#ABOUT CROSSWORDS FULL#

It was invented in 1913, almost by accident, when a newspaper editor at the New York World was casting around for something to fill some empty column space for that year's Christmas edition. The crossword is a feature of the modern world, inspiring daily devotion and obsession from not just everyday citizens looking to pass the time but icons of American life, such as Bill Clinton, Yo-Yo Ma, and Martha Stewart. And that's not something I really want to use in a crossword.”ĪBC News' Brian Fudge and Henry Gretzinger contributed to this episode.A delightful, erudite, and immersive exploration of the crossword puzzle and its fascinating history by a brilliant young writer She's the one who excised part of her husband's anatomy.

“It's a fairly common woman's name, L-O-R-E-N-A.

“I'll tell you the one that has killed me, it's Lorena,” said Shortz. Shortz said “practically everything in the world can appear in a crossword” though not without difficulty. When I'm done, I'm ready to go back to everything.” So I play table tennis and it blocks out the rest of the world. I don't do a lot of crosswords for fun because that's my business. In each case, whether you're solving a crossword or playing table tennis, you get completely wrapped up in this activity. “Table tennis is a brain game just like puzzles,” said Shortz. Shortz has challenged himself to play every single day this year, recording it on camera for a few minutes as proof. He now owns the Westchester Table Tennis Center in Pleasantville. That early hobby became something of an obsession in adulthood. As a child he played Ping-Pong and then won trophies in high school. I can slide blocks around, but in three dimensions, my mind just doesn’t work that way.”īut puzzles do not take up all of Shortz’s time. Nearby, the master bedroom was converted to a library holding his vast collection of historic softcover and hardcover puzzle books.Īn unsolved Rubik’s Cube hints at a puzzle Shortz said he cannot do: “I’m good in two dimensions.

#ABOUT CROSSWORDS FULL#

Shortz’s office is full of reference books – from the dictionary to the Bible to The World Almanac. He has a weekly gig on National Public Radio, directs the annual competition of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and was featured in the 2006 documentary Wordplay along with some of his biggest fans, including President Bill Clinton and Jon Stewart.Īt his home in Pleasantville, N.Y., a handcrafted cabinet contains some of Shortz’s collection of historic puzzles, including the very first crossword puzzle ever created: the “word-cross” game in a 1913 supplement of Fun in The New York World, a long-defunct newspaper. “Often you'll get one new answer and then you're off and running again.”īut being a crossword editor is not the only thing Shortz is known for. If you get stuck, sit back and take a fresh look at the puzzle. A ‘B’ is a more distinctive letter than an ‘A.’ So see if you can work off from the B and get the crossing answer. “And then take the unusual letters and work from the crossings. Look through the clues and find the first one that you're sure about. And if you like it and if you can, then see how far through the week you could go.” “If you're doing your first crossword, start with a Monday. Sunday is larger but it's more like a hard Wednesday or easy Thursday in difficulty. It builds up to very hard on Friday and Saturday.

The New York Times crossword gets harder as the week goes on. Shortz offered three tips to solving a crossword: Though crosswords are no longer created by hand, the old-fashioned way on graph paper, Shortz still edits print-outs of the puzzles with pencil, substituting words or rewriting clues to adjust the level of difficulty. And when you're done you write the clues.” Then you construct a grid with as good vocabulary as you can.

They have to be symmetrical and put in symmetrical positions. You put your long answers in the diagram. “If you're making a puzzle, first you think of your theme. “The process of creating a crossword is exactly the opposite of how you solve it,” explained Shortz. Now, in his 20th year as crossword puzzle editor at the Times, he selects and edits puzzles from puzzle-makers all over the world. Not believing he could make a living at puzzles, and still thinking of his father’s advice, Shortz followed it up with a law degree from the University of Virginia. He is the only person in the world to have a college degree in enigmatology (his thesis was on the history of American word puzzles before 1860). Shortz created his first puzzles at age 8 and then sold one to a puzzle magazine at 14, becoming a regular contributor two years later.

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