional grid.

Definitions underlined

Independent 8,797 by Hieroglyph

Wed December 24, 2014 at 10:02 am by John

All the time that I was doing this the answers seemed to be clear enough, all of a piece with 9ac, and I was telling myself that the meaning of CA would eventually appear. But it wasn’t until quite long after finishing that I realised that CA was 100 Acres, 100 Acre Wood, the place where Pooh and his friends live. I’m not an expert on W-the-P, having unfortunately missed out on it in my childhood, but over the years all the names have become familiar — except for 6dn.

I’ve only just realised (after writing a long paragraph saying that I couldn’t understand ‘would say’) that ‘CA would, say’ is a homophone of ‘CA wood’. Why 6dn has commas but the others don’t is a mystery, though.

But I still can’t see the connection with today. It doesn’t seem to be any significant Pooh anniversary. Is it a non-Christmas crossword? Or, which is far more likely, am I missing something?

A nice crossword from Hieroglyph. Perhaps there are rather a lot of letters indicated by the first or last letters of words, but then perhaps that is the devilish intention.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,792 by Crosophile

Thu December 18, 2014 at 11:00 am by John

Initially I felt ill-disposed towards this, because of my obsession (some would call it a hang-up) with less than 50% checking, something that appears several times in the grid. But actually this is a perfectly pleasant crossword with some nice clues.

The inadequate (in my opinion) checking is sometimes excusable if there is a Nina and the setter is trying to get normal words into the grid. But in this case the Nina (which for once I’ve seen, although perhaps there is more) is fairly simple: look at the seven-letter words going diagonally from top to left, top to right, etc in the grid. They are all of a kind, and, further, the shape of the words surrounds something that may also be regarded as one of these.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,787 by Phi

Fri March 15, 2019 at 8:35 amFri December 12, 2014 at 10:46 am by John

As usual with Phi I was a little slow to get started as few answers seemed to be obvious, but once going it all seemed clear enough. And then I came to a long halt with the last three, 21ac, 19dn and 22dn, which wouldn’t budge. The somewhat unusual sense of ‘clipped’ is my excuse; although it isn’t perhaps all that unusual, being the first item in the second Chambers definition.

In the end it was the usual very pleasant Phi experience. Lots of single-letter abbreviations here: is this a theme? (l = league, d = depth, f = farthing, n = note, E = European, r = runs, h = hard, n = name, m = millions, o = old, s = son, again n = note, and perhaps others I’ve missed.)

The unches at the top and the bottom spell out two words which no doubt send us to some series of books that escape my experience.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 9,778 by Radian

Tue December 2, 2014 at 10:31 am by John

Three checked letters in a seven-letter answer is bad enough; two in a five-letter answer is even worse. Unless, some say, Radian has been constrained by a Nina and has been forced to use answers of this type. If he has (and of course I can’t see it) then perhaps this is justified. And anyway it’s only my view (but also that of some eminent others, I might add).

Pity, because much of this crossword is good, and there are some excellent clues. I particularly enjoyed 1dn.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,773 by Quixote

Wed November 26, 2014 at 11:46 amWed November 26, 2014 at 10:24 am by John

It seems that Quixote is now doing the Wednesday crossword on the days (the last Wednesdays of the month) that Dac isn’t doing it, and there is no noticeable diminution of quality. Everything here is very clear and efficient and as with Dac I expect few to have much to say.

AZED 2,215

Sun November 23, 2014 at 1:30 am by John

A standard and typically sound and pleasant Plain from Azed this week. Most of the clues allow a very straightforward and brief parsing. One or two of his ways are a bit beyond me, and 8dn is completely beyond me, but I trust someone will explain.

As usual I won’t trouble you with explanations of the rare words: they are all there in Chambers.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,768 by Monk

Thu November 20, 2014 at 10:28 am by John

Monk’s customarily efficient and elegant crossword today. I get the impression that he is appearing in the Indy more often than he has, which is good news.

One or two are beyond me a bit, but no doubt someone will come to the rescue.

This seems to contain a personal message: read down the unches on the left, then the horizontal unches in the middle, then the unches on the right.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,763 by Phi

Fri March 29, 2019 at 12:11 pmFri November 14, 2014 at 10:31 am by John

The usual pleasant crossword from Phi, as always I find a bit slow to begin with but eventually all quite smooth. There seem to be lots of anagrams and part-anagrams here, which make it easier for the solver, and some of them are very obviously anagrams (as in 26ac).

The two words 3dn and 14dn are a sort of mini-Nina, having a similarity of shape to the things they signify, but no doubt there is more …

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,754 by Radian

Tue November 4, 2014 at 10:36 am by John

One of Radian’s best. I enjoyed this, just the right level of difficulty for me. There was enough to make you think a bit, but the setter loses gracefully, and does so without any lingering feeling of irritation at not being quite able to see how something worked: everything seems sound and of a good standard. Some of the indicators of anagrams, inclusions and reversals were unusual, but they were all fine in my opinion.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,749 by Quixote

Wed October 29, 2014 at 10:56 amWed October 29, 2014 at 1:31 am by John

Quixote’s usual very satisfactory and sound crossword, a good replacement when there is no Dac on a Wednesday.

Definitions (apart from in 1ac, which I’m not sure about) underlined. [I wasn’t sure about it, but I am now, so the definition is underlined]

Independent 8,744 by Klingsor

Thu October 23, 2014 at 10:57 pmThu October 23, 2014 at 11:08 am by John

I always enjoy Klingsor’s crosswords. They provide quite a 26a but all is fair and amusing and one can always explain the clues afterwards: indeed, judging by the number of answers written down for me to look at and work out the parsing, the answers are often ahead of their explanation.

There may well be a Nina here but, surprise surprise, it’s quite lost on me. There looked as if there might possibly be a pangram, but some letters are missing. With these rather demanding crosswords I’m always so relieved to complete them that the final flourish is beyond me.

Definitions underlined.