John Young – RIP
John H writes:
With a very heavy heart, I must pass on to crossword friends the sad news of the death of the compiler John Young. Financial Times solvers will have known him as Dogberry; to Guardian aficionados, he was Shed – and of course one quarter of Biggles. He had been in deteriorating health for some time, never having fully been able to get over the death in 2018 of his mother Audrey (the Guardian setter Audreus).
I shall perhaps write more later. But please feel free to use the thread below to share your memories of the man, his puzzles and maybe your favourite clues. My favourite of his reflects his wit and impish sense of humour. In these times of wokeness and political correctness, editors might think again about publishing: “He hasn’t been all there since the operation (7)”.
A sad day for the crossword world. Over the years I have always until recently done the Guardian Prize Puzzle and used to look forward to Shed’s puzzles. I always found that they were very entertaining but doable. I hope that he’s now at peace with his mother and maybe setting some afterworld puzzles.
Very sad, knew him from the time I lived in Oxford and he would pop into our pub and ask what we thought of the puzzle. In those days i thought setters were some Demi Gods. Obviously I know better now ?
I am so sorry!.
Shed always set such a difficult but happy challenge. RIP.
A great crosswording man with a great crosswording mum. Unfortunately I never met Audreus (except in print, of course, and that was always a good day out), but bumped into Shed a few times, whereof I was knocked out by his gentle wit and really formidable intelligence. Quite a Newton scholar was JY, if I remember correctly.
I asked him about one of the many amazing puzzles he set, namely the ‘1066 And All That’ one, which contained many a thematic word or phrase, inquiring as to how he had managed to get all the necessary stuff into the grid. He said, ‘all I can remember is that it took me a bloody long time’.
When I was learning how to compile puzzles, I’d sit with Guardian puzzle books and pore over them, attempting to understand the wizardry used in concocting the clues. For certain setters, the ones I considered the finest, it was necessary to dedicate an envelope, to contain photocopies of their work, and facilitate extra special study. I remember returning again and again to the one labelled ‘Shed’.
Brilliant compiler, really lovely guy, RIP.
Very sorry to hear this sad news.
I never had the pleasure of meeting the man himself, but know he was a great setter with a good sense of humour from his clues – a definite giant in Crossworld.
His passing will be a great loss to all who took pleasure in his work in the past and I offer my condolences to his family and friends.
I occasionally post old clues on Twitter and my very first pick was Dogberry’s ‘Gissa look at the tenant! (6)’.
I’d already noticed that there hadn’t been any Shed puzzles for a while when Monk and Tramp’s ‘Mobo’ puzzle included the clue ‘Relied upon Shed getting back to Guardian (5,2)’ the following month, but I knew nothing of his failing health. Very sorry to hear this sad news.
I can only say thank you for the many hours of pleasure he brought to my life. He will be much missed.
Along with Araucaria, Shed was the stand out setter in my formative crosswording days as a teenager in the late 80s, and I have a particularly fond memory of curling up on the sofa with him and a housemate circa ’91, not getting very far but very much enjoying every solution we solved, rewarding ourselves with large swigs of wine with each success.
As far as the archive is concerned, there are 223 of his puzzles available, including 50 Saturday prizes and 2 Geniuses. Back in the day he was prolific, hitting a peak of 24 puzzles in 2003, but since 2007 he has been a rarer treat with his output being in single digits each year. I’m also pretty sure that in latter years he eased up on the difficulty scale, but the quality never dropped.
I would like to think that today’s choice of grid (Nutmeg, 28,753) is a small subtle nod to Shed – he used it quite frequently, and with its distinct block patterns it would always make me think it might be him even before seeing the setter’s name.
I never had the good fortune to meet John Young, but nevertheless he will leave a big hole.
RIP dear friend.
I had the great pleasure of meeting John back in 2015 – a lovely gentleman who produced some splendid crosswords, just not enough of them
Condolences to all who knew him – especially the remaining members of Biggles – and RIP to John
So sad to lose another setter in such a short time.
I can remember starting to do the FT crossword during the 1990’s, with the Dogberry ones cropping up regularly and presenting a good and entertaining challenge. Later, after moving to the Guardian puzzles, it was the Shed ones that provided, I think slightly harder, but still delightful puzzles that helped to sharpen my solving skills.
Condolences to his family and friends.
I met John twice. He seemed a lovely, quiet bloke and, unlike some setters, not one to blow his own trumpet. He was a regular Guardian setter when I got into solving puzzles in the mid ’90s.
He later said some nice things about my puzzles when I had a go at setting.
Such a sad loss. As with the recent news about Alberich/Klingsor, it’s often only in death that people express their sentiments: that is a shame.
RIP John. Thanks for the memories.
I never knew Shed or anything about him , just his puzzles in the Guardian from the mid 90s. Far too hard for me for several years but always a delight to see his name. Maybe only solve a few but the next day with the answers I would learn so much. Such clever clues and such variety and always so FAIR.
RIP Shed and thanks for all the lessons .
I met John Young at a few Guardian dos. A friendly man and an entertaining setter, who had a nice way of clueing. I hadn’t seen any of his puzzles for a while but shall solve a Dogberry in the FT book. How sad.
i first met john in the late eighties in the york here in sheffield, he tended to use the same pubs as myself and i knew him all through the nineties, a lovely man, on one occasion in my local i mentioned that the barmaid had been doing the daily mail crossword and for the clue “Dog Star” she had put in “Lassie” lo and behold the next Shed crossword in the guardian had the clue Dog Star and what was the answer? you guessed it ! we were only talking about him yesterday a sad loss R.I.P
Shed was a customer of mine in the hallamshire house for many years, he once wrote a quiz and all the answers were me and my customers my son my wife and my dogs ,what a wonderful man
After a very busy week, I’m relieved to find that this thread is still open – such very sad news, coming so soon after Neil Shepherd’s death.
In the eighties and nineties, a teaching colleague and I would spend a few minutes first thing on Monday mornings chewing over and chuntering about Saturday’s Guardian Prize puzzle, very often, as I remember, Araucaria, Bunthorne and Shed – all of them firm favourites.
After I serendipitously stumbled upon 15² in 2008, I would, from time to time, comment that I could almost hear my late Scottish husband’s exasperated – but good-humoured, really – ‘Och!’ at each example of the ‘homophone’ clues which are the anathema of those with rhotic accents. I was amused some time later to see, in a Shed puzzle, ‘Tenor in drunken choir fought for fort? Not in such a dialect (6)’ and highly chuffed when Shed commented on the blog that it was my comments that had inspired the clue. I wrote to thank him and that was the start of an occasional email correspondence which gave me the confidence, when I was helping Peter, Kathryn’s Dad, to plan our first Derby S and B in 2011, to invite John to come. He did come – and to a couple of subsequent ones, too – so I feel, like a number of others above, very fortunate to have met him.
I really miss his puzzles.
RIP John and condolences to family and friends.
I endorse all the nice things folks have said about John. I only new him as crossword solver who became a well-liked regular in Oxford’s Cricketer’s Arms in the mid-eighties. He was obviously too modest to tell all but a couple of the regulars of his alter ego. But, though unaware that we had a celebrity in our midst, I think we all knew he was a decent guy.
I endorse all the nice things folks have said about John. I only knew him as crossword solver who became a well-liked regular in Oxford’s Cricketer’s Arms in the mid-eighties. He was obviously too modest to tell all but a couple of the regulars of his alter ego. But, though unaware that we had a celebrity in our midst, I think we all knew he was a decent guy.