Adrian Powell, crossword puzzle and Cyberquotes creator, dead at 74

More than a few readers have written to us this week to ask what happened to the popular puzzle Cyberquotes. I'm very sad to share that the puzzle's creator, Adrian Powell, died last week at the age of 74.

Powell was the author of Cyberquotes — a puzzle that uses unique codes to encrypt a popular quotation — and the daily Canadian Crossword. According to an obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press, it was a bet that began his career as a writer of puzzles.

Powell was having dinner with a friend when the topic of crosswords came along, his friend Ruth Brauer told the Free Press's Kevin Rollason.

“He said he was complaining about the crosswords in the newspaper and said, `I could do better than that,'” Brauer said.

“His friend said, `If you can make one and get it published by a certain date, I will pay you $50 and buy you dinner.'”

The rest is history.

Powell, who was born in England and came to Canada in 1967, had his puzzles published in dozens of Canadian newspapers, as well as USA Today and the digital news site Vox. He had a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Manitoba and worked for Manitoba Telephone Systems, producing the white and yellow pages, the Free Press says.

His first crossword puzzle was created for publication in the early 1990s.

Powell's son, Leighton, told Rollason that his dad was “a pretty simple guy … He didn't even have a cellphone. He always wanted to have a conversation with people in person.”

In honour of Powell's contribution to Canadian leisure, we'll be running Cyberquotes puzzles from our archives until May 5. The final Canadian Crossword puzzle will run May 7.