Stella

Born in 1957, the second of eight children, I've seen my parents do the Guardian crossword for as long as I can remember, though until I went to university I was only able to solve one or two of the simplest clues before more experienced solvers - including, by this time, my elder brother - wrote in the answers. I studied French and Spanish at Leeds University for two years, and became familiar with the Telegraph crosswords, which a friend and I did daily, though I found them rather easy. Then came my year abroad, I met my husband and we discovered that an English degree was useless here, so what with starting over in Salamanca, starting a family and qualifying as an English teacher for the Official Language School, it was over ten years before I got my hands on a cryptic crossword again. I subscribed to the Guardian Weekly towards the end of the 90's, and began honing my crossword skills, gradually managing to complete more and more before the solutions came the following week. In 1998, I came down with ME, and there was another hiatus while I came to terms with what I could and could not do - it was five years before I was able to read a book! In the interim, though, I acquired, and learned to use, a pc., and recently got this tiny laptop version, called a notepad, which has widely increased my access to daily puzzles and online reference, and a few months ago I discovered Fifteensquared. Nowadays, my all-important daily routine can't start until I've done my two or three crosswords (including the quickies), while having breakfast, and then paid a visit to 15/2. I also enjoy cooking and walking my two dogs, Lucas and Vicki. These activities take up most of my time, not least because, since my hip broke last year, I don't feel sure enough to take the two out together.