Richard Rogan is The Times crossword editor. Here Richard discusses his top crosswording tips, the most common questions he gets from readers and tests you with his most difficult crossword.

How did you start your career in crosswords?

I started by looking over my Dad’s shoulder as he did the Daily Telegraph (sorry to mention it) crossword. I became fascinated by the puzzles with their symmetrical grids, and how all the words linked together. I soon made the acquaintance of The Times crossword, which seemed a whole step up in difficulty and sophistication. I used to compile very childish efforts for my poor parents to “solve” but gradually started constructing more and more puzzles for friends, work magazine etc.

Luckily enough when I approached The Times (having already had a puzzle published in the very difficult Listener series hosted by the paper) the then editors were kind enough to see that I had a modicum of talent and took me on as a setter.

What are your top tips for improving your crosswording skills?

For solving? For those new or newish to cryptic crosswords, try our Quick Cryptic Crossword which appears Monday to Friday in Times 2. It is as far as I know the only intentionally easier daily cryptic crossword in the quality daily press. Also, look at crossword solving blogs such as Times For the Times, which explains the clues each day.

Try to become adept at spotting the straight definition, more or less cunningly concealed at the start or end of the clue. In the Times Crossword in particular, I try to ensure that no word in a clue is wasted. So remember that every word in the clue is there for a good reason!

Above all, crosswords should be FUN: if you enjoy solving The Times Crossword in six hours or six days, then that may be just as satisfactory as taking six minutes. Practice, though, as with anything, will make you more proficient. For crossword setting, aspiring setters should always, always, research their target publication. It can be very difficult to ‘catch’ the style particularly of our puzzles, once you have hopped over the fence into the setter’s camp. I had been solving The Times Crossword for years, yet my first submission was really way off the style. I never turn away someone who is good enough, but it is very much a buyer’s market I’m afraid.

How do you go about devising your crossword trivia week after week?

The vast majority of the puzzles I publish come from other setters, and I rely on their unfailing wit and ingenuity (as well as my own!) to keep solvers entertained, baffled, puzzled but hopefully ultimately satisfied.

You hosted a session with readers at Cheltenham this year, what are the most common reader questions?

Meeting solvers at Cheltenham is one of the highlights of the year for me, it’s just about the only chance I get to meet ‘ordinary’ solvers.

By far the most common question is: how on earth do I start solving a cryptic clue, in which case I go over the basic tools of the compiler’s trade. I also direct them to look for the straight definition I mentioned earlier, which is almost always at the start or end of the clue.

Another is: how long does it take you to set a crossword. The answer to that one is that it is impossible to say exactly, as I rarely set an entire puzzle in one sitting. The brain needs a rest usually after the effort of thinking up just a few clues, just like marathon runners need feeding stations and long distance travellers need stopovers. I usually try to spend no longer than two days’ worth of sessions of clue writing, depending on how busy I am.

I am also occasionally asked for the identity of the setter of that day’s puzzle (particularly if it is an especially tricky one) and I am always happy to reveal the name of the culprit 

What is your most difficult crossword that you have ever published and why?

That is a tricky one. Most of the puzzles in The Times are of a fairly standard difficulty, and what one solver or editor struggles with may not necessarily be so challenging to someone else. I have received the occasional very demanding puzzle which I have decided needs so much editing that it is probably no longer the monster it was when I first solved it.

Here, however, is one of my own which was used in a Championship Final a few years ago, which was generally regarded by all as fairly challenging!Championship 2015: Grand Final Puzzle Two

ACROSS

1   Yank ball and point cue (6)

4   One’s mum making this drama with different recordings (3,1,4)

10   Work something karaoke performer might assume must be endless trouble? (3,6)

11   Description of sky, perhaps, and much of earth, some say (5)

12   Doubts returning, so fail on and off (3)

13   Lodger needed for Michaelmas term — as one-off (6,5)

14   Much scrap and litter (6)

16   PIN number? (4,3)

19   As well to catch name of retreating Spaniard? (7)

20   Whip who is left recalling Members of Parliament (6)

22   Force to meet by day to show a variety of features? (4,5,2)

25   Not “big bucks” caviar? (3)

26   Generous old Athenian doctor splitting money (5)

27   Cure him for disorder involving a joint, finally? (9)

28   Go past in one’s cruelty striking fellow with stick (3-5)

29   Boy forever collecting Times, but not taking in Sun? (3-3)

DOWN

1   Jargon, unconvincing, calls for attention (6)

2   Man inappropriately offers VAT adjustment (9)

3   Figure purse contains shilling (5)

5   Close old service entrance above stage (2,4,8)

6   A short fat host completely alert first thing? (5,4)

7   Play useless after peer forgets a line (5)

8   14 banks emptied out fake notes, old coins (8)

9   Noted piece of campaigning: got Tory banker over (6,8)

15   Sound to use foil maybe to protect (4-5)

17   Cleared of wrong-doing, wanting it ticked off (9)

18   Bud joined to tropical tree (8)

21   Lovely and sore after exercising (6)

23   In place close to park on first half of vacation (5)

24   Speeds up an hour after midday film (5)

What are your five desk essentials? 

1)My laptop
2) My iPhone or iPad, as these contain my dictionary apps, an invaluable aid these days. They’re less heavy, less dusty, and quicker to consult than the paper versions, although those are also at hand!
3) Several boxes of pens and pencils. I still prefer paper and pen for my clue writing, and of course the red pen for ‘marking’ setters’ clues!
4) The day’s in-tray. This is usually a pile of puzzles for solving, proofing, or blank grids for my own.
5) A cup of tea.