Help at last for crossword solvers who haven't a clue I like to believe that the ability - or inability - to do crosswords is innate. Just as my body is the wrong shape for running (too much in the bosom, not enough in the glutes), my brain is the wrong shape for puzzles. It's the same with Sudoku, chess - any kind of "brainteaser." My brain doesn't want to be teased. It gets angry, then tearful, then defensive. According to pop psychology, the human race can be roughly divided into "left brain" and "right brain" personalities. The former are good at thinking in a rational, sequential, objective way. They make excellent particle physicists, and puzzle-solvers. The latter, by contrast, are intuitive, empathetic and artistic. They are the writers, artists, fashion designers - let's face it, the cool people. I like this theory. Of course I do. Arty folk often nurse a secret superiority complex: it makes us feel better about the fact that we will never be software billionaires, or invent a life-saving medical widget, or understand the origins of the universe. It's not that we're stupid, you see: we're just too busy using our emotional intelligence to interpret the human condition, and going to all the best parties. But it seems this may not be the full story. Psychologists at the University of Buckingham have been studying what makes an expert crossword-solver. The answer, dismayingly, is practice. Anyone, they claim, can be taught how to solve a cryptic crossword. Up in heaven, Granny begs to differ. But to be really good at it, you need to keep practising for nine years. Nine years! I've never even stuck with a boyfriend for that long, and boyfriends are comparatively easy. Nine years of doing something difficult? That's not a hobby: that's a punishment. Not everyone sees it that way, of course. Some people, mysteriously, enjoy a challenge. In Outliers, his 2008 book about what makes a genius, Malcolm Gladwell concluded that in order to excel in any field you have to practise your art (or science) for at least 10,000 hours. Everyone who has made it to the very top - from Bill Gates to the Beatles - has put in the hours. They had naturally occurring talent, too, which makes practising more enjoyable. But it was perseverance that won the day. It's not my left brain that's amiss, I now realise. It's my attitude.