April 2014 26,236, the 602nd and final puzzle by Gordius ( obituary). The eighth of the nine original pseudonyms to retire, Gordius had been a stalwart since 1967 and had become more prolific in the online era, providing two puzzles a month. He was a midweek man – rarely seen on either Mondays or Saturdays and most commonly on Tuesdays. We can estimate that he set in the region of 40 to 50 more puzzles before December 1970 and his known total puts him eighth on the all-time list. Everyman is my only regular crossword. The rest of the time, I do other kinds of writing: scripts, the odd book, jokes for television; and I’m the question editor for Richard Osman’s House of Games.

Finally, in my Give Me a Clue column in this weekend’s i newspaper, I’ve quoted three of your Everyman clues as favourites – do you have any favourites of your own? If a solver has read the rest of the paper, he or she should know everything he or she needs, which is another way of saying that there’s a pleasure in including some placenames and surnames in spots where I might have been tempted to put what Hemingway called “the 10-dollar words”. July 2003 22,893: Araucaria becomes the first (and to date only) setter to reach 2,000 credited puzzles. To put this achievement into context: if even Paul continues at his current rate he will get there some time in 2047.May 2020 28,122, the 316th and final puzzle by Chifonie ( obituary). Another much-loved setter, for his smoothness and fairness which offered encouragement to new solvers. His total puts him 14th on the all-time Guardian list.

Custos at John Perkin’s farewell lunch, 1997. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Grand totals of current setters (as of 10 January 2023) It does a bit. Likewise “magniloquent”. Now, when I ask setters if they are prepared to share a photo of themselves, I always hope it’s not going to be an unflattering selfie. How about this time? I’m afraid I’ve wobbled on it. I’m going to ask Enigmatist if he’ll do this. He’s going to use his editorial section next to the Inquisitor puzzle in this weekend’s i newspaper, and take over the questioning here. October 2020 28,278, the 423rd and final puzzle by Shed ( obituary). The most recent setter to leave us, Shed had a great range: he could be very tough when he wanted to be, but could also tone it down if he wanted to give solvers a fun ride, so it is not surprising that he was seen on all of the days of the week. His total puts him 11th on the all-time list.Agreed, and many thanks to Boatman. Suggestions for future book club reading are very welcome. In the meantime, we have our first appointment with whodunnit writer Patricia Moyes; the book is Murder Fantastical. Other puzzling books You have established an identity with your acrostics (“primarilys”), rhyming long answers, repeated initial letters: do you have an editor? Without wanting to sound like I think I’m some kind of key worker, I was aware of a responsibility: solvers talk with such fondness about Everyman puzzles. I wanted to make sure I was setting while firmly wearing an Everyman hat.

July 1997 21,019 is an interesting one: Egoist set six cryptics for the Guardian, all published on 18 July, from 1997 to 2003 (in 1999, that date was a Sunday). I have been reminded that Hugh Stephenson’s birthday falls on 18 July. February 2017 27,132, the debut puzzle by Sphinx (comedian Steve Pemberton), is an elaborate tie-in with an episode of his BBC anthology series Inside Number 9 broadcast on the same day. According to Haydon Bambury’s research, I am the second slowest of the current stable to reach 100 puzzles. Imogen took slightly longer but got there just before me and has been racing away ever since. Logodaedalus and Gemini took even longer, but that was in another century. November 2013 26,118, officially set by “None” but widely taken to have been provided by Enigmatist, Paul and Shed, and so like Araucaria’s 90th birthday puzzle I class it as a Biggles puzzle – the 11th and last. It is a tribute to Araucaria, who had died three days previously ( obituary).February 1997 20,898 and the last one-off before the online era, this was set by Joke (a collaboration between Enigmatist and Fawley).