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Crosaire
Born
John Derek Crozier

(1917-11-12)12 November 1917
Dublin, Ireland
Died3 April 2010(2010-04-03) (aged 92)
Nyanga, Zimbabwe[1]
NationalityIrish
OccupationCrossword compiler

John Derek Crozier (12 November 1917 – 3 April 2010), under the pseudonym "Crosaire" (Irish pronunciation: ['kɾˠɔsəɾʲə][2]), was the compiler of the cryptic crossword in The Irish Times from its inception in 1943 until the year after his death.[1] It was formally named "The Irish Times Crossword", as opposed to the non-cryptic "Simplex crossword" which was published alongside it from 1951.[3] As Crozier was the sole cryptic compiler for 68 years,[4] the crossword itself became known as "the Crosaire" by metonymy. The pseudonym "Crosaire" is a play on his own surname and crosaire, the Irish for "crossroad".[5][6][fn 1] After Crozier's death, The Irish Times formally renamed its cryptic crossword in his honour.

Biography

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Crozier was born in Dublin and educated at Castle Park preparatory school in Dalkey and Repton School in England.[1] He graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1940.[5] He worked in administration at the Guinness Brewery in St. James's Gate.[5] He first compiled a crossword to amuse his wife, Marjorie, who remained much better at solving them than her husband.[8] Soon after, he was introduced by Jack White to Irish Times editor Bertie Smyllie at the paper's 1942 Christmas party in a Dublin pub, where he claimed that compiling crosswords was a longstanding hobby and persuaded Smyllie to commission some, the first printed on 13 March 1943.[5][9] Initially the Crosaire appeared weekly on Saturdays, with Wednesdays added in 1950, Tuesdays in 1955, and a daily puzzle from 1982.[5]

In 1948 Crozier emigrated to Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, to work as a tobacco and maize farmer in Sinoia, now Chinhoyi.[5] He found farming difficult and the meagre income from his puzzles was important.[1] In the 1962 Southern Rhodesian general election, he stood for the United Federal Party in the Gwebi constituency, losing to Rhodesian Front candidate James Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose. From 1963 to 1989, he taught at St. George's College in Salisbury, now Harare.[5] His puzzles were often delivered to Ireland through visitors from abroad to avoid the vagaries of the Zimbabwe postal system.[5] The backlog of puzzles submitted but not yet published had grown to over a year's worth by his death.[10][11] He travelled to Dublin in 1993 for the 50th anniversary of his first puzzle, during which he appeared on The Late Late Show and at a forum for 400 fans chosen by lottery.[1] He died at his home in Nyanga, aged 92.[1][5] A memorial service was held at St. George's College, attended by his three sons.[12]

Crosaire under Crozier and his successors

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Until about 1988, Marjorie made the grid and Crozier only created the clues.[13] Subsequently, Crozier took three to four hours to compile a puzzle.[14] He retained an idiosyncratic approach to clues, which never came to conform to emerging British standards synopsised by "Ximenes".[11] Crozier's daily puzzles recycled a small number of 15×15 grid patterns,[15] each with fourfold rotational symmetry. The Simplex crossword used four of the same grids,[3] excluding the Saturday Crosaire grid, which had 13-letter answers on the four edges and, latterly, a theme connecting these four.[16]

Crozier's final puzzle, number 14,605 of 22 October 2011,[17] was the first to be analysed on The Irish Times' new Crosaire blog.[18] Roy Earle, using the pseudonym "Mac An Iarla", compiled the Crosaire from 24 October 2011 to 9 June 2012.[17][19]

Earle was succeeded by Paul O'Doherty, pseudonym "Crossheir", who compiled the crossword for a 10-year stint that ended on April 30, 2022 (2022-04-30).[20] O'Doherty was succeeded by a pair of alternating setters: Tony Davis (pseudonym "Dominic") and Niamh O'Connor (pseudonym "Le Corsaire").[21] Aifric Gallagher (pseudonym "Fidelia") joined the roster of setters on March 30, 2024 (2024-03-30).[22]

Bibliography

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The following anthologies have been published:

  • Crozier, Derek (1993). The Crosaire Crossword Challenge. Dublin: O'Brien Press in association with Irish Times Books. ISBN 0862783437.
  • Crozier, Derek (31 March 1996). The Crosaire Crossword Challenge 2. O'Brien Press. ISBN 978-0-86278-441-6.
  • Crozier, Derek (2004). Crosaire: 120 Crosswords from The Irish Times. O'Brien Press in association with Irish Times Books. ISBN 9780862789008.
  • Crozier, Derek (15 August 2009). Crosaire: 120 Crosswords from The Irish Times (new ed.). O'Brien Press in association with Irish Times Books. ISBN 978-1-84717-183-2.

Notes

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  1. ^ The Irish for "crossword" is the calque crosfhocal.[7]

Sources

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "A riddler wrapped up in an enigma (5,7)". The Irish Times. 10 April 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  2. ^
    • Byrne and Crozier 1993, at 42s
    • "crosaire". Irish Pronunciation Database. Foras na Gaeilge. Retrieved 13 March 2022 – via teanglann.ie.
  3. ^ a b O'Brien, Mary (22 June 2011). "Nearly half a million clues later and the solution remains uncomplicated". The Irish Times. p. 3, Sixty Years of Simplex supplement. Retrieved 13 March 2022. Simplex has four set grids
  4. ^ "Carrying the Crossaire". The Irish Times. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kernan, Lorna; Sarah Crushell; Irene Stevenson (29 April 2010). "Derek Crozier 1917–2010". The Irish Times. p. 3, Supplement "40 Crosswords Celebrating the work of Derek Crozier".
  6. ^ Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977). "crosaire". Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla. Retrieved 13 March 2022 – via teanglann.ie.
  7. ^ "crossword". An Foclóir Nua Béarla-Gaeilge. Foras na Gaeilge. Retrieved 13 March 2022 – via focloir.ie.
  8. ^ Byrne and Crozier 1993, 2m10s–3m
  9. ^ Byrne and Crozier 1993, 1m40s–1m50s and 3m30s–4m
  10. ^ Duncan, Pamela (7 April 2010). "'Irish Times' crossword compiler dies". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  11. ^ a b
    • McCann, Fiona (8 April 2010). "Tributes flow as 'genius' crossword-setter dies". The Irish Times. p. 7. Retrieved 13 March 2022. There were a couple of big names in the British crossword world who came up with some new rules, after which crosswords all started to adhere to those rules. But anybody who was going to put rules on Derek Crozier — he wasn't going to listen to them.
    • Connor, Alan (21 December 2013). "100 down". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 March 2022. In most cryptics ... the form of the clue is the same ... Crozier was never one to let such rules stand in the way of a laugh or an engaging turn of phrase
  12. ^ Corcoran, Bill (10 April 2010). "Memorial service in Zimbabwe for compiler of 'Irish Times' crosswords". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 15 February 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  13. ^ Byrne and Crozier 1993, 4m2s–4m17s
  14. ^ Kernan, Lorna (10 November 2007). "Another one down and a few more to get across". The Irish Times. p. 4, Weekend Review.
  15. ^ Hourihane, Muireann (9 February 1989). "[Letters to the editor] Crosaire". The Irish Times. p. 11. Retrieved 13 March 2022. I have been aware for some time that the grids used by "Crosaire" are recycled.
  16. ^ Kernan, Lorna (12 March 2003). "He's a diamond man of letters (8)". The Irish Times. p. 15. Retrieved 13 March 2022. Saturday's sustaining crossword ... [is] bordered by four 13-letter clues ... with its newish formula ... of linking those four clues.
  17. ^ a b O'Brien, Carl (22 October 2011). "Earle hopes to solve problem left by Crosaire". The Irish Times. p. 3. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Crosaire No: 14605". The Crosaire Blog. The Irish Times. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017.
  19. ^ Earle, Roy (10 June 2012). "Explanations: No. 14802 – Saturday, 9 Jun 2012". The Crosaire Blog. The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 12 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  20. ^
  21. ^ "New setters for Irish Times Crosaire crossword". The Crosaire Blog. The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  22. ^ "Easter holiday quiz and crossword special - and a new Crosaire setter". X. The Irish Times. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
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