British author Anne Bradford, best known for Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary, died October 30. She was 90. The Bookseller reported that Bradford was an active member of the Crossword Club, and "devoted time every day to solving crosswords, avidly collecting new solutions for her dictionary and compiling every entry with meticulous care. The latest edition of her book, published by Collins this October, was the fruit of 60 years' analysis of more than 500,000 crossword clues."
HarperCollins described her dictionary as "a unique and innovative work that pairs thousands of clue words with possible solutions, it broke the crossword dictionary mould in being compiled by a real author from actual crossword clues."
In a tribute, the publisher said: "Anne was blessed with extraordinary intelligence and a lively sense of humor that was occasionally mischievous, but always warm. She was in correspondence with editors as recently as September, discussing suggestions and amendments and, as ever, entertaining all with an anecdote and a witty remark. Anne Bradford will be much missed by her friends at Collins and everyone in the crossword world. The Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary will be continued by her daughter Gillian."
The first incarnation of her work was Longman Crossword Solver's Dictionary (1986). Since then Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary, as it is now known, has been through various editions. The Times reported that in 2013 "she was still solving 20 crosswords a week, finding new ideas for the latest edition of her dictionary. She had no specialist software or computer program, only accepting a basic word processor with reluctance."
"I've been working on it for more than 50 years but I don't think it will ever be finished," she had said of the project.