She put the ‘sword’ in Telegraph crossword for three decades (9)

NUALA CONSIDINE, one of The Tele- graph’s longest-serving crossword compilers, has died at the age of 90.

She had her first crossword published in The Irish Times at the age of 18 and went on to compile hundreds more for numerous publications.

Known for her witty clues, she compiled crosswords for The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph for more than 30 years. Her last three puzzles will be published posthumously over the coming months.

Using the name Excalibur, Considine set 830 Sunday Telegraph “Cryptic” puzzles between 1992 and 2009 and 110 “Toughies”, after their launch in 2008. She also compiled the Daily Mail’s Saturday Giant Crossword for 30 years and at the time of her death had a further 18 ready for publication. After her early submissions as a teenager, Considine joined Morley Adams, now part of the Press Association, in 1955. The company specialised in supplying crosswords to the national press, but it also employed her on several journalistic assignments.

Crosswords became her forte and soon she was supplying them to publications across Fleet Street. “It was very hard work,” she later said. “Sometimes a 15-by-15 cryptic crossword had to be compiled within an hour – and there was no electronic help.”

Chris Lancaster, The Telegraph’s puzzles editor, said: “Nuala was renowned for her humorous and quirky puzzles, which often included jokes and puns that regularly made one laugh out loud while solving.”

Considine was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer last month and died in her sleep on Tuesday. Her funeral will be held at Deansgrange Cemetery, Dublin, with a memorial service planned in London.