P Leslie Aldridge

The first time I encountered anything like cryptic crosswords was in a book called something like 'Puns and Anagrams'. I think an aunt or uncle had left it at our house. This would be sometime in the 1950's or early '60's (ancient times, eh?). Later I came across some cryptic crosswords from Britain, and having no explanations given about solving them, I was completely flummoxed. In the '80's and '90's I subscribed to the Atlantic Monthly ('for the articles' as Playboy subscribers would say). Each month it produced a cryptic crossword by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon. Unfortunately, most of them were Variety Cryptics, where you have to change the answer before putting it into the grid (which I hate with a passion). I dabbled with trying to solve them but didn't have much luck. Finally, I bought Cox & Rathvon's Guide to Cryptic Crosswords – it's still available. I highly recommend it. The Guide not only shows how to solve the puzzles but also how to go about creating them. It also has 40 or so actual cryptic crosswords. Meanwhile, I became a computer programmer or, more hifalutin', a software engineer. I toiled in that field mostly in Linux operating system work in C and C++, and some assembly language for telephony (cell phone towers) – cards that plug into racks. I retired in 2010. I took up painting with oils. All of my book covers feature my artwork. BTW, the photo above is a self-portrait. I have recently tried to do some gouache and water colour. Much harder. You have to actually be talented to do it right. Recently, I have returned to playing drums. I started playing when I was 16 or 17 and almost joined an American band called “The Philly Dogs” but my parents nixed that idea. I did play a gig with them in Toronto, in Yorkville – a swinging spot back then. During COVID, some of my nieces and nephews and I got together over a file sharing app and mixed some recordings of old rock & roll (guitars, bass and drums with vocals). A lot of fun. I have always been somewhat of an outdoorsman. I worked for the Department of Lands and Forests in Ontario for two summers (1967 and 1969 – missed Woodstock) as a towerman – a fire-spotter. They fly you into some remote area (Quetico Park ('67), and north of Sudbury('69)) where you stay for two to three months alone in a little shack on a lake. The actual fire-spotting is done from a tower on a nearby hill. They dropped food off – flown in by sea plane. Later, I took my children, most summers, to Algonquin Park for wilderness canoeing and camping. The last time we went was a couple of years ago. I think I'm getting a bit old for the wilderness. I took up writing cryptic crossword books in earnest about eight years ago. My programming skills came in handy in creating a database of words and clues. It helps me to keep a store of clues that I build up between books, and to ensure (as much as possible) against repeating the same words.