In the beginning was the crossword

On Thursday evening, a stream of distinguished visitors poured through the doors of 22 Old Queen Street. These were the readers who had applied and been picked to attend a party to celebrate the publication of the 2,000th Spectator crossword. Tom Johnson, aka Doc, crossword editor, presided over a roomful of dons, doctors, vicars and at least one astrophysicist — ‘the country’s finest crossword minds’, as Spectator editor Fraser Nelson put it. The atmosphere was heady with wine fumes, wit and only the occasional whiff of pedantry.
News had got around, and there were guests from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, France… and the Congo: Julie Walker had pleaded to be allowed to submit her entry online from Kolwezi, and had duly made the pilgrimage to meet her crossword hero, Doc.
Also present were setters Dumpynose and Mr Magoo, unmasked by Fraser Nelson in his speech as Chris Brougham and Mark Goodliffe.