Margaret Irvine

Margaret Irvine (20 January 1948 – 24 June 2023) was a British crossword compiler. She created hundreds of cryptic crosswords between 2006 and 2023 mostly for The Guardian under the pseudonym Nutmeg. She also set puzzles in The Times, The Church Times and, as Mace, in the New Statesman. , Irvine was The Guardian's 7th most prolific current cryptic crossword setter and the 24th most prolific all-time setter. Early life Irvine was born on 20 January 1948 in Crosby, Merseyside; she was the only child of Malcolm Irvine, a tax collector, and his wife Kitty. When she was 11, they moved to Bispham, near Blackpool and two years later they moved again to Fetcham, Surrey. As a child, Irvine and her family would do the cryptic crossword from that day's paper each evening. She learned Latin for two years at school which she later credited as being helpful for creating puzzles because it was useful to understand the meaning and construction of words. Education and career Irvine studied maths and economics at the University of York before going to work at the Home Office. She later worked in the computer science department of the University of Manchester, staying there until her early retirement in 2005 and living in Chorlton. In retirement, Irvine volunteered at a primary school, where she undertook literacy work, and at a toddlers' group. Crossword compiling Irvine set puzzles for The Guardian, The Times, the New Statesman, The Church Times, the i newspaper's Inquisitor, The Sunday Telegraph's Enigmatic Variations, The Listener, and The Magpie Crossword Magazine. Her first crossword published in The Guardian was a 2006 'Quiptic' puzzle; her first cryptic crossword for the Guardian was No. 26,058, published in September 2013. Irvine set over 180 cryptic crosswords for The Guardian over the course of her career.