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 7451/Nimrod

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All this was far too difficult for me and if it hadn’t been for the reveal function I’m sure I’d never have finished, because there are still several that I can’t understand. The … Read more >>

Independent 7446/Phi

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The usual excellent stuff from Phi. All the clues are neat (those that I can understand, anyway) and the whole thing is very satisfactory. Across 1 CA BAL{l} — or I suppose c a … Read more >>

Independent 7437/Mordred

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All sorts of slightly odd things have occurred recently: Quite often Phi hasn’t been as usual on Fridays, although that is explicable because of the various anniversaries; Virgilius hasn’t appeared on Tuesday for … Read more >>

Independent 7432/Dac

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The usual tightly-constructed crossword from Dac, with all the clues very simple once they’re got, but not always so easy beforehand. Across 1 BASTIA — asti in (AB)rev. 5 FACE MASK — f … Read more >>

Azed 1992

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What you always get from Azed: apparently tortuous clues, but everything’s do-able so long as you persevere with all the wading through Chambers, because all the clueing is completely sound. Across 1 WIT-CRACKER … Read more >>

Independent 7427/Punk

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My impression is that we haven’t seen Punk for a while and if so he makes a welcome return. Some of these clues are memorable, if one could remember them, and my only … Read more >>

Independent 7422/Raich

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A very nice offering from Raich, who has been an excellent addition to the Independent stable this year. I even saw the Nina. Something that many people get very excited about happened on … Read more >>

Independent 7413/Tees

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A nice crossword from Tees. Having solved 7ac and 9ac first and had a good idea about 20/23ac I feared a football-related crossword. Mercifully, apart from one or two answers, apparently no. Perhaps … Read more >>

Independent7398/Phi

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Rather a strong crossword from Phi today. Everything seems to be soundly and well clued, and the one or two that as usual I can’t understand will I’m sure be perfectly well explained … Read more >>

Azed 1985

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The usual pleasurable experience. All the clues are utterly sound and you know you’ll get there in the end, even if the progress is a bit slow. The words are — in this … Read more >>

Independent 7379/Nimrod

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You’d never have had a blog were it not for the ability to cheat on the Indy website. This crossword wasn’t there at five past midnight, so I did it from the paper … Read more >>