Alan Connor turns the tables on the torturers. Under the spotlight this time is Peter Willmot, aka Gaff
Last Tuesday was a good day in crosswording. It was the occasion of one of the wonderful themed puzzles by the Financial Times's Gaff, known in the non-crosswording world as Peter Willmot.
Gaff is a specialist in the themed crossword; topics we've celebrated at this blog include Martin Luther King, GCSE RESULTS DAY, The Beano and Chinese New Year and some of those mentioned below.
So isn't about time that we met this setter?
When/where do you create your puzzles?
I do my theme research and populate the grid in a quiet room with our two springer spaniels lying on my feet.
When I create clues while looking at the words on paper, I tend to come up with "mechanical" ones such as anagrams and charades, so I take the dogs and some words that need clues on a long walk and come back with acrostics, puns and cryptics. Something to do with the two sides of the brain, maybe?
When did you get the crossword bug?
I started out occasionally solving the crossword in my parents' Daily Telegraph. Then I married a Guardian reader, discovered Araucaria and was hooked.
Which other setters do you admire?
Araucaria, of course, for his endless invention and his ability to make me smile, to laugh out loud, and to shout: "Oh you bugger - you've done me again!"
And he could bend the rules and still produce a fair clue, such as this from his sad announcement last January ...
Scamp item to expand 19, for example (5)
... (where 19 is OESOPHAGUS). It's going to be a less colourful crossword world without him.
Of the many other setters I admire, I particularly like Arachne for her mischievous sense of humour and for the hours she obviously spends polishing the surface of her clues in order to give us gems like this:
Lively former queen? (9)
And the Times team keeps producing great puzzles to a consistently high standard – always a pleasure to tackle.
What makes a successful clue?
A smooth, effortless surface that completely leads you up the garden path.
I've also learned from the reactions to clues in the setting competitions on the Guardian blog and at the Crossword Centre that a bit of smut always goes down well with solvers!
What do you think goes through an FT solver's mind when she sees that it's a Gaff puzzle?
I'd hope for "Aha, it's a Gaff, so something's afoot", followed by an enthusiastic mental rolling-up of sleeves. However, I'm sure there is also plenty of "Oh God, it's a Gaff, it'll be a theme", followed by a return to the share prices.
I also suspect that we setters overestimate the proportion of solvers who even notice who the setter is.
Do you prefer themed puzzles when wearing your solver hat?
I do. They allow an extra dimension in the clueing, and an extra lightbulb moment in the solving.
However, I don't like themes that require detailed specialist knowledge or extensive research, even when you've worked out the link. And the theme has to be interesting. Finding out about swan upping on the Thames is interesting; researching the major rivers of Guatemala is not.
I particularly like "ghost themes", where you know something is going on, but the setter has not given you any obvious signposts.
You set for the magazine 1 Across. For any readers curious about extending beyond newspaper puzzles, what can they expect?
The standard is at the hard end of the Guardian range and thematic: either a subject or some ingenious wordplay device you need to discover in order to complete the grid.
The magazine has a policy to give aspiring setters an opportunity to get their work published. That's how I got started. If you email Christine Jones at 1across.crosswords@gmail.com, she'll send you a complimentary copy.
Do you remember the first clue you wrote?
No, but I do remember the first puzzle that was published, in 1 Across. It was a tribute to a master of wordplay of a different sort who had just died. The key clue (which had no definition) was ...
Cranked motor of mid-high standing (3,3,9,4,3)
How did you choose your pseudonym?
When that first puzzle was published and I needed to come up with a pseudonym for 1 Across, my wife and I were in the midst of preparations to sail our own boat around the world, so what came to mind was Cutter, which is how our boat's sails were rigged. Gaff is the sail configuration of the little traditional day-sailer we will buy when the time comes to teach our grandchildren to sail on Coniston Water.
What tools of your trade do you use to find anniversaries and upcoming events?
For anniversaries, I use the Date-a-Base Book and an app called On This Day. I also identify topics that I want to theme and then have to wait for a significant anniversary; I have ideas pencilled in up to December 2017!
For upcoming events, such as the asteroid near-miss in February 2013, it's just a question of keeping my theme radar turned on at all times.
Have any themes looked promising but turned out not to make for a pleasing puzzle?
The theme itself has to have a wide interest and visibility, but how you treat the theme is also important in making an entertaining puzzle.
I've learned to let a puzzle go off in an unexpected direction if that's what it needs to do in order to work. For Private Eye's 50th birthday, for example, I started off with HISLOP, INGRAMS, COLEMANBALLS etc, but the puzzle suddenly decided that instead it was going to have SPADE, HAMMER, MARPLE, GENTLY etc and I think it worked better that way.
What's your favourite of your own clues or puzzles?
On the day of the 2011 Royal Wedding, most of the papers had themed crosswords to mark the occasion. My key clue in the FT was...
Today, smug Prince enthrones his out-of-this-world Vogue love - beg composition by 8 (4,4,7-3,4,3,7,2,3,7,9)
... which led to the revelation that the puzzle was not about the day's main event at all, but was celebrating the 80th anniversary of the birth of the legend at 8.
I also rather liked the puzzle that featured words that included the names of dwarves from The Hobbit (sigNORIna, anGLO-INdian, iron FILIngs etc). One comment on Fifteen Squared referred to this as a "mad undertaking", which I took as a great compliment!
For a single clue, maybe this one from a Henry-V-themed puzzle ...
Those sent after 16 would have been miserable protection (6,7)
... in which 16 is AGINCOURT, or ...
A,B,C,D,F or G (4)
... though I would be surprised if some other setter somewhere hadn't thought of it before I did!
How do you imagine a solver of your crosswords?
The FT crossword editor advised me to imagine our solvers to be on the 7.44 commuter train from Tunbridge Wells or wherever. They are after an entertaining mental workout that they can complete on the journey.
I think 1 Across solvers, on the other hand, have the stamina for their five puzzles to last all month!
Is setting art or craft?
It's a pleasure.
How do people respond if and when you tell them you're a crossword setter?
Let's just say that it has not yet led to any very long conversations!
Except this fascinating one! Many thanks to Gaff for those insights, and the answers to the clues above are STENT, EXUBERANT, AND IT'S GOODNIGHT FROM HIM, DOES YOUR CHEWING GUM LOSE ITS FLAVOUR ON THE BEDPOST OVERNIGHT, FRENCH LETTERS and NOTE.