Rare Pearl in Heaven’s Edges!
John Halpern is a former barman, an ex-lab geek, a former bank clerk and English teacher based in Rome. But more recently, this restless spirit is a crossword setter, better known as Paul to the solving public, creating puzzles in both The Manchester Guardian, and (anonymously) for The Times.
And he’s my favourite compiler, with an honourable mention to Taupi (for his brevity), America’s Henry Hook (his brainwaves) and Brendan (his daring).
But Paul tweaks my synapses best. His clues combine cheek with flair, teetering between tough and outrageous, though invariably fair. To give you a taste of his recipes, here’s a little ‘amuse bouche’ I prepared earlier:
A rather unfortunate flyer! = EARHART
For now, I hate myself = MEANTIME [me-anti-me]
Post-op, his number was up = CASTRATO
Close walrus relative = SEAL
PC Short cleverly called a night manoeuvre = VERTICALLY CHALLENGED
Garage worker’s unanswered quiz question? = PANEL BEATER
From which comes peace offering to relieve suffering = OLIVE TREE
Pot reds = KHMER ROUGE
Some elegant anagrams. Several skewed perceptions. Brief, zestful, with high-smile factor. In a word Paulish.
Solving a crossword, you want that impasse feeling, where no clue yells the answer, and completion feels a lifetime away. And suddenly, an anagram emerges, a homophone flashes by, a double-meaning murmurs, and the hunt is on, taking you via cultures low and high, allusions cheap and classic, images sweet and bizarre, with a polished surface to the clues, and invisible seaming between definition and play.
The nib always itches when I see a blank Paul in need of solving. You can get a free hit of this nimble sensei at the Guardian website, chancing your arm with the other regular setters, such as Rufus (king of the oblique) and the evergreen Araucaria.
But occasionally, Paul can be over-puzzling. Next post I’ll be running a few clues from the Halpern canon. Even with their answers revealed, I’m struggling to un-riddle them. Maybe you can.
October 10th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
David,
I think you are using the word anagram incorrectly. But maybe it’s different down under. By definition, it is a word or phrase formed from another by rearranging its letters. For instance, Cassowary Crossing = Crossways On Cigars.
October 11th, 2008 at 5:58 am
Crossways on Cigars? A cute twist.
Right up there with Sassy Organic Crows, or Scary Scissor Wagon.
Thanks for the anagram flag, Leonie. We Aussies mean the same thing too. And so do Brits like Paul, who uses the mixing technique to conceal EARHART, VERTICALLY CHALLENGED and OLIVE TREE.
Hence my revisal to the original posting, changing the wording to read ‘Some anagrams’. Since the other clues rely on different recipes. (Think more cagy than cajun!) Cheers.
October 11th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Leona - sorry.