Cryptics by Boatman

Words

Commissioning a puzzle

A completely personal, bespoke puzzle is a great way to celebrate a birthday, an anniversary, a corporate event or any other occasion … or do it just for fun. Having someone else provide the theme is fun for me, as well.

A crossword costs in the region of £200, which gives you a puzzle in an electronic format, with solution and explanations, reflecting as much of your chosen theme as I can squeeze into the grid and the clues. I normally need at least a couple of weeks to put together a puzzle that I’m happy with – if you can give me longer, so much the better, and do let me know if you need the puzzle for a special date.

You can have a standard 15x15 grid or a special shape: if you do want a special shape, you’ll need to provide some artwork, ideally in the form of a black silhouette in a bitmap file.

STEP 1

If you’d like to commission a puzzle, the first step is to send me an outline of the theme that you have in mind – give me as much or as little detail as you like, with some background information about the recipient if possible.

You may already have a list of words that you’d like me to use – in any case, see the Hints box for some suggestions. It’s helpful if you can add a very brief note to explain the significance of each word.

STEP 2

Unless I find the theme completely impossible, I’ll get back to you in a few days with some thoughts about how I might work up the puzzle to give you a sense of where I’m heading, and probably a few questions. At this stage, I’ll just want to make sure that I don’t go down any blind alleys, so you’ll be free to comment as much or as little as you like.

If you’re happy with my plan, it’s now that I’ll ask you to pay.

STEP 3

Your completed crossword will arrive as a .pdf file containing two pages, with the crossword on the first page and the solution (with explanations of the wordplay) on the second. If you need the puzzle in a different format, just say.

If I’ve inadvertently referred to anything that you’d rather not see in the puzzle, there’s normally time to make a few final adjustments if necessary.

Hints for creating a great puzzle

A really good themed puzzle has about ten or a dozen theme words in it and probably a few references to the theme elsewhere in the clues. But not every set of ten words will slot together, so it’s very important to have some alternatives. There are no hard and fast rules, but a good approach is to make three lists:

· Up to 3 key words that must be in the puzzle;

· 10 or more high priority words; and

· Another 10 or so words of lower priority.

Instead of your key words, you might have a short quotation: phrases containing around 30 letters usually work well, though there is less flexibility for including other words in the puzzle.

Another approach is to suggest just one or two key words and leave the rest to me: for example, if the puzzle is for someone called White, then it could contain a number of words that are related to the colour white or contain the letters WHITE.

Above all, be light-hearted!

Give me problems.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Cryptics by

Boatman