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 8270/Dac

Wed April 17, 2013 at 10:30 am by John

Yesterday ‘the Thatcher tribute puzzle’ was referred to but K’s D said that we could rest easy (and he was quite right). I have to be out later, so got up well in … Read more >>

Azed 2131 — ‘Right & Left’

Sun April 14, 2013 at 12:02 am by John

A nice crossword of the type that Azed often sets. The preamble states “Apart from 1 Across, which is normal, each clue is really two clues, side by side but not overlapping, the … Read more >>

Independent 8265/Anax

Thu April 11, 2013 at 11:34 am by John

As we always expect nowadays, a thoroughly good workout from Anax that I thought was, for him, on the marginally easy side. The clues are tight and efficient and some of them quite … Read more >>

Independent 8260/Phi

Fri August 25, 2017 at 4:59 pmFri April 5, 2013 at 11:14 am by John

The usual excellent crossword from Phi. I took a bit longer than usual to get started, but once afloat all was well and the typically sound clueing didn’t hold me back too much. … Read more >>

Independent 8251/Raich

Tue March 26, 2013 at 11:16 pmTue March 26, 2013 at 10:39 am by John

A pleasant solve from Raich. As always one or two of the clues were very simple, which is no bad thing, but a few were a little tricky. I think I have it all explained but … Read more >>

Independent 8246/Dac

Wed March 20, 2013 at 10:50 am by John

As happens on many Wednesdays, we have a neat and perfectly-formed object. You wouldn’t think that such excellent surfaces were possible from the simple material used. Across 1 HO AXER 4 ROASTING — … Read more >>

Independent 8241/Tyrus

Thu March 14, 2013 at 12:03 pm by John

Rather late today I’m afraid for various reasons, not the least of which was that this was hard; for me, at any rate, although it all (or nearly all) makes sense now and … Read more >>

Independent 8236/Phi

Fri August 18, 2017 at 2:00 pmFri March 8, 2013 at 11:21 am by John

The usual good crossword from Phi that I found a bit harder than usual. I’m still quite lost on 25ac and would be grateful for some help here: it will surely be forthcoming … Read more >>

Azed 2125

Sun March 3, 2013 at 12:05 am by John

As always a thoroughly satisfactory crossword from Azed. Quite apart from the quality of the clues, I am always impressed with his grids. More often than not, it seems, he has answers straddling … Read more >>

Independent 8227/Raich

Tue February 26, 2013 at 11:11 am by John

What a relief for a blogger it is to find that it is a Raich day, although last time he appeared he was harder than usual. This was back to Raich as he was … Read more >>

Independent 8222/Dac

Wed February 20, 2013 at 11:57 amWed February 20, 2013 at 11:15 am by John

Sorry this is a bit late, at any rate later than it would have been. The online crossword when I switched on around 9.00 was yesterday’s Tees, so I had to go out … Read more >>

Independent 8217/Eimi

Thu February 14, 2013 at 10:36 am by John

There I was when I found a word repeated in the answers thinking that Eimi had been a bit repetitive, and quite failing to realise that today has a special meaning (although, to … Read more >>

Independent 8212/Phi

Fri February 8, 2013 at 10:57 am by John

There are two ways in which Phi has departed from the norm today: when I first looked at the grid and saw the long across one to begin with and the little bit … Read more >>

Independent 8203/Anax

Tue January 29, 2013 at 11:27 am by John

Yes I was right yesterday when I posted and said that I suspected the Raich crossword was easier than whatever I was going to be blogging today, but although this was on the tricky side all … Read more >>

Independent 8198/Dac

Wed January 23, 2013 at 10:27 pmWed January 23, 2013 at 10:49 am by John

The usual excellent puzzle from Dac. No problems that I could see — some might object to his use of r = recipe, but that seems to me to be quite OK — … Read more >>