Where do you get your inspiration for the amazing brain-training puzzles that you make?

I’ve been making them for 20 years now, so it’s a gathering of ideas that build up over time. Sometimes I try to make lists of the various core concepts I have for making puzzles, but it’s an impossible task because there are just so many now!

When did you start creating puzzles? Is it something you’ve always been interested in?

I started 20 years ago, other than a few word searches and logic puzzles I created in notepads as a child. But it was only with the popularisation of sudoku, back in late 2004, that I got really interested in making puzzles myself.

What do you love most about the work you do?

I like knowing that the work I create helps people to relax, and hopefully also helps them improve their brain skills.

What was your first job? Was it related to the work that you do now?

After leaving university, where I had worked briefly as a research associate, I was a senior engineer at a computer speech recognition company. Writing code is similar to puzzling, in that you’re always trying to work out an efficient way of completing a task.

What’s your favourite thing to do in your free time, outside of work? Any hobbies or other interests?

I play the piano, and build far too much LEGO.

Did you like reading as a child? If so, do you have a favourite childhood book?

Yes, I’ve always loved reading. As a child I read many books, but I remember particularly enjoying Tom Brown’s Schooldays.

 

Gareth’s latest book with Hungry Tomato is The Ultimate Code-breaker’s Puzzle Book. With full-colour illustrations throughout, this brilliant brain-trainer that will have young readers cracking codes in no time! 

 

To view more of Gareth’s work, visit his website at: https://www.drgarethmoore.com

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