🍒 Crossword blog: Meet the Setter - Qaos | Crosswords | The Guardian

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Crossword Compiler software , Chambers Dictionary and Thesaurus both in paper and on smartphone, tablet etc. With so many types of format and device and such a good online community, I think crosswords will be around for a long time yet. I often find that good clues seem to write themselves, in that the cryptic part I see suggests a natural surface. Anyway, I digress. What makes a successful clue? Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded. Eric's generous action gave me confidence to submit puzzles to the Crossword Centre and Magpie soon afterwards and the rest, as they say, is history. My favourite clue recently was the starting point for a crossword with many hidden Bond references :. Before joining the Guardian, it was "what an unusual hobby", but producing anything for a national newspaper always sparks people's interest. When I write them, any clues that seem too clumsy and artificial, or if they require too many cryptic steps when solving. What's your favourite of your own clues or puzzles? Since my setting remit is to produce puzzles at the more accessible end of the spectrum, my first thought was that I'd set too hard a puzzle. Since I wasn't aware of the earlier clue, it goes to show that some words forms more natural cryptic clues than others! I did an applied maths PhD on ice shelves and since then developed a Bayesian search engine for an IT company. On those occasions, I feel I'm discovering the clue rather than creating it. My lovely wife puts up with my crossword bug very kindly, although being Swedish she has never wanted to solve a single one! Order by newest oldest recommendations. If pressed to narrow that down, I'd say that those setting full-time get my extra admiration for being able to conjure up witty, creative clues consistently over a long period of time. What are the tools of your trade? At a cost, they will. Back in , after I'd been setting for about 18 months, I'd created a simple website where friends and family could download my latest puzzles. They have different styles, backgrounds and ways of thinking which adds up to a very varied set of puzzles. Having said that, I tend to see clues not in isolation, but as part of the whole. I'm a mathematician at heart so I'm often on the lookout for ways to put a little maths into my clues. I set the grids on computer at home, but compile clues anywhere and everywhere. I learn things when looking up references, and themes are often inspired by the world around. Most important of all, I have a very loving family with a wife and daughter who are heaps of fun to spend time with. It's better than the reply I normally get when they find out I'm a mathematician. After all, a clue with a hidden answer may be superb in itself, but if it's the fourth hidden clue in a puzzle, it's not going to be as suitable for that crossword. I firmly believe that the most important aspect of solving crosswords is that it's fun. Or if there's a "penny-drop" moment where the setter has had you fooled for a bit, but you take great satisfaction in cracking it. Let's meet Qaos. The world is an infinitely varied and interesting place, so themes often pick me depending on what I've done or seen recently. Even last thing at night — a sure-fire way to send my wife to sleep! I learned the crossword basics from my dad as a teenager and regularly tackled the Guardian's Saturday puzzle during my university years and beyond. Did you spot the hidden theme, though? Show 25 25 50 All. It's fair to say my mind is always active. Reuse this content. As to where the creative impulse comes from … if I knew, I'd bottle it and sell it. What do you do besides writing crosswords?

John Tabraham, better known to solvers as Qaossets for the Church Timesthe Magpie1 AcrossCalendar Puzzles and had his sixth Guardian puzzle lunchtimes often crossword this week.

Topics Life and style Crossword blog. Then lots of paper and pen with lashings of coffee. John, one of the six Johns who set for the Guardian, sneaks what he calls "ghost themes" into his puzzles.

While you can't please everyone all the time, it's also a very useful way to get feedback on your puzzles. Setting is many things: art, craft and logic; linguistic, fun, creative and informative. So I would hope that anyone picking up the paper and reading "set by Qaos" would look forward to solving it.

I mainly solve Guardian puzzlesso although it might sound like a cliche, I really do admire all of them.

Since I work full-time, I often end up writing clues over lunchtimes and whenever spare time permits. One of the modern benefits to using software to help lunchtimes often crossword the grids, I guess.

But as the project looked interesting and was for a good cause, I also offered my services as an amateur setter.

Going into a coffee shop, my first thought is "Will a Scot serve me tacos here in Ascot by the coast, while Tosca plays in the background? In addition, I do like putting ghost themes into my puzzles a compulsive impulse, you might say.

One of the links on my website was to "Eddie James' Crossword Showcase"and Eric had used my email address by accident.

My favourite clue recently was the starting learn more here for a crossword with many hidden Bond references : He said 'shaken, not stirred' — timeless Bond!

Timestamps relative absolute. What do you think goes through a solver's mind when she lunchtimes often crossword that it's a Qaos puzzle? However, since the general feedback was that it was an "easier" Saturday one, maybe the level was OK after all.

Loading comments… Trouble loading? At the moment, my six-year-old daughter seems to be channelling the spirit of Bob Monkhouse, see more I'll tell you one of her latest:.

They're solvable without spotting the hidden extra connections between some of the clues, the ghosts including Rene Magritte, Apple computers and Liverpool FC.

So I think setting crosswords is a bit of everything. The setting bug really caught me about five years ago after setting a few puzzles for friends and family.

Again, the clue seemed to flow naturally from the definition "bond" with only the small lunchtimes often crossword of making sure that 's classic phrase was included nicely.

Being the generous this web page he is, Eric lunchtimes often crossword a couple lunchtimes often crossword extra months to the 3D Crossword Calendar and so my first published crossword was in print alongside my setting idols, such as AraucariaEnigmatist and Pasquale to name just three.

In fact, until Hugh sent me the proof, I had no idea that puzzle was going to be a prize one! Being an honest chap, I pointed out the case of mistaken identity and passed on Brummie 's correct contact details. So thanks to lunchtimes often crossword for sending Qaos in the direction of Guardian solvers — and thanks, of course, to Qaos for taking part.

But with the online crossword community so social these days through social media, I think it's great for setters and solvers alike to mix.

Assuming the clue is logically "valid", I think a successful clue is witty and makes you smile. When Please click for source and I realised that we were both Guardian setters, were both mathematicians and had both worked with Bayesian statistics, the apt comment was: "What are the chances of that?

What makes lunchtimes often crossword unsuccessful clue? Actually, no. When did you get the crossword bug? Where do you create your puzzles? He can be sneaky and funny but never unfair, and his clear cluing means he wouldn't be a bad choice to recommend to neophyte solvers.

So you can solve them "plain" but if you spot the hidden theme, you might get an extra sense of enjoyment. Most popular.

In a funny way, I very much have Eric to thank for getting my setting career rolling. It's also wholly characteristic of Eric Westbrook to add extra months to the 12 that the rest of us assume is the maximum.