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

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February 2003 22,765: the first one-off of the online era: a puzzle about archbishops of Canterbury by Chaucer. If a solver has read the rest of the paper, he or she should know everything he or she needs, which is another way of saying that there’s a pleasure in including some placenames and surnames in spots where I might have been tempted to put what Hemingway called “the 10-dollar words”. Without wanting to sound like I think I’m some kind of key worker, I was aware of a responsibility: solvers talk with such fondness about Everyman puzzles. I wanted to make sure I was setting while firmly wearing an Everyman hat. 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”? No, you’re correct . I’m worried, though, that the idea of someone interviewing themselves is a little … cute. And possibly unethical.

March 2022 28,696, the debut by Pangakupu (Mastermind semi-finalist Paul Henderson of the New Zealand Ministry of Justice; Meet the Setter). Hm. Maybe I should stop asking other setters that, as I’m drawing a blank. Actually, some setters do offer up corkers. Anto and Carpathian did recently; likewise Vulcan and Vlad. I’ll keep the question without answering it myself.October 1974 A glitch in the numbering system: the puzzle should have been 13,977; instead it is numbered 13,978. June 1999 Crossword 21,620. The biggest day in the Guardian crossword since 28 December 1970: for the first time the puzzle is published online. Rover has the honour and in the following days and weeks he is followed by the other Guardian setters of the day: Fawley, Araucaria, Rufus, Janus, Pasquale, Chifonie, Crispa, Logodaedalus, Taupi, Plodge, Shed, Gordius, Paul, Bunthorne, Mercury, Enigmatist, Gemini, Quantum, Orlando, Audreus, Hendra, Auster, Egoist (over a year later; see above) and finally Fidelio in February 2001. Six (Araucaria, Janus, Crispa, Gordius, Bunthorne and Audreus) are survivors from the dawn of the pseudonym era. At the time of writing, three remain: Enigmatist, Pasquale and Paul. April 2014 26,236, the 602nd and final puzzle by Gordius ( obituary). The eighth of the nine original pseudonyms to retire, Gordius had been a stalwart since 1967 and had become more prolific in the online era, providing two puzzles a month. He was a midweek man – rarely seen on either Mondays or Saturdays and most commonly on Tuesdays. We can estimate that he set in the region of 40 to 50 more puzzles before December 1970 and his known total puts him eighth on the all-time list. Boatman, you describe yourself as “very nearly the slowest” Guardian setter to reach 100 puzzles. Who is slower?

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. 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. 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. February 2021 28,370: Enigmatist and Soup (plant scientist Hamish Symington; Meet the Setter) collaborate on a 100th birthday tribute to Araucaria.The notes on your 96th puzzle include the unlikely phrase “This is the last fish-based puzzle in this collection”. Which are the most fecund topics for themes? I’ve found that “f ood and drink” is one I’ve been able to return to time and again, though that may just reflect an enthusiasm on my part for large portions in real life. September 2014 26,367, the 221st and final puzzle by Logodaedalus. An old-school setter fond of rhyming clues and acrostics, his total places him 20th on the all-time list. 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).

October 2003 22,965, the debut by Imogen (Richard Browne; Meet the Setter) who due to duties elsewhere will not return until 2014. Custos at John Perkin’s farewell lunch, 1997. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Grand totals of current setters (as of 10 January 2023) July 2003 22,893: Araucaria becomes the first (and to date only) setter to reach 2,000 credited puzzles. To put this achievement into context: if even Paul continues at his current rate he will get there some time in 2047. 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.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. I doubt you have missed anything. In the 100th and 200th puzzle, there’s a quiet celebration that isn’t alliteration or rhyming. And this isn’t something I’d expect anyone to notice, but the clues that include the word “Everyman” are supposed to build, over time, a compellingly coherent and unflattering portrait. Outside. I start each week with a filled grid printed next to headings of types of clue – soundalikes, reversals and so on – to make sure I include at least one or two of each. I write five or six clues first thing every weekday and, as with other kinds of writing, it’s usually best if I’m walking. August 2005 23,545, an interesting one-off by Omnibus: the puzzle was compiled using clues sent in by readers. 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.