Brendan Treacy reflects on a life of ups and downs, and almost 20 years of creating The Southern Star crossword.

THE final word Jack Maher uttered before his passing was ‘tuxedo’, and it was nothing to do with what he wished to be laid out in, but was the final answer to complete that day’s crossword.

The Castletownbere resident was a life-long crossword fan, so it’s not surprising that his grandson Brendan Treacy has enjoyed a 40- year career as one of the country’s few crossword setters, and celebrates his 1,000th creation for The Southern Star in this edition.

‘My first puzzle appeared on April 13th, 2006. So my Southern Star crossword is the same age as the Playstation 3 and YouTube!’ said Brendan, who grew up in Dublin and who has lived in Meath for over 40 years.

He worked as a primary school teacher for over two decades, and while crosswords were something he had always enjoyed as a hobby, he never expected it would become anything else.

‘When a friend of mine asked me to contribute a crossword to a publication he was producing it just snowballed from there,’ said Brendan.

His first printed crossword was in the late 80s, and by the mid-90s he had left teaching to work full-time as crossword setter.

‘I was able to hit the ground running because I had spent so much time doing crosswords myself, but I’ve definitely fine-tuned the skill over the years,’ he said.

The crafting of a crossword is an intriguing process.

‘It’s done back to front in that I think of the answer first, and then write the clue!’ said Brendan. ‘My mind is very visual so for example if I see the word “mangetout,” I’ll read “man get out.” Same for “manslaughter,” where I’ll see “man’s laughter”. It all starts with a word or a phrase and it goes from there – I’m always jotting things down on my phone as words with clue potential come to me,’ he said.

He also loves anagrams, noting that rugby great Keith Earls could be seen as ‘elite shark,’ for example. Brendan has designed various crossword grids over the years and inputting the answer in a suitable grid is the first step.

‘I had a crossword database designed to my specifications in the 1990s which allows me to search, for example, for a six-letter word whose last letter is ‘e’ and first letter is ‘h.’

Every time I write a clue, I input it so over the years I’ve built up a good resource. It also tells me when I’ve last used words so I don’t end up duplicating things.’

A typical day in his office sees Brendan produce two crosswords, each typically taking a little over four hours.

‘It’s a bit like playing computer games, I always say, because you have to keep at it and stay focussed! It takes that long to get them written, proofed and then sent off so it really is a full-time job.’

Along with The Southern Star, among his clients are The Sunday Business Post, The Irish Farmers Journal, the Irish Catholic, and in the UK, The Irish Post.

‘But my unique selling point is that I tailor the crosswords to suit each readership. So for The Star I’ve had references to the rowers success, and the River Ilen, things like that’.

His objective is never to outsmart the crossword doer, but to challenge them.

‘I get a huge buzz when I hear that someone got it all nearly done, except for the last one, but as a whole it’s about being fair to the reader. It’s not a quiz, it’s about playing games with the language you already have. You shouldn’t ever have to look up words in the dictionary. All the words on the grid should be known to you.’

Does he ever hit a word-wall?

‘I do have blocks from time to time but I find hopping on the bike and going for a cycle is great to clear the head. If you’re doing anything for a long time, it’s normal to come to a bump in the road every now and then, for example being faced with so many bumper crosswords for Christmas publication. But I know I’ve done it before so I’ll be able to do it again’.

Despite what he does for a living, he still loves nothing more than getting stuck into a crossword himself.

‘It’s a busman’s holiday but it’s nice to see how other people’s minds work when compiling a crossword. My personal favourite is the Everyman crossword in Sunday’s Observer. The attraction for me is trying to get into the head of the person who wrote the clues, and readers who do the Star crossword will have picked up things about me over the years, certain trigger words and the like’.

His pen name is Gordius, associated with the Gordian knot, a complex knot that Alexander the Great is said to have cut with a sword.

‘The idea is that clues may look complicated but the answer is in there somewhere, it’s just dressed up to distract,’ said Brendan.

His byline also prompted one of his favourite clues: a five letter word and a six letter word, ‘Gordius, you dog. Irish Setter…think about it!’

Brendan still very much enjoys his ‘accidental’ career.

‘The saying that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life is true. I enjoyed teaching but I don’t miss it. I love the freedom and flexibility that I have now, even it does require personal discipline. Having said that the life of a crossword setter can be a lonely one, in that I’ve never met another one!’

He does get positive feedback from time to time though.

‘Once I remember I bumped into a pal who told me that his sister and brother-in-law went off on their yacht for an afternoon of sailing and had taken one of my crosswords and a bottle of wine with them. I thought it rather quaint that my crossword was an aphrodisiac!’

And on the odd occasion a mistake is made, he also gets an idea of his popularity.

‘It’s only then you find out how many people are doing it every week!’

For anyone not a fan, he suggests giving crosswords a go particularly to maintain mental agility.

‘Exercise is important for the body and also the mind and crosswords are a great way to keep it fit, ’said Brendan who will be 70 in March and who has no plans to retire.

‘Setting crosswords is very hard work but so satisfying and enjoyable. They’ll be reaching six feet down to take the computer from me!’