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 7341/Virgilius

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Virgilius amuses us with variations on the colours pink and blue, as always quite delightfully. Across 1/3 PINK ELEPHANTS — (the pine planks)* — when one is loaded (i.e. drunk) one sees pink … Read more >>

Independent 7326/Phi

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A typically pleasant Phi offering. Rather a strange grid, which suggests to me that there is some Nina. But as usual I’m asking for help. Actually Phi may just be saving himself work. … Read more >>

Independent 7317/Virgilius

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Typical brilliance from Virgilius. At first I thought, after predicting confidently that the long word across was going to be SYMMETRICAL, what’s the big deal? All crosswords are symmetrical. Then I saw it … Read more >>

Independent 7312/Dac

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Not the easiest Dac puzzle, I thought. The explanation of two or three answers still eludes me, but no doubt someone will explain. The two symmetrical pairs of eight-letter answers look significant, but … Read more >>

Independent 7307/Dac

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An unusual Thursday appearance for Dac, caused by the jiggling necessary to fit in Virgilius’s St Patrick’s Day crossword on Wednesday, so this must be one of the gentler Thursday offerings; but surely … Read more >>

Azed 1971

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The usual very satisfactory offering from Azed. I have learned not to look too far for wonderful surfaces, but to admire the faultless construction of his clues. Across 2 J ASS — one … Read more >>

Independent 7302/Phi

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An unusually large number of words that I hadn’t really heard of in the usual nice Phi offering. The pairs of four-letter answers at top R and bottom L suggest something, but I … Read more >>

Independent 7288/Dac

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Typically mellifluous surfaces. I found one or two of the clues unusually hard for Dac. Across 1 I would never have got this, because I never knew that a bertha was a woman’s … Read more >>

Independent 7276/Dac

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As usual, what can one say, apart from perfect smooth surfaces and hardly anything to whine about? Dac’s crosswords never have those rough edges where words like ‘of’,  ‘with’ and ‘by’ are used … Read more >>

Independent 7272/Phi

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The usual good product from Phi. Several enormous anagrams — he must have been out with his Scrabble tiles. Across 1 ‘S A MOA — I think, although ‘s for it’s I’m not … Read more >>

Independent 7264/Dac

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The usual lovely thing from Dac. There’s really very little to say because everything fits so well and the clues are almost all clearly-constructed and faultless. Across 1 CO(MIC)OPER A 6 PEER — … Read more >>

Azed 1964

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It can hardly be that I am suddenly becoming quicker at these, but I found this unusually easy. Apart from the strangeness of some of the words, it presented no more problems than … Read more >>

Independent 7257/Mordred

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Mordred’s crosswords are for some reason unfamiliar to me, but this one contains plenty of very nice clues, one or two of which I found difficult.  There must be some sort of a Nina here, with the … Read more >>