Nancy found errors in our cryptic crosswords 35 years ago, so we hired her. At 97, she’s still puzzling you

Nancy Sibtain’s 35-year cryptic crossword-creating career started from having a bee in her bonnet.

The avid fan and daily practitioner of the sophisticated puzzles found herself critiquing them.

Her son, barrister Dauid Sibtain, SC, recalls that one day in 1989, “she was doing The Sydney Morning Herald’s crossword, and I remember her saying, ‘Some of these crosswords are not that good.’

“She was finding either errors or bad clues,” says Dauid.

“She wrote to the Herald and complained. And the editor said, ‘If you think you can do better, give us a sample of what you can do.’”

After a trial, Nancy was hired and remains among the regular cryptic writers for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

She is 97 years old.

But she still relishes dreaming up a mesh of definitions spiced with wordplay, using the genre’s rules, like words hidden within a phrase, double meanings, and sound-alike words.

Only recently, Nancy went from writing one crossword a week – under the initials NS – to once a month, on Thursdays. She also writes a quick (non-cryptic) crossword.

A year ago, at home in Sydney’s northern suburbs, Nancy slipped and broke her leg. She moved into aged care, but Dauid says his mother still enjoys creating crosswords.

“As people age, and go into aged care, their brains can turn to jelly, but she’s found it really good for mental acuity to have something to focus on and work out,” he said.

As Nancy terms it, one needs an occupation.

Her computer generates random crossword layouts and she works out her answers to fit. She types her clues on a Word document.

During the week, Dauid is a high-flying media barrister, but on visits, he is his mother’s crossword clerk.

“When she’s finished a crossword, I’ll check it for typos, and have a scan through the clues, and if I see one that could do with some work, we talk about it, and she fixes it up,” he says.

Nancy, a grandmother of three, attributes her longevity to vegetarianism, and a lifelong devotion to fitness.

Lynne Cairncross, The Age and Herald crosswords editor, says Nancy is tenacious and tough to have stuck to crossword compiling for so long.

Cairncross says Nancy’s strength has been keeping her clues approachable. “This is no small feat, as all compilers have an ego and want to challenge and outsmart their readers.

“I think more than any other compiler, she really cares about being kind to the reader.”

Cairncross says Nancy always writes the first “across” clue as an anagram, usually from a saying.

“Have a go at creating one, and you will see it isn’t easy,” Cairncross says. “This is one of hers: Dad, it’s fail-safe, available and completely healthy (2,3,2,1,6). The answer – as fit as a fiddle.”

Nancy says: “It’s a real pleasure when you’ve worked out a very clever clue.”

Compiling crosswords is demanding, she says. “But it’s good to be challenged. I want to be challenged.”

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