A short film depicts the sometimes solitary hell of solving. Alan Connor talks to writer/director Steve Simmons
Steve Simmons has made a seven-minute film that puts the contents of a solver's brain on the screen, as played out by Keith Hill of ITV sitcom FM and Amanda Renberg of The Ketchup Effect.
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view the film
I talked to Simmons about placing crosswords on to that other two-dimensional medium, film.
Did you write the clues yourself? Were you tempted to have more intricate clues, or to show the completed grid?
I wrote about half the clues but got the rest of my inspiration from scouring crossword sites on the web. Some of the initial clues were much more cryptic but I wanted to avoid the viewer lingering too much once a clue was solved. I made them a bit more obvious at times. Your readers will probably find the clues a bit too easy!
I originally intended to show much more of the grid. I spent more than three days designing it and got quite obsessed in pursuit of the perfect grid. My girlfriend thought I had lost the plot – and so did I when she spotted an error and I had to do it all over again.
Silent film and crosswords are a good match here: did one idea come before the other?
I was always interested in creating a modern-day silent film, but wanted to avoid the traditional title-card inserts. While watching a commuter struggling with a crossword, it occurred to me the subject could work well in silent film.
While a lot of people approach puzzles in pairs or groups, your film shows the solitary side of solving. Is the lonely, one-man or one-woman battle something that appeals to you?
I play a bit of golf so have definitely grown accustomed to the solitary struggle over the years. Thankfully for my fellow commuters I stay much calmer doing crosswords than I do when playing golf.
What was the crossword in the prop newspaper? We're always glad at Crossword Blog to see genuine or at least realistic puzzles on screen …
You will laugh at my attempt!
Not at all. Are there any onscreen appearances of crosswords that tickle your funny bone, from TV or radio?
When it comes to wordplay comedy it has to be The Two Ronnies. Their classic crossword sketch set on a train is wonderful.
Agreed. Do you find yourself making the kind of associations that occur to our hero: GETAWAY becoming GATEWAY, and so on?
I wish I had that sort of brain but I usually have to grab a thesaurus when needing synonyms.
Did I detect the odd extra gag in the location of the onscreen text, or was that my imagination?
There were a few cheeky placements of the text. My editor encouraged me!
Are you saying in the film that crosswords are bad for one's health?
On the contrary, they are the only things that keep me sane on long commutes. And unlike my film's hero, I hope I know where to draw the line in pursuit of the right answers!
Any more wordplay- or puzzle-themed films in the offing?
Now you've got me thinking. I'm wondering if a sudoku theme could be the sequel...
Many thanks to Steve and we look forward to the feature-length version based around a tricky Araucaria weekend jigsaw crossword.