A crucial part of any newspaper make-up – the crossword – is a bumper one this week in the Andersonstown News and North Belfast News, as the puzzle marks its 1,000th appearance. The man behind the clues and more importantly the answers, is 64-year-old Dublin man Brendan Treacy whose work made its debut on July 16 2001.
In between following the rolling news updates from the American Presidential race, Brendan told this reporter how his crosswords are “written specifically for the newspaper that will print it”.
“I tailormake it to the readership. I know that Máirtín (Ó Muilleoir) is very keen to have Irish people, local people contribute to the paper and I’m delighted to be part of that,” he said.
On creating his 1,000th crossword Brendan said he was “very proud”.
“I enjoy it so much, it doesn’t feel like work especially when you hit milestones such as these,” he said. “There is a relationship with the paper going back over two decades which is very strong and it’s great. It’s lovely to think of people opening up the paper and looking at my work, heading for the crossword, that makes me feel very proud.”
There is a relationship with the paper going back over two decades which is very strong and it’s great. It’s lovely to think of people opening up the paper and looking at my work, heading for the crossword, that makes me feel very proud.”
On the importance of having the tradition of a crossword in a newspaper Brendan spoke of how solving crosswords was very much a family tradition.
“There is the mental challenge of a crossword which is very good for people. My mother, who died just six months ago, was still doing crosswords at 98.
“Her father died at 93 and the very last word he spoke was ‘tuxedo’, the final answer to the crossword he was doing that day.”
Her father died at 93 and the very last word he spoke was ‘tuxedo’, the final answer to the crossword he was doing that day.”
On creating his 2,000th crossword Brendan simply replied: “I’ll keep going, I’ve no reason to stop. It’s only 20 years away and I’ve been doing this the last quarter of a century, full-time since the mid-90’s”.
“I’m in awe of the people who make this happen every week at the paper. I have the raw materials and send them up to my contact Cathy Dobbin and I know that everything is going to be perfect from then on in.
“I think the staff deserve a great deal of credit in that they support me, they put it on the page, lay it out. I have never had any negative feedback, it all just works and it’s great fun talking to the staff and emailing them. It’s brilliant and I hope the readers enjoy this bumper crossword.”
See this week's newspapers for Brendan's 1,000th bumper crossword.
