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The Guardian Quick Crosswords 1: A collection of more than 200 entertaining puzzles (Guardian Puzzle Books)

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I have a lot of admiration for the more prolific setters like Paul and (in their day) Araucaria and Rufus. I can’t sit down with a blank sheet of paper and know that in two or three hours I’ll have a puzzle, and I won’t start one until I know that I have at least three or four ideas for clues that will establish a theme. That definitely slows me down. It reveals all its secrets if it’s interrogated well. It follows Afrit’s injunction and the Observer philosophy more generally. And I use the word “Everyman” to remind me to include as much of the world, old and new, as possible. January 2004 23,047, a one-off celebrating Australia Day by Kookaburra, who we believe to be Auster. There is a twist.

October 2013 26,088, the debut by Otterden (Gordon Holt; Meet the Setter), the New Statesman puzzle editor who told the crossword blog in June that he “would dearly love to have just one crossword published in the Guardian”. August 2005 23,545, an interesting one-off by Omnibus: the puzzle was compiled using clues sent in by readers.According to Haydon Bambury’s research, I am the second slowest of the current stable to reach 100 puzzles. Imogen took slightly longer but got there just before me and has been racing away ever since. Logodaedalus and Gemini took even longer, but that was in another century. When you asked me where I do my compiling, I told you “in a pub” (I don’t any longer). Where do you set “Everyman”?

I’m afraid I’ve wobbled on it. I’m going to ask Enigmatist if he’ll do this. He’s going to use his editorial section next to the Inquisitor puzzle in this weekend’s i newspaper, and take over the questioning here. December 2017 27,383, the 1,325th and final puzzle set by Rufus before his retirement (which was a repeat of his first, 16,398). He sits in second place on the Guardian list, and the Guinness Book of Records named him the most prolific cryptic setter of all time. Of his Guardian puzzles, 1,018 were published on Mondays, with a further 184 on Thursdays in the 1980s and 1990s. But he never set a Saturday prize puzzle; it wasn’t his style. Here, crossword editor Hugh Stephenson says goodbye. October 1974 A glitch in the numbering system: the puzzle should have been 13,977; instead it is numbered 13,978. October 1996 20,793 is the final puzzle by Custos ( obituary). He wasn’t there right at the beginning of the Guardian’s pseudonym era, but was very well known by his 1974 debut. In a little over 22 years he provided 949 puzzles and is fifth on the all-time list. In his heyday he would set more or less one cryptic puzzle every week, the vast majority on Fridays (485) and Saturdays (344), providing a foil to Araucaria during his most prolific years. February 2017 27,132, the debut puzzle by Sphinx (comedian Steve Pemberton), is an elaborate tie-in with an episode of his BBC anthology series Inside Number 9 broadcast on the same day.Everyman is my only regular crossword. The rest of the time, I do other kinds of writing: scripts, the odd book, jokes for television; and I’m the question editor for Richard Osman’s House of Games.

January 2002 22,420, the 181st and final puzzle by Hendra (only five of which came in the online era; obituary). February 1997 20,898 and the last one-off before the online era, this was set by Joke (a collaboration between Enigmatist and Fawley). November 2013 26,118, officially set by “None” but widely taken to have been provided by Enigmatist, Paul and Shed, and so like Araucaria’s 90th birthday puzzle I class it as a Biggles puzzle – the 11th and last. It is a tribute to Araucaria, who had died three days previously ( obituary). Finally, in my Give Me a Clue column in this weekend’s i newspaper, I’ve quoted three of your Everyman clues as favourites – do you have any favourites of your own?May 2020 28,122, the 316th and final puzzle by Chifonie ( obituary). Another much-loved setter, for his smoothness and fairness which offered encouragement to new solvers. His total puts him 14th on the all-time Guardian list. December 2004 23,318, the 678th and final puzzle by Crispa ( obituary), who had been setting puzzles for the Guardian since 1954, four years before even Araucaria. She was not as prolific as some of her contemporaries, but set a few almost every year, only going missing entirely in 1977. Her puzzles were most commonly seen on Mondays (418) and her total places her joint sixth on the all-time list. Based on her frequency in the early 1970s it seems likely that she provided in the region of 200 more in the anonymous era. February 2021 28,370: Enigmatist and Soup (plant scientist Hamish Symington; Meet the Setter) collaborate on a 100th birthday tribute to Araucaria. It does a bit. Likewise “magniloquent”. Now, when I ask setters if they are prepared to share a photo of themselves, I always hope it’s not going to be an unflattering selfie. How about this time? Congratulations on your 200th puzzle. Is it your only job, and do you compile for other outlets under other pseudonyms?

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