A Surbiton grandfather-to-be has made it in to the top 20 of the annual Times Crossword Competition this year.
Former Kingston College teacher Tom Stubbs, 57, beat more than 50 other crossword fans to make it to the paper’s national final, where he eventually came 19th out of 24 entrants. But the Surbiton Hill Park resident, who came sixth in the semi-final said he would not give up until he made a name for himself.
Mr Stubbs, who studied Latin at King’s College London, said he became inspired to take on crosswords after his father got in to the top ten of the competition. His own enthusiasm continued after he followed his father’s footsteps and entered the competition, moving up the rankings to come 65th in 1988 when he was in his 30s. Mr Stubbs, who has been enjoying crosswords for more than 40 years, said it took him 12 minutes on average to do a crossword puzzle.
The crossword loving finalist added he always took on his puzzles early in the morning – around 6am – as soon as his newspaper landed on his doorstep. Aside from figuring out crossword puzzles in record time Mr Stubbs enjoys going to the Virgin Active gym in Kingston and teaching English to refugees on the Cambridge estate.
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