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 surely never will be. Do The Times every day (more often than not in over half an hour), also an assortment of other puzzles. Did Azed monthly for some years and entered his clue-setting competitions, occasionally with some success (I even won once, had 38 VHCs and 140 HCs — yes, I kept 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 8,691 by Phi

Fri November 30, 2018 at 10:11 amFri August 22, 2014 at 10:23 am by John

Phi’s usual excellent offering. Most of these clues can be simply parsed, although they were not all that simple to get in the first place.

The radio this morning said that it was Debussy’s birthday, and knowing Phi’s musical leanings I half expected some reference to this, but I can see none. The checkers at the top and bottom might suggest something, but apparently no. My impression is that Phi started off with intentions for them but gave up and produced a ‘normal’ crossword instead. Probably there is something there, although Phi told us recently that his crosswords often contained no Nina.

Independent 8,682 by Hob

Wed August 13, 2014 at 10:56 pmTue August 12, 2014 at 10:34 am by John

As the laws of probability dictate, it sometimes happens that it falls to me, the most inappropriate person, to blog this sort of crossword. Hob has given us a crossword based on the 20 … Read more >>

Independent 8,677 by Dac

Wed August 6, 2014 at 10:29 am by John

An unremarkable crossword from Dac. By which I don’t mean that it is less than excellent, simply that it is just as usual. Nice clues, all so far as I can see perfectly sound.

I found this on the easy side for a Dac.

Independent 8672/Donk

Thu July 31, 2014 at 11:05 am by John

As is always the case with Donk a wonderfully imaginative crossword. One often struggles to understand how a clue works (in some cases here I’m afraid without complete resolution) and then says “My goodness, … Read more >>

Independent 8,667 by Phi

Fri November 9, 2018 at 9:30 amFri July 25, 2014 at 10:23 am by John

As always, a neat and pleasant crossword from Phi, with not a superfluous word so far as I can see (except perhaps in 4dn). I can’t quite see 16dn, but no doubt there will be plenty of suggestions.

Yesterday’s plea for fewer Ninas and more vanilla crosswords seems to have been answered very quickly. But a) if it is Nina-free then this is obviously a coincidence and b) I expect it isn’t really Nina-free. It seldom is with Phi.

Definitions underlined.

AZED 2,197

Sun July 20, 2014 at 12:05 am by John

How Azed produces these grids I just don’t know. He doesn’t so far as I know use technology but compiles them neatly in an exercise book, something that I would find virtually impossible. He sticks comfortably to the Ximenean advice about unchecked letters in words and both grid and clues are full of words that require a close examination of Chambers. Amazing, week after week.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,658 by Phi

Fri October 19, 2018 at 11:24 amTue July 15, 2014 at 10:21 am by John

When I saw that Phi was appearing on a Tuesday I expected a crossword in his slightly harder mode than usual, which we sometimes see in other places. But no, it seems his regular Friday crossword has simply been shunted to Tuesday.

Why this has happened is anyone’s guess. I won’t even think about what it might be. It’s probably the anniversary of some group’s first no. 1 or something.

As always almost everything seems to be immaculate, with the usual crop of excellent clues. The only problem is my failing to see a Nina. But that’s usual, especially with Phi.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,653 by Dac

Wed July 9, 2014 at 10:22 am by John

As usual of course. When is Dac ever anything but as usual? Such simply-constructed clues, nothing remotely tortuous.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,648 by Monk

Thu July 3, 2014 at 11:01 am by John

This is getting silly. Monk is a mathematician and so is no doubt well aware of the probabilities, but his last four Independent crosswords have all been blogged by me. How likely was that? He’s probably getting rather tired of this, but I’m not, for his crosswords are always good. Tough, though, especially this one, where I had to admit defeat on one clue.

The letters around the outside suggest a Nina of some sort, but I can find nothing except the word ‘orgy’ on the right, which is perhaps a coincidence. But I did find ‘Placebo’ in the second row of unches, then further down ‘Brian Molko’. I imagined that Monk had a friend called Brian Molko who was involved in medical research, but a little Googling quickly revealed my disgraceful ignorance. Evidently they are a group and BM is their lead vocalist and guitarist. No doubt their songs are placed around the answers, but I leave that to you since I can’t find any album names or singles there.

Definitions underlined (except for one of them (5dn, which is fortunately obvious) which I forgot when doing the blog and can’t now recover).

Independent 8,643 by Phi

Fri September 28, 2018 at 9:33 amFri June 27, 2014 at 11:31 am by John

Phi’s usual sound and pleasant crossword. I found this slightly harder than usual for him, which explains the rather late posting. Also there were a few parsings which only became clear once I actually wrote up the blog.

All the loose ends round the outside suggest a Nina, but apparently not. No doubt there is something subtle and for me quite undiscoverable.

Definitions underlined. At least so far as I can see.

Independent 8,634 by Morph

Tue June 17, 2014 at 10:42 am by John

Despite the fact that I had to use Google to be sure of the various references to 1/18Ds, with the initial letter in lower case so as to become more general than that building to which tourists and black birds flock, I found this to be more straightforward than some of Morph’s crosswords. Which is not to say that it wasn’t good. It was.

Definitions in italics (although the 1/18D references are also definitions in a way, they are not in italics).

Independent 8629 / Dac

Wed June 11, 2014 at 9:41 am by John

He keeps on doing it week after week. At no point in this crossword are there anything but super-smooth surfaces and utterly sound clueing. I once likened Dac to Mozart, which may be … Read more >>

AZED 2,191

Sun June 8, 2014 at 12:05 am by John

The usual solid workout from Azed. In his clue-setting competitions, there is an extraordinary preponderance of comp. anags. but in his own crosswords he has apparently only had one or at most two. Until now, and I don’t remember three before.

Definitions underlined.

Independent 8,624 by Monk

Thu June 5, 2014 at 10:07 am by John

Poor old Monk must be getting quite tired of having his crosswords blogged by me —this seems to be his fourth since December that I’ve blogged — especially since I always go on so about CDs and less than 50% checking (as in five answers here). But these blemishes (?) apart I feel pretty positive about this. Monk is one of my favourite setters and many of these answers are very nice and can be explained simply and clearly in one line.

I found this on the hard side and by the time I’d finished was so relieved that I couldn’t bring myself to look for a Nina. This I will leave to you, dear reader.

Definitions in italics (but in the case of 21ac, where in any case I’m not certain of the definition, I’ll insert italics as in the clue, which refers I think to a book title that I haven’t been able to trace).

Independent 8,619 by Phi

Fri August 24, 2018 at 5:08 pmFri May 30, 2014 at 10:34 am by John

Phi is approaching Dac status: it is hard to find new things to say about him, because his crosswords are always so good and sound and there are hardly any points where you have any doubts.

I have looked for ages at the completed grid, and apart from the fact that at one point in the unches you can read “he did us”, which is probably just chance, I can see nothing. Unless this is some reference to the book and Conan Doyle, which doesn’t seem to be the case. But knowing Phi there will be something.

Definitions in italics.