IT IS a puzzle fit to challenge even the most talented of cruciverbalists: how do you begin to fill the shoes of Derek Crozier, legendary compiler of the Crosaire crossword in The Irish Timesfor over almost seven decades?
This is the task facing Roy Earle, a crossword addict and former manager in the technology sector, who takes over Crosaire in next Monday’s edition of the newspaper. “It’s a huge honour and I’m terrified,” says Earle, a recently retired Dubliner, now based in California.
After 67 years, the final Crosaire set by Derek Crozier appears in today’s newspaper. He died in April last year at the age of 92.
Crozier liked to compile one a day, and regularly managed 1½ in order to keep ahead of deadlines.
By the time he fell ill, he left a stockpile of 2½ years of crosswords behind.
Earle, who prefers to call himself a “crossword setter” rather than a cruciverbalist, wants to pay homage to Crosaire by keeping some of its unique features.
He has been running a popular blog dedicated to Crosaire for several years at crosaire.paxient.com under the pseudonym of William Ernest Butler.
As well as posting solutions to the crossword on the website each day, he has been setting his own version of Crosaire every Sunday to fill the one-day gap for crossword addicts.
He will now be blogging on Irishtimes.com.
In fact, shortly before Crozier’s death at 92, Earle created a special Crosaire birthday crossword for him.
Crozier responded with an e-mail from his home in Harare, Zimbabwe, thanking him and his fans for their kind tributes.
He signed off the e-mail: “Bless you all, and may I continue to infuriate you for a good long time yet.”
The idea for Crosaire was born on Christmas Eve, 1943, when Crozier pitched it to editors Bertie Smyllie and Alex Newman.
The first of his cryptic crosswords appeared the following March.
Initially it appeared every Saturday. Its growing popularity meant it soon began to appear several times a week.
Since the 1980s, it has appeared in every daily edition of the newspaper.
The name Crosaire was inspired by the then common road signs bearing the Irish “crosaire”, or crossroads; Crozier was also tickled by the play on his own name.
While Earle says he faces a daunting task, he has had plenty of practice in both solving crosswords and setting them.
He says he worked on his first word puzzle at the age of six, sitting on his dad’s knee, and has since gone on to develop a life-long addiction to solving crosswords.
So, does Earle have any advice for frazzled crossword addicts from next Monday onwards?
He plans to repeat the popular rotating weekly grids familiar to regular puzzle-solvers two days a week, on Thursdays and Saturdays.
In addition to continuing much of Crozier’s “language”, he hopes to gently introduce a contemporary flavour.
