1 – Yes.
From a ridiculously early age I discovered I could make crosswords and from the age of 10-ish I knew it was what I’d eventually do full-time. It took about another 35 years to get there but it’s been my full-time job since 2007 and I couldn’t be happier.
There are personal reasons for this contentment. Despite my skills being highly developed by 13/14 there was never any family encouragement or even interest which, perhaps oddly, made me even more determined. And, in my mid-20s, a girlfriend asked me what my professional plans were. I was already setting occasional puzzles for the Birmingham Post but was otherwise jobless – when I told her I would become a professional cryptic setter she said “You’ll never do it”. Needless to say that was the end of the relationship but, several years later, proving that she was so wrong to doubt me was pretty satisfying!
Beyond the personal, what’s ideal about this job is that I’m famous but completely anonymous – no-one’s ever going to recognise me in the street, so I get to keep my own life.
2 - This one, and I plan to keep doing it until I drop.