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!

Azed 2127 / Plain

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Another 6 weeks has gone by and Azed falls to me to blog again.  It’s always a pleasure to do battle with Azed’s precise clues       Having said that, there did … Read more >>

Azed 2121

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This was a a fairly standard plain Azed puzzle with his usual high quality cluing.       I was pleasantly surprised by how many clues I solved on the first run through … Read more >>

Independent 8199 / Klingsor

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Thursdays usually bring a challenging crossword.  I think today’s offering from Klingsor certainly falls into the challenging category.       For those who don’t know the names behind setters pseudonyms, Klingsor is … Read more >>

Independent 8194 / Phi

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This was an entertaining puzzle from Phi  including some of his regular geographic allusions.       Phi is a compiler based in Wellington, New Zealand and often includes flora and fauna native … Read more >>