Roddy Forman
By Mark Goodliffe
My next-door neighbour at the 1999 Times Crossword Championship final noticed me struggling with the Listener in between the competition puzzles. “I’m the setter of next week’s,” he told me, which didn’t help settle any nerves. So began a friendship with Roddy Forman, who I was to meet regularly at Listener events as well as solving tournaments.
Three years later when Simon & I floated the idea of following Mike Rich’s Tough Crosswords, Roddy tracked down a phone number for me and gave us plenty of advice. He entered Magpie history as a setter in issue no 1, and maintained an annual average of one puzzle solo and one in collaboration thereafter.
Often trenchant or punchy by email, he was the soul of geniality and generosity in person. Chris Lear was among the many people he introduced to the Crossworld by inviting them as his guest to the Listener Dinner, though for some reason he felt Chris had deceived him by not being related to Edward Lear.
When he contacted us in November with a puzzle for which he had a grid and preamble but no energy left to complete the clues, it was a pleasure to pitch in so that the puzzle could be published quickly. Roddy even saw fit to compliment the clues, to my surprise, though not my minor tweak to the preamble, to whose precision as always he was fiercely attached.
Roddy was a solver and setter of great repute. As well as several Times Crossword final appearances, he was a multiple all-correct in the Listener and had won the Salver. His puzzles always drew rave reviews and he was rightly considered a doyen. He was comfortable in both cryptic and numerical fields and happy to act as a test-solver, and constructive advisor, for a huge number of compilers. He will be much missed.
Roddy died on Monday, January 27th, 2014
January 30th, 2014 at 2:35 pm
I received an email one day from someone who I had never met saying that he particularly liked a clue that I had written in a small competition and advised me to try setting a puzzle if I didn’t already set. I had never dreamed of attempting to set a puzzle but did so on his advice and sent it to him for comment. I received a reply a few days later which started ‘What you first need for a thematic puzzle is a good idea, you have that, though I am afraid after that it all goes downhill…’ Then followed several pages of red ink. I was deflated for 15 minutes or so then slowly it hit me just how much work this man who I had never met had done to help me. I spent ages going through his comments and needless to say redid the puzzle and eventually got it published. It was of course Roddy and he has been there for me ever since as he has for so many, not just to review puzzles but as a source of advice and inspiration. I was devastated when he told me that he only had months to live and I am devastated now although I knew it was coming. I feel privileged to have been advised by him and I will miss him immensely. Thank you Roddy.