How Myles Mellor became a Cruciverbalist and made Crosswords A career

Mr Myles Mellor has published more than 16 thousand xwords puzzles including those of the weekly puzzle on the Peninsula Pulse.

Puzzle maker and creator Mellor did not set out to craft a new type of career when he first sketched a crossword puzzle  about 20 years ago. He was only trying to cheer up his dad back in his homeland England.

When my mom died, my father was quite devastated by her death and I was trying to think ways I could cheer him up and make life better for him said Myles M, who was born and raised in Oxford,UK.

Mellor’s father loved doing puzzles, so he started sending them to him. After receiving several, his father suggested he get them published. Mellor send a few dozen queries who resulted unsuccessful until he got some assistance from David Hoyt, one of the world’s most renowned puzzle creators.

David Hoyt’s first piece of advice was to stop hand-writing them start using puzzle-creation software.

“I didn’t even know that they even existed,” Mellor said.

Not long after that, he eventually sold his first puzzle to 911 Magazine, an industry publication for the emergency comm and response industry. Now he has published more than 16 thousand crossword puzzles, including the weekly puzzle in the Peninsula Pulse, the puzzles of which are relatively more difficult compared to the other puzzles he creates.

It can take him anywhere from one hour to half a day for Mellor to complete writing a puzzle. The difficulties mostly come from both the size and the clue phrasing.

It is all about the level of Difficulty you want to Have really – he said. You can make a puzzle easy by just using the definition of a word, or you can make it more difficult by using a reference or something more subtle that relates to the word. I try to include some easier one so it’s solvable and not a nightmare. I think about who the people that are going to try to solve this are, and adjust the difficulty based on that.

Mellor Still loves the knowledge , learning and the discovery that comes with puzzles and he said there has been greater demand since the pandemic Covid-19.

It is a peaceful challenge at a time when the world is anything but calm – he said.
If you are there with a crossword puzzle and a cup of coffee, it is beautifully peaceful.

You can learn more about Myles Mellor on the “Door County Pulse Podcast” on the episode called “How Myles Mellor Made Crosswords His Career.”