Mark has spent most of his crossword career as a solver, winning the Times competition five times, and has branched out occasionally into other puzzles, achieving two ‘podium finishes’ in The Times Sudoku Championship. 2011 has been particularly busy in terms of other solving, with a win in the “UK/US Cryptic Showdown” at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, a prize for cracking the GCHQ Challenge 2011 and the unravelling of an unsolved Carrollian acrostic … and even an unsuccessful Countdown appearance.

Mark is 46, and has two young children. As Mr Magoo, he has been setting puzzles for about 9 years, mostly for the Magpie, has five appearances in the Listener, and was invited in 2010 to join the team compiling for the Spectator.