duncanshiell

Born in 1948. I retired from full-time work in May 2007, after 37 years with Ordnance Survey and associated bodies and now have time to devote to crosswords, something not available for many years. Product of 17 years in the Scottish education system, but lived overseas or in southern England for virtually all of the time thereafter. I moved back to Scotland in 2010. Regular road runner and recently returned to orienteering and golf after a 35 year gap. Developed interested in cryptic crosswords in the mid 1960s (Scotsman, Sunday Express skeleton), but working overseas and then raising a family, meant dropping out of crossword solving for about 30 years. Now a regular solver of Times, Guardian, Independent, Inquisitor, Listener and Magpie crosswords. Reasonably regular finisher of the first four. Started blogging in late 2007. Any solving ability far outweighs any clueing ability. Krypton Factor contestant 1983; eliminated in the first round, but the obstacle course finish made good television!

Independent 11772 / Eccles

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Eccles is a regular contributor of Independent cryptic puzzles every second Wednesday.  His puzzles are rarely themed or include messages in the perimeter.  He simply provides well clued puzzles. There were a few … Read more >>

Azed 2713

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We have a standard puzzle from Azed, no competition clues and no quirky cluing devices.       That said, I reckoned there were more new words for me than in the majority … Read more >>

Azed 2707

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Azed gives us a plain competition puzzle this week where solvers are asked to write a clue for the entry at 5 down.       This was a typical Azed crossword with … Read more >>