John's avatarJohn

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 8069/Phi

by

The usual pleasant solve from Phi today. I found it all fairly straightforward and have no major questions, except that the unchecked letters round the sides suggest that there is a Nina here, which … Read more >>

Independent 8055/Dac

by

As usual … Does Dac ever depart from his high standards? Across 1 W AVER 4 MISS (JUL 1) E{uropean} — the play by Strindberg 9 ARNOLD BAX — {p}a{t}r{o}n old “backs” 10 … Read more >>

Azed 2095

by

A fairly typical Azed plain; nothing much to say, simply sound clueing of course and one or two rather thin surfaces but many good ones. On the website at any rate (I don’t … Read more >>

Independent 8050/Monk

by

A good crossword from Monk today. I don’t know if I’m getting better at his crosswords (doubtful really) or if he’s becoming a bit kinder. Certainly there used to be a time when … Read more >>

Independent 8045/Koroi

by

Yet another new setter in the Indy apparently. When I saw that it wasn’t the usual Phi, who is no doubt going to appear tomorrow, I had slight fears that it might be … Read more >>

Independent 8036/Anax

by

As usual a nice crossword from Anax, with some excellent clues and what one expects in the way of original ideas for wordplay. The fact that four of the answers have less than … Read more >>

Independent 8031/Dac

by

As usual from Dac, an impressive contribution. Several of these clues have an &lit. quality (and quality is the word), so many in fact that while solving one tends to say “I can’t see … Read more >>

Independent 8021/Phi

by

One of those themed crosswords that takes a long time to start if you don’t immediately see the gateway clue (as I have discovered it’s called; in this case 5dn). Then much of … Read more >>

Azed 2089

by

A rare special on a non-competition day, which was a very pleasant exercise — I don’t remember seeing this type of crossword before and I found solving tricky, not for all the usual … Read more >>

Independent 8012/Tees

by

An excellent workout from Tees today. The theme is the long clue 3/22/9/20, and the unchecked letters on the left-hand and right-hand sides of the grid, which I saw fairly early in the … Read more >>