Allan Scott, 1946-2024

Allan Scott, who died in mid-May, was one of the country’s pre-eminent crossword compilers and will be remembered by some of our Spectator solvers as Ascot. Allan was born in Southport in Lancashire in 1946. He married his first wife, Hilda, in 1967 and they had two children, David and Carol. He worked in insurance in London until his retirement in 2000. Soon afterwards he moved from Essex to Llandudno with his partner, Christina, whom he married earlier this year.

His first crossword had been published in the Listener back in 1977 and in the mid-1980s, while working in Manchester, he had collaborated with Harold Massingham (Mass in The Spectator) on four collections of cryptic crosswords for Marks & Spencer. On Mass’s recommendation he joined The Spectator team of compilers in July 1987 and for many years he was one of the quartet of regular setters – Columba, Dumpynose, Ascot and Doc – during which time he compiled a puzzle every ninth week.