Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. To submit a puzzle for consideration, first write for a specification sheet containing the rules to: Will Shortz, The New York Times, 229 W. He also received a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. He also presents word puzzles on the air on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Sunday.īorn in Crawfordsville, Ind., Shortz earned a bachelor’s degree in enigmatology, the study of puzzles, a curriculum he designed within the individualized majors program at Indiana University. He is founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, conducted annually since 1978 in Stamford. Shortz was editor of Games magazine from 1978 to 1993 and continues as the magazine’s editor- at-large. He enjoys adding puns and jokes occasionally and aims for “more twists and more clues from modern traditions.” His editing includes fixing inaccuracies, changing words that have recently appeared and deleting poor clues such as “river of Thailand” and “botfly genus” because they are not in most vocabularies, he says. There are plenty of crossword puzzles in publications across the country, but when we think of the pinnacle of puzzledom (Not officially a word, but, perhaps, it should be?), the purveyors of the most preeminent puzzles, we bow to The New York Times (NYT).įor more than 75 years, the NYT crossword puzzle has been stumping readers with its clever clues and then sending them soaring when they finally fill in all the squares.Shortz does most of his editing with pencil and paper - “the old- fashioned way with help from hundreds of reference books.” He works out of his home in Pleasantville, N.Y., and tends “to be a night owl” on the job, he says. In 1924, the paper ran an opinion column that dubbed them “ a primitive sort of mental exercise.” (Here, we’re inferring they meant primitive as in “simple unsophisticated”-’s ninth entry for the adjective) and a “sinful waste.” Harsh! When crossword puzzles first came about in the 1920s, the NYT turned up its nose at them. So, what absolved the crossword puzzle in the illustrious publication’s mind and made them eat their words? Reportedly, it was after the bombing of Pearl Harbor that Lester Markel, the paper’s Sunday editor at the time, decided the country could use some levity, primitive or not. The first puzzle ran Sunday, February 15, 1942, and it was, in fact, a primitive pursuit, (’s first definition for the adjective: “Being the first or earliest of the kind or in existence”), as they were the first major US paper to run a crossword puzzle. By 1950, the paper began running a crossword puzzle daily. Since that time, there have only been four editors of the NYT Crossword puzzle, beginning with Margaret Farrar, who served as editor from the publication of the first puzzle until 1969. Will Weng and Eugene Maleska followed in her footsteps before Will Shortz took the coveted reins in 1993. The 1st editor of the crossword puzzle was Margeret Petherbridge Farrar, who retained the placement right up until 1969. The target would be to deliver visitors with a encouraged diversion from the occasions of World War 2. Shortz has gained widespread notoriety since that time, taking the puzzle to higher and higher heights over the years. The Ny Instances started off posting a like some times crossword in 1942. Fun fact: He’s the only “academically accredited puzzle master” in the world, holding a degree he designed himself in “enigmatology.” It’s such a specialized degree, there’s not even an entry for it on, but it stems from the word enigma.
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