To lunch last week with a group of crossword setters and solvers known as ‘the Gruntlings’. Many distinguished composers were present, including Dumpynose from the Spectator (now why did he choose that pseudonym?), but I was most delighted to meet Roy Dean who sets puzzles for the Times and who hold the world record for the fastest verified solution of the Times puzzle.
Roy won the first Times Crossword Competition in 1970 and decided to take his ‘solving speeds’ seriously. At the time he was living in Bromley and had a 23-minute train journey into London each day. At first that was his target, but soon he was trying to complete the puzzle before the train reached Brixton, then Herne Hill and so on. He soon reached the point where he would solve the puzzle in the five minutes between arriving at the station and the time his train departed. He wrote to the Times saying so, and at 6 am on the day the letter was published, the BBC invited him into the Today programme studio to cross swords with Brian Redhead.
And then – without warning – Redhead invited him to solve that morning’s puzzle. It was a Saturday, and the puzzle should have been difficult. Roy’s heart sank as Redhead started the stopwatch. But an incredible 3 minutes and 45 seconds later Roy had completed the puzzle, live on air, and his name was destined for the Guinness Book of Records, where it first appeared in 1972.
Roy’s charming book, Mainly in Fun, published by The Book Guild, lists some of his favourite clues. But when pressed he drew my attention to this one, which he set in the Times in January: “Silicone Valley? (8)”*
Many thanks for the continuing flood of clues. The Divine chocolate goes to Barbara Langley for this delightful clue for ‘foxtrot’: "Stands for Fiona's first dance (7)". Many setters had a similar approach, most succinctly, but less misleadingly with “The F-word (7)”. Please see more at www.sandybalfour.com/foxtrot.html and there’s more chocolate this week for my favourite clue for MAESTRO. By Wednesday 6pm to maestro@sandybalfour.com.
* CLEAVAGE
First published in The
Guardian
© Sandy Balfour 2003. Sandy Balfour is the author of Pretty Girl
in Crimson Rose (8), now out in paperback, published by Atlantic Books.
info@sandybalfour.com