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 7013/Dac

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In ‘Logical Chess’, by Irving Chernev, the author takes it upon himself to make a comment on every single move. As you might expect, the commentary on the opening moves of games become … Read more >>

Azed 1922

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Azed is on good form in this crossword, and some of the clues have excellent surfaces. Across 1 DOWLAS — owl in (sad)rev. 6 PHRASY — p{oseur} (syrah)*, nice [something]&lit. 10 HONEYCARTS — … Read more >>

Independent 7009/Phi

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The usual nice Phi today: he seldom has any clues that shout their brilliance at you, but there are always many very satisfactory ones nevertheless. I’m bewildered by two of them and fully … Read more >>

Independent 7001/Dac

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Everything typically elegant and natural today. Across 1 FEAT HERB RAINED — One of the signs of a good charade clue is that the long word is split into components that are not … Read more >>

Independent 6991/Phi

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I found this unusually difficult — the two-word clues were a problem and one or two short answers are even now not totally clear. But apart from one or two quibbles, a typically … Read more >>

Independent 6983/Dac

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The usual excellent crossword from Dac, but when is he ever less than excellent? I found this unusually easy apart from two clues, one of which I got wrong. After doing 4ac and … Read more >>

Independent 6976/Eimi

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One or two that I can’t understand, but plenty of nice clues today. No doubt there is a Nina staring me in the face, but apart from several references to pans and to cakes I … Read more >>

Independent 6971/Dac

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As always, a high Dac standard, although today I found more to raise an eyebrow at than usual. Across 1 S(OUR)CREAM 6 P(L)AID 9 LoOkS wEaRy 10 ROOMMATES — OM in (are most)* … Read more >>

Azed 1915

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A fairly typical experience — one or two very nice clues, one or two I can’t understand, and quite a lot of working things out from the wordplay and saying “well perhaps it’s … Read more >>

Independent 6964/Virgilius

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The usual delightful Virgilius, with one or two clues that I found particularly difficult but, as should be the case, solution of them was followed by some self-kicking. I completed the bottom half … Read more >>

Independent 6952/Virgilius

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The usual nice Virgilius today, but I sense that some of it is passing me by. There was a sinking feeling as I stared at it, quite sure that the usual devilish Virgilius … Read more >>

Independent 6947/Dac

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An unusually tricky Dac today. I don’t remember ever, in one of his crosswords, making so many marks by clues reminding me to look things up afterwards. This does not itself reflect on … Read more >>