Denise Sutherland - Puzzle Writer

I have been creating puzzles for longer than I can remember, probably starting with simple crosswords, mazes and find-a-words when I was a child. I think solving puzzles is a part of my make-up, as I have also always loved mystery novels, reading Encyclopedia Brown and the Bobbsey Twins when I was young, and graduating to Maigret, Inspector Morse, Dalgleish, Dalziel & Pascoe, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Rebus, Brother Cadfael, and many more!

There are very few books out there on how to actually go about writing crosswords, find-a-words, drawing mazes and dot-to-dots, and so on. Mostly you have to 'pull apart' puzzles and figure out the logic of how they're done for yourself. The puzzle of how to write puzzles is part of the challenge I enjoy!

Some books in my puzzle writing collection are :

• Chambers Crossword Manual by Don Manley, 2006 - a fantastic book on how to write cryptic clues and crosswords
• Crosswords by Alec Robins, 1975 - a little falling-apart book on writing English-style crosswords and cryptics that I discovered in a second-hand book store in 1992, and which is probably my favourite book on crosswords.
• Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword, by D S Macnutt, 1966 (new edition 2001) - THE classic book on English cryptic crosswords and fair play.
• Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing by Martin Gardner, 1972 - another classic book.
• The Crossword Obsession by Coral Amende, 2001 - an interesting foray into the profession of writing crosswords in the USA, with many interviews and a history of the crossword.

• The Joy of Lex by Gyles Brandreth, 2001 - a fun book of word play by one of my favourite wordsmiths.

Of course, a great deal of reference books are an essential part of any puzzle writer's 'tool kit'. The Australian Oxford Dictionary is my favourite reference dictionary, and the standard reference for all my crosswords. I also have a wide range of books of quotations, proverbs, word lists, and probably far too many crossword dictionaries. The internet supplies a readily accessible and fast source of reference material too, when used with discretion - I always make sure a site is a reputable one when relying on it for information.

I love finding out about new things, and especially love themed puzzles. Doing the research for these puzzles is a lot of fun, and then I do my bets to write an accurate and entertaining puzzle that hopefully engages both adults and children. I can create all of the following, at whatever level of difficulty is needed (young child, child, teen, adult) :

• Quick Crosswords
• Themed Crosswords
• Cryptic Crosswords
• Cross Quizzes
• Fit-Ins / Clueless Crosswords
• Double Acrostics
• Find-a-Words / Word Searches
• Secret Shape Word Searches
• Codes and Ciphers
• Mazes
• Dot-to-Dots
• Colouring-In
• Spot-the-Differences

In general I find that picture-based puzzles take me a lot longer to design than word-based puzzles. Sometimes I can spend days getting a Spot-the-Difference just right. I tend to use archival material or reference photos for these sorts of puzzles (such as a photo of Parliament House being built in the 1920s), so I need to find a photo that is both interesting and suited to the puzzle - the search for the 'perfect photo' can take some time. I use resources such as Picture Australia and libraries. Drawing the picture takes a long time too, as I like to include a lot of detail. Then I have to create the second version of the picture with things both added and deleted.

I do a lot of my drawing electronically, although not always. I have a Wacom drawing tablet instead of a mouse, and run a MacBook with System OSX (10.5.2). I layout my books and puzzles using the Abode Creative Suite 3 - Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are my standard programs. I have custom-written puzzle software, courtesy of my rather excellent husband, Dr Ralph. This software helps me to create the grids and layouts for the word puzzles, ensuring that things like word lists, answer files and numbering are always correct, and allows me to create themed word files. However, it does not place the words - every word in my puzzles is chosen and placed by me, and I also write all clues 'from scratch'.

The hardest word puzzle to design is a Double Acrostic. In these puzzles there is a quotation which is 'deconstructed' into its component letters. These letters are then reformed into a series of words, which exactly uses up that set of letters, and are revealed with a series of crossword style clues. But not only that, the first letters of these words, when lined up, spell the name of the author of the quote! Great fun to solve, but very challenging to write.

A Puzzle Portfolio

I am currently working on my first book with a publisher - Word Searches for Dummies (Wiley USA), due for release in April 2009 (USA/Canada only). This will be a big thick book with over 250 word search puzzles to solve - ranging from easy to hard, as well as some solving hints and tricks!

I was Technical Editor / Reviewer for Brain Games For Dummies by Timothy Parker (due for release in late 2008).

I wrote The Canberra Puzzle Book with the assistance of an ACT Heritage Grant in 2004-05 and followed this up with The Junior Canberra Puzzle Book in 2006. Both these books continue to sell well in a variety of national institutions (National Library, Parliament House, National Trust etc), and to schools around Australia.

The Bre&d Puzzle Sheet was written and illustrated in 2004 for the Bathurst Region Eats & Drinks group. You might like to download the puzzle sheet.

In a similar vein, I wrote and illustrated the Taste Orange puzzle sheet in August 2007.

The Alice Springs School of the Air Puzzle Book (April 2004) was written with contributions from ASSOA students. Their drawings, jokes, and car games are included in the book, along with the usual compliment of crosswords, mazes, find-a-words and other puzzles. All puzzles are about the School of the Air, and the Australian outback. It is available from the ASSOA Visitors Centre in Alice Springs. I enjoyed working with the teachers, students and parents from ASSOA, even though it was all from a distance... maybe one day I'll get out to Alice Springs and I can meet some of them!

The Fantastic Flying Doctors' Puzzle Book (April 2003) is available through your nearest Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitors' Centre. All puzzles relate to the history of the RFDS. I really loved researching and writing this book - I learnt a huge amount about this fascinating and inspiring organisation. Thousands of these books were given to schoolchildren in Melbourne as part of a education program.

My first full book of puzzles, The Amazing Animal Puzzle Book, was written for the RSPCA (ACT) in November 2002. All the puzzles are about animals, from wildlife to pets. It should still be available through your local RSPCA shelter shop, and mail order. Call the ACT branch of the RSPCA on (02) 6287-8100 to find out more.

I have had crosswords and other puzzles published in the Bright Sparcs Teachers' Guide, the ACT Government's Reflections of Canberra CD-ROM (which I also designed), several home education magazines, the RSPCA (ACT) newsletter, and in various American newsletters. During 2003 I was the compiler of the crossword in the Capital Magazine, and in 2006 I did a series for the Australian Canegrower trade magazine. In January 2007 I wrote the puzzles for a Blue Cross booklet (USA).