![]() ![]() What other activities or hobbies do you enjoy?Īs friends know, I’m almost as fanatical about table tennis as I am about puzzles (emphasis on *almost*). Promotional pic for the episode “Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words.”]ģ.) I could ask you how far in advance you choose puzzles for publication (considering the Times’ famous incremental rise in difficulty throughout the week), or inquire about your work as NPR’s resident puzzle master, but to be honest, I’m more curious about what you do when you’re NOT doing puzzles. [Here, Will and constructor Merl Reagle appear with the Simpsons in a Even if print media die someday, I think crosswords will probably exist forever in one form or another. As humans, I think we like to fill empty spaces, and doing that in a crossword seems to satisfy some elemental human need. ![]() There’s a crossword for everyone and every mood.Īlso, there’s something very appealing about filling empty squares. They can be made easy or hard, small or large, tricky or straightforward, topical or of general interest. ![]() But I will say that crosswords are the best and most flexible form of puzzle ever devised, because they involve language (which we all use) and connect with virtually everything in life. Given your familiarity with puzzles both past and present, what does the hundredth anniversary mean to you? And where do you think puzzles will be a hundred years from now? ![]() I fell into puzzle editing without a lot of planning.īut I do have a law degree from the University of Virginia (J.D., 1977), so if puzzles ever end up not working out for me, I always have that to fall back on!Ģ.) The hundredth anniversary of the crossword is fast approaching. I imagined myself in an attic or a tiny house somewhere making novelty puzzles and sending them out for publication - probably living in poverty, but doing what I wanted. In fact, I didn’t envision a career with crosswords at all. Since childhood I’d always planned a career in puzzles, just not as crossword editor for The Times. Will was gracious enough to take some time out to talk to us, so without further ado, let’s get to the interview!ġ.) As the world’s first (and only) degree-holding enigmatologist, was becoming the editor of the New York Times crossword always a goal you had in mind, or did you foresee yourself doing something else with your singular degree? (He even provided the Riddler’s puzzle clues that so bamboozled the Dark Knight in the film Batman Forever.)īut solvers interested in puzzles beyond crosswords will also have a treat in store for them in 2014! The folks at Penny Press have teamed up with Will to create Will Shortz’s WordPlay, a magazine featuring crafty variety puzzles and crossword variants created by some of today’s top constructors. He continues to serve as the amiable face of crosswords across all forms of media - on the radio with NPR, on television in The Simpsonsand How I Met Your Mother, and in theaters with the documentary Wordplay. In his time as editor, he’s been credited with spearheading a sharp decrease in crosswordese in Times puzzles, as well as offering a greater level of visibility and acknowledgment for individual constructors. Without a doubt the most famous name in crosswords today, Will Shortz is the crossword editor for the New York Times, a position he’s held since 1993 (after putting in time with both GAMES Magazine and our friends at Penny/Dell Puzzles). We’re reaching out to puzzle constructors, video game writers and designers, writers, filmmakers, and puzzle enthusiasts from all walks of life, talking to people who make puzzles and people who enjoy them in the hopes of exploring the puzzle community as a whole.Īnd I’m overjoyed to have Will Shortz as our latest 5 Questions interviewee! Welcome to another edition of PuzzleNation Blog’s interview feature, 5 Questions! ![]()
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