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 7839/Tees

Wed November 30, 2011 at 1:50 am by John

Dac is presumably going to appear on Saturday, and instead of a fairly easy task I found that we have a setter with whom I usually have some trouble. But either I’m getting … Read more >>

Azed 2060 — Eightsome Reels

Sun November 27, 2011 at 12:02 am by John

Azed produces these specials on non-competition days from time to time. This is one of his regulars, none the worse for that. I found that it was possible to get started by solving … Read more >>

Independent 7834/Mordred

Thu November 24, 2011 at 11:09 am by John

A good crossword from Mordred today, although there was in my opinion too much checking of less than 50%, including two of the dreaded 2 out of 5s. Otherwise nothing very controversial I … Read more >>

Independent 7829/Phi

Fri November 18, 2011 at 11:16 am by John

One of those crosswords that repeatedly refers to a single clue, so one’s rate of progress depends on how quickly this clue is solved. 8 is quite easy, so the only difficulty was … Read more >>

Independent 7820/Anax

Tue November 8, 2011 at 5:50 pmTue November 8, 2011 at 2:18 am by John

An easier, certainly less daunting, than usual offering from Anax, with the usual assortment of quite brilliant clues. He has produced a rather weird crossword in which eight of the clues 1/3 across. … Read more >>

Independent 7815/Dac

Wed November 2, 2011 at 11:49 am by John

Everything a bit late this morning. Usually I do it online either soon after midnight or first thing the following morning, but with the website still giving us crosswords that seem to bear … Read more >>

Independent 7810/Tees

Thu October 27, 2011 at 6:02 pmThu October 27, 2011 at 12:23 pm by John

Some excellent clues in a very nice crossword today from Tees. One or two of them I couldn’t understand properly but I suspect that as usual all will be made clear. My apologies … Read more >>

Independent 7805/Phi

Fri October 21, 2011 at 1:18 am by John

Phi has as usual produced a very pleasing crossword, perhaps on the easier side — at any rate I found it to be so, although whether or not a crossword is easy seems … Read more >>

Azed 2054

Sun October 16, 2011 at 12:02 am by John

The usual thing: utterly sound clues and much struggling with words that one suspects will not for ever be retained by the Chambers Dictionary. Across 1 WALDRAPP — (law)rev. drapp{ie} — a drappie … Read more >>

Independent 7796/Eimi

Tue October 11, 2011 at 10:39 am by John

It seems to be ages since Eimi appeared, certainly ages since I blogged one of his crosswords. Everything was fairly easy today and it wasn’t the agonising Tuesday experience that I’d been fearing. … Read more >>

Independent 7791/Dac

Wed October 5, 2011 at 11:02 am by John

As usual a near-perfect crossword from Dac. Week after week he goes on producing these masterpieces. There is hardly anything here — so far as I can see — which calls for much comment … Read more >>

Independent 7786/Anax

Thu September 29, 2011 at 11:38 am by John

My apologies if this blog is on the late side. Having done the crossword by about 1 am, I managed to wipe it by mistake and when I tried to get back into … Read more >>

Independent 7781/Phi

Fri September 23, 2011 at 1:47 am by John

As usual a very nice crossword from Phi. Nothing very controversial I think. With Z, J and V clearly visible I suspected a pangram, but I can’t see a Q or an X. Across 8 … Read more >>

Independent 7772/Tyrus

Tue September 13, 2011 at 2:38 am by John

Phew. This was hard. I laboured over it and only got there in the end after giving up at times and pressing Reveal. If I hadn’t I’d have been up all night and you would … Read more >>

Independent 7767/Dac

Wed September 7, 2011 at 2:03 am by John

The usual outstanding crossword from Dac. Lovely smooth surfaces and so far as I can see nothing remotely controversial. Across 1 EMI(GRAN)T 6 FOSTER — 2 defs, one of which refers to Lord … Read more >>