“I made a puzzle and incorporated their names, and every once in a while in my presentation, I left a blank that they could answer - if they could - and if they couldn’t, I threw it out to everyone else there,” Shortz said. This was just for show, Shortz said.Īnd, of course, that’s what he gave the bride and groom, puzzle style. Shortz isn’t a minister of any kind, and the wedding had already taken place in a Los Angeles County courthouse. Shortz has been to Hawaii only once before, in 2004, when he presided over his nephew’s wedding on Maui. You slap your head and think you should have seen that.” “At the end of the week, the clues should be tricky, misleading - but in a fun way,” Shortz said. I am editing for accuracy, obviously, but also for the right level of difficulty.”Īs anyone familiar with the puzzles in the Times can attest, they grow more difficult each day. “On average, about half the clues in a New York Times crossword are mine. “I’m a very hands-on editor,” Shortz said. The typical New York Times crossword asks 76 questions, and few puzzles sail through to publication untouched. “The ones in the middle I have to think about and play with a bit.” “Puzzles that are no good at all, I can tell in a few seconds, and ones that are fantastic, I can tell in a minute,” he said. He looks at all of them and responds to everyone, whether their puzzle is accepted or not. He receives about 75 to 100 submissions every week from crossword creators. Producing seven New York Times crosswords a week is a demanding task, Shortz said. He also expanded the use of cultural references to include movies, television and rock ’n’ roll. He went on to edit Games magazine for 15 years before moving over to The New York Times in 1993, where he added bylines for puzzle creators, who had worked without recognition, and made the puzzles increasingly more difficult throughout the week. #Los angeles times crossword editor full#His initial plan was to practice law for 10 years and make enough money to retire and create puzzles full time.īut puzzles were his calling and he skipped the bar. Three years later he graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law. He took that love of clues and words to Indiana University, where he was allowed to design his own curriculum and, in 1974, receive the world’s only degree in the study of puzzles - enigmatology. Shortz grew up on an Arabian horse farm in Indiana and created his first crossword puzzle when he was about 8. But with a human-made puzzle, you are carrying the challenge from start to finish, and when you finish the last square, you feel a sense of elation at putting the world in order.” “We’re faced with chaos every day in life, and we just muddle through and do the best we can,” he said. Solving puzzles goes to the heart of human nature, Shortz said in a telephone interview from his home in Pleasantville, N.Y. He is also the puzzlemaster on NPRs Weekend. He’ll share trade secrets, offer tips on completing (and creating) crosswords, and test your puzzle-solving skills with a few word games. Will Shortz has been the crossword puzzle editor of The New York Times since 1993. The 63-year-old Shortz, who started solving puzzles when he was a boy, will entertain Hawaii crossword enthusiasts in person for the first time during an evening presentation Thursday at the Hawaii Theatre. It appears in 300 newspapers worldwide, including daily in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Today section. The New York Times crossword puzzle is the most popular and - according to the venerable newspaper - the most influential puzzle in the world. > Cost: $27 general admission, $57 for premium seating and autographed poster > Where: Hawaii Theatre Center, 1130 Bethel St. In front of each clue we have added its number and position on the crossword puzzle for easier navigation.‘An Evening with Will Shortz: The Puzzle Master’ If you are done solving this clue take a look below to the other clues found on today's puzzle in case you may need help with any of them. This clue was last seen on NYTimes SeptemPuzzle.
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