A couple of weeks ago someone asked me about the number of women involved in writing cryptic crosswords. I know for a long time in crossword history the identities of setters were largely unknown, so the role of women may never really be properly documented during this time. Things are different now as the internet has exposed just about everyone involved, even the anonymous Times setters can be found on bestforpuzzles.com (see below), even if they aren’t directly identified in the paper. I think more women have become cryptic crossword setters over the last 20 years as diversity and variety have demanded women’s views be included in the personalities of cryptic crosswords. That’s not to say women haven’t been writing cryptics – the SMH, in the time that I’ve been setting, has always had at least two women (currently RM & NS) in the weekly roster, and there’s no doubt they contribute something different to their male counterparts.
One of the ACC’s long-time daughters, Shirl O’Brien, was the first Australian of any sex to be a regular on any of the major UK newspaper crossword rosters. She compiled cryptics for the Courier Mail in Brisbane for 23 years, and her success there led to the limelight of The Guardian in the UK. Shirl encouraged me to submit some puzzles the The Guardian‘s crossword editor, Prof Hugh Stephenson, which I duly did, but his emphasis on diversity was a stumbling block for me. Effectively he told me he was looking for more women in the roster, showing that he believed women set cryptics differently.
This page on bestforpuzzles.com gives you a starting point to find out about all the setters in the major UK papers. Glancing through, there’s no doubt that men dominate the list, however women are represented across the board. The most prominent lady setter is probably Sarah Hayes who is a crossword setter in The Guardian (as Arachne), in The Independent (as Anarche), in the Financial Times (as Rosa Klebb), and in The Times. She once wrote a brilliant clue for MASTITIS, (I did a spiel on it), and I believe only a woman could write such a clue without objection from anyone, perhaps highlighting one of the reasons why lady setters are so highly prized on the world’s crossword-writing rosters.
I’m happy to say I got this out before the weekend was over, but I used all my aids – thesaurus, pattern-matching etc. – right from the get-go.
I didn’t understand a couple of the wordplays but the solution has set me straight, except that, in the clue for YETI, I don’t know what “stand by” is doing. (I could understand “stands by”.)
Plus, I don’t know how the answers for 2, 4, 6 & 9 are ‘suggested’ by the numbers.
Thanks,
Steve = : ^ )
YETI: I guess you could call “stand by” instructive rather than descriptive – needlessly to say, I wouldn’t clue it that way again.
4,6, and 9 all start with Roman numerals for the respective numbers, but I’m guessing you know that, so maybe you don’t think the “suggestion” is strong enough? The original instruction that I’ve just found states: “…The number suggests what the answer might begin with” – in hindsight, this would have been more helpful.
2: a brace is a pair or couple
David
I missed the Roman numerals, though it’s hard to see how they could help you solve – unless you figured out that using Roman numerals at the start is one way to ‘suggest’ a word, and then tried it for all words 0-10 – but it’s possible they might be noticed and function as a check that a word is correct.
I obviously forgot to look up BRACE. :-[
Thanks,
Steve = : ^ )