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 6609/Phi

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As usual with Phi, everything very enjoyable. There doesn’t seem to be a Nina, but there probably is. Across 1 RAM with ASH first. The letter combination ASH often appears and “remains” is … Read more >>

Independent 6603/Phi

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I found this unusually difficult for Phi, but perhaps that’s just because of my own incompetence. Certainly several clues that eluded me at first were simple enough when the answer eventually came. No … Read more >>

Independent 6595/Math

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Unfortunately I’m not the best person to be blogging this, since I have never read anything by Philip Pullman, but Google always helps. Probably I’ve missed something. It seems that this is timed … Read more >>

FT 12609/Cinephile

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Solving time : Not sure because I got my stopwatch wrong, but it was quite long before I understood everything and even now I’m not sure about one or two. Cinephile’s crosswords tend … Read more >>

Guardian Friday 2.11.07/Chifonie

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Solving time : 22 minutes.  This is a fairly quick time for me, which is probably why I quite enjoyed this. I wonder about some of the assessments under the tab “Setters” above. Tees the … Read more >>

FT 12591/Cinephile – Wed 17.10.07

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Solving time : About three-quarters of an hour, but meaningless anyway since I got 12A wrong, as I discovered later when trying to justify LIRE. The theme is Evelyn Waugh’s magnificent novel Scoop. … Read more >>

Indy 6543/Phi

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Solving time: 22 mins 38 secs. I’m sure there’s a Nina there somewhere, there being all those “loose ends” round the outside, and much of the bottom line saying FOOLS, but I can’t … Read more >>

FT 12573/Cinephile

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Solving time :32 mins 59 secs. Thank goodness this wasn’t one of Cinephile’s really difficult ones. As always with Cinephile, one or two clues that stretch a pedantic Ximenean, but nevertheless lots of … Read more >>