Didymus was my second (therefore "twin") pseudonym, for my Generalist puzzles in Prospect. I haven't consciously thought that I adapt my style to suit each of the different newspapers and magazines for which I compile.ĭoc is a snappy three-letter name to mirror Jac's importance in my career, as well as acknowledging the happy coincidence of my surname and Dr Samuel Johnson. It is true that a Doc puzzle is very different from a Didymus puzzle, but my pseudonyms merely differentiate my various regular commitments. I have never thought of this being the case. How did you choose your pseudonyms? And do they have different characteristics? I'll give the answer to that clue at the end. His erudition, expertise in working a complex theme into a puzzle and his smooth and elegant clueing style mark him as the doyen of the younger British setters. It wasn't long before I invited him to join the Spectator team. I knew immediately that Lavatch was going places. I am very proud to claim that I "discovered" Lavatch about 10 years ago when he submitted a few unsolicited cryptic puzzles to 1 Across magazine. His regular Saturday puzzles in the FT are a testimony to his greatness.īut I have to put Lavatch at the top of my list of present-day inspirational compilers. Most especially, Michael is a wizard anagram-maker. His clues are witty, concise and always "paint a lovely picture". He then invited me to join the Spectator compiling team in 1981.Īmong today's compilers, Michael Curl ( Orlando/Cincinnus) stands out. I got to know Jac: we met once, probably one of the few occasions when he did meet other compilers, and towards the end of the decade, I championed his puzzles whenever I could in print.
In the 70s Jac's puzzles in the Spectator were formative – of my solving ability and of my understanding of what a thematic cryptic crossword was and how cryptic clueing was done. I still recall solving "It can cause an interruption to services (6-3)" and realising for the first time how one can "play" with English. He became a good friend when he compiled for 1 Across magazine.Īs a teenager I attempted a weekly cryptic by Leslie Stokes again the learning process was to the fore.
ANNUAL MAILINGS CROSSWORD CLUE CRACK
Once compilers' pseudonyms appeared in the Guardian puzzles I realised that Araucaria's thematic puzzles were what I had been enjoying the most and this style of crossword was to influence my career.īunthorne's puzzles remained impenetrable to me for a long time, but I loved to look at his solutions in an effort to crack his style. Remember that this was before the books Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword and Alec Robins's Teach Yourself Crosswords had been published. It was very much a case of trying to solve a puzzle and looking at the solution the next day in an attempt to understand what we had missed. I recall attempting to solve cryptics from the age of about 14, usually in the Guardian, with school friends. My first published puzzle was in this series, during my O-level year at King Edward's school, Birmingham, and I still recall how impressed my English teacher was.
One of the Mail's crossword editors provided me with guidance when he realised how young I was.
I was soon bitten by the crossword bug and began submitting puzzles for possible publication. They explained definitional puzzles to me and what, for instance, "anagram" meant – I was only about eight years old. I am a Brummie and my parents regularly solved the Reader's Crossword in the Birmingham Mail. How did you get involved with crosswords? Tom has had a quiet influence on British crosswording for some time, and it's about time that we met the setter.
0 kommentar(er)
