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   CLUB SANDWICH 79

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MEET BERT DANHER

We come face to face with the man behind the Club Sandwich crossword puzzle

            He only rarely puts his name to his work, but there's one man (apart from Paul, of course) who contributed to the very first issue of Club Sandwich and is still doing so today, 78 issues later. He's the person who compiles the CS crossword. Who is he? Well, here's another clue for you all - he's Paul first-cousin. Club Sandwich 79
            Bert Danher is the name. His mother was Ann McCartney, and her brother James (Jim) was Paul's father. But in case you think his engagement with the Sandwich is purely the result of family ties, you're mistaken, for Bert also happens to be the foremost crossword compiler in Britain, indeed he's the only person to contribute puzzles to all five of the English "quality" newspapers - The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Financial Times. Truly, not a day goes by when a Bert Danher crossword is not in one of these five publications.
            Not that you'll see his real name credited anywhere. Crossword compilers enjoy anonymity or bask under pseudonyms: in The Guardian Bert is "Hendra" (an anagram of Danher), in The Independent he's Aquila (the emblem of the paper is an eagle and Aquila is Latin for eagle) and in the FT he's "Dinmutz" which, as Bert explains, matter-of-factly, "is purely a random Scrabble hand". In The Times and Daily Telegraph he has no by-line at all.
            Working as a freelance, Bert compiles about six crosswords a week. "That I can make a living out of it I owe to the fact that I can do them quickly," he explains. "I recently read an article by another Times crossword compiler in which she said that it takes her four days to compile each one. I try to do mine in a day - albeit a concentrated one."
            Since most people have tremendous problems in just solving crosswords, it's pretty hard to imagine how difficult it must be to compile one, especially the maddening, devilishly-clever, intriguing puzzles demanded by the serious daily newspapers. But, as Bert points out, it's just a job, and most people's work looks complicated - even impossible - to outsiders. "You have to be bitten by the crossword bug," Bert explains. "There's a language to crosswords, and tricks and techniques that the regular compiler soon gets to know. That's not to say that it's easy to compile them, just, well, achievable."
            It's one of those neat twists of fate that Bert now compiles crosswords for Paul, because he got "bitten by the bug" through spending time with Paul's dad. Bert explains, "My father was ill with TB - he was in hospital for years at a stretch and died young, aged 38 - so I spent a lot of my early years with my grandmother (that's Jim's mother, Paul's grandmother) and with Jim himself. He was a dedicated Daily Telegraph crossword man: he used to fill it in every day, and do the competitions at weekends. He was very good at it and I got interested in crosswords through being with him.
            "Getting on for 20 years ago, when I was taking The Guardian, I used to solve the puzzles in my head - I found that I didn't even need a pen. So for a bit of extra fun I used to compile a grid myself and soon realised that I could produce a better crossword than the one I'd just done. I sent in a couple of them, idly, to The Guardian, and seven weeks elapsed - by which time I'd forgotten all about it - when a letter arrived saying that they liked these two and could I please compile some more? So I did, and then I got in at the Telegraph, The Times - which was the hardest to crack - and, when it started, The Independent!'
            Possessed of an enquiring, playful mind, Bert was also one of the three principal question-writers for the original Bamber Gascoigne-hosted editions (1962-87) of the long-running TV quiz series University Challenge (which is based on the American College Bowl). He has also compiled quizzes and crosswords galore for a variety of different magazines and been the star attraction ("The Maestro" to give his correct moniker) on a special 16-night P&O sea-cruise for lovers of the square grids.
            Bert, indeed, has many strings to his bow. Just as his father (also named Bert) was a member of Jim Mac's Band - yes, Paul's father also had his own group, playing the Liverpool Graftons and Locarnos in the 1920s/30s - so Bert Jr played the French Horn a few times ("in my heyday," as he calls it) with the Liverpool Philharmonic. "I wasn't bad for an amateur, really," he modestly admits. The McCartneys are, of course, one talented family all round. Bert's sister, Bett Robbins, has had five children - Ted, Kate, Jane, Emma and Amy - each of whom has made their mark in the world, particularly the superb impressionist Kate.
            Together with his wife Lin, Bert lives quietly on the Wirral, beavering away at those crosswords from a desk at home. "Compilers tend to work in isolation," he says. "I've met some of the others but I don't know them well. We don't get much feedback, we just get on with it, really." Although he's Paul's cousin there's a 16 year age difference between the two. "I don't know whether he's even aware of this," Bert remarks, "but I'm actually one of Paul's godfathers. When I was 16 and Paul was being christened, Bill Mohin - that's Paul's mother Mary's younger brother - and I -were roped in as godparents. We didn't know he was going to be world famous! But I didn't see much of him after that because at 17 I was away and gone, having volunteered for air crew service in World War Two."
            Clearly, Bert has led, and continues to lead, a most interesting life. The day before he spoke to Club Sandwich for this feature he and Lin had escaped, miraculously, from an horrific car crash, in which their vehicle - the innocent party - was written off. Having survived that there's no reason why Bert's work shouldn't continue to grace the pages of The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Financial Times - and, of course, Club Sandwich - for a good many years to come.

Club Sandwich 79