Wendy Law, the beloved crossword setter who delighted readers of The Guardian and Financial Times under the pseudonyms Hectence and Zamorca, has died at the age of 65 following a battle with cancer. Law was widely recognised for her skill in crafting 'quiptic' crosswords, a format championed by The Guardian as a 'puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry'. Her unique ability to create tractable yet engaging puzzles earned her a devoted following among solvers.
Law's journey into the world of professional crosswords began in 1998 when she submitted sample puzzles to The Guardian. After an initial reply suggesting her work would be 'kept on file', she was later invited to contribute to a new weekly puzzle series, with her first appearing as the fourth in the sequence. Over 27 years, she compiled an impressive 217 puzzles for The Guardian, becoming its most prolific quiptic setter and the only one to have appeared every year since the puzzle's inception.
Her puzzles were celebrated for their fair and accessible clues, a style that, despite its apparent simplicity, requires considerable skill and ingenuity from the setter. Law was also known for her fondness for pangrams – crosswords that incorporate every letter of the alphabet – a self-imposed challenge she sometimes admitted to regretting. Her contributions were instrumental in drawing in new solvers who might otherwise have been intimidated by more complex cryptic puzzles.
Born in Manchester to a chemist father and an only child, Wendy Law developed her imaginative faculties early, creating imaginary companions. Her family later moved to Melton Mowbray, where her lifelong devotion to pork pies began. She studied English and Italian at Leeds University, where she met her future husband, Derek Law. Together, they shared a passion for crosswords, solving them from the Leeds Student newspaper.
Beyond crosswords, Law had a profound love for guinea pigs, caring for over 30 at one point. She famously told an interviewer that her daughters remarked she discussed her guinea pigs more than them, to which she replied, 'Lots of people have daughters, it’s far more interesting to have guinea pigs.' Her professional career also included working in education finance for South Cambridgeshire district council and later as a librarian at Willingham village library, a role she reflected upon as 'where I should have started'. She retired from her library position following her cancer diagnosis in 2019, but remained a Friend of Willingham.