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 6786/Dac

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One runs out of superlatives. Every clue here is pithy, elegant and utterly fair, and my slowness in completing some of the clues in the bottom half of the grid is only the … Read more >>

Independent 6776/Phi

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An unusually easy Phi today, it seemed, apart from one or two that I can’t explain properly. Rather more full anagrams than one might expect. Across 7 FORE N SIC – ‘for courts’ … Read more >>

Independent 6762/Dac

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The usual impressive offering from Dac, full of simply-constructed but very satisfactory clues. One or two I can’t quite explain, and one or two words that were new to me. Across 1 S … Read more >>

Independent 6755/Merlin

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A very pleasant crosword from Merlin – several nice clues. I didn’t find him so difficult as usual. Across 1 NAPS – (span)rev. 3 TOUCH-ME-NOT? – this seems to be the only plant that fits, … Read more >>

Independent 6743/Dac

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What’s Dac doing on a Tuesday? Something’s afoot. Oh yes, today must be special – look at the outer unches – in which case many congratulations. A typical Dac, as usual excellent, but there were one … Read more >>

Independent 6738/Dac

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Dac’s typically good offering, but, unusually, one or two clues about which I am a bit doubtful. Across 1 CASABLANCA – ca s(ailing) a B (canal)* 6 SWOP – (POWS)rev. 9 LEGI(R)ON. I know … Read more >>

Azed 1875

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Azed produces these nice puzzles from time to time, although this is the first of this type I’ve seen: usually the anchor-word is vertical at the left and the two grid patterns are … Read more >>

Independent 6728

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All but three or four seemed to be the usual pleasant accessible Phi crossword, but then I became totally stuck on 11dn, 21dn perhaps, 22dn perhaps and 25ac, and eventually I had to use various … Read more >>