Brendan Emmet Quigley, who makes highly-praised US-style puzzles, has dipped his toe into the waters of cryptic setting. His first puzzle is on his blog here. To solve it on paper, you’ll need to download Across Lite.
His first puzzle was prompted partly by attempts at the Guardian puzzle – his wife/partner seems to be a Brit, and partly by a chance meeting with a daughter of Dave Crosland (Dac at the Indie, Smokey in Listeners of old, and on the Times team). It took me roughly as long as an easyish Times – fairly easy wordplay structures were compensated by some local references that were tricky for me. The puzzle looks a very promising start and I hope he continues to produce cryptics.
Thanks for the link, Peter.