Well, the changes I mentioned above started immediately. That seemed too august for someone with my background. While I wanted to have a career in puzzles, I never really aspired to be the New York Times crossword editor. I grew up on an Arabian horse farm outside a small town in Indiana. Also, he said he liked the sample crossword I submitted.Īs for nervousness when I got the job … a little. I also had a good résumé: 15 years at Games, founder/director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and holder of the world’s only college degree in puzzles. I think Rosenthal foresaw the digital revolution, and probably felt that a younger person would have the best chance of navigating that. I think I was picked for the job partly because of my age at the time - at 41, I was younger than the other candidates. I submitted one from the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which I’d been directing since 1978.
#Nyt crossword editor update
Update the range of cultural references in the puzzle.Įach of the candidates submitted a crossword they had edited.
(The daily contributors had worked anonymously up to that point.)īroaden the range of contributors - with some notable exceptions, it was mainly an older group then. But there were some things I did want to do:Īdd bylines to the daily puzzles. I said my first priority was not to change the difficulty level or intellectual caliber of the puzzle. Rosenthal asked, “If you were the New York Times Crossword editor, what would you do differently?” Rosenthal interviewed three candidates: John Samson, who was Maleska’s co-editor on the Simon & Schuster crossword books (and Maleska’s own choice to be his successor) Nancy Schuster, the editor of Dell Champion crossword magazines and me. It’s funny to think that I was hired by the same person who hired Maleska, as I think Maleska and I are so different.
Rosenthal had also hired Maleska in 1977. For historical reasons, the responsibility for hiring Maleska’s successor fell to the editor of The New York Times Magazine, a man named Jack Rosenthal. So I applied for the job.Īt that time, the Times Crossword was a department of one, with a part-time assistant to test the puzzles, order payments and do miscellaneous stuff. I was an editor (and then the editor in chief) of Games magazine when Eugene T. Do you know how many other people were being interviewed for it? And were you nervous about taking on stewardship of the New York Times Crossword? Tell me how you landed this incredible job. Shortz was kind enough to answer my questions about how he got started, some of the changes that have occurred along the way and what the future of the New York Times Crossword looks like from where he’s sitting. In terms of time, he has put in many more hours than that. Shortz would finally qualify as an expert on editing crossword puzzles, if we counted in units instead of hours. If the “ 10,000-Hour Rule” made popular by Malcolm Gladwell is to be believed - the theory holds that 10,000 hours of practicing an activity is the “magic number of greatness” - then Mr. That, of course, is an approximate number, counting from his start date. ∘ Hall of Fame pitcher who started on Opening Day a record 16 times including 11 times for the New York Mets (2 wds.There may be only a handful of people in the puzzle community keeping track of such things, but on April 7, Will Shortz will have edited 10,000 puzzles since joining The New York Times as crossword editor in November 1993. Hall, Sunday Times crossword editor till 2010
#Nyt crossword editor series
∘ 1970s US television drama series starring Dennis Weaver as a New Mexico cop in New York City ∘ First puzzle editor of The New York Times ∘ Jill who was The New York Times' first female executive editor ∘ "Wrong" way to spell a world leader's name in a New York Times crossword, according to a 1999 episode of "The West Wing" ∘ "I'll take 'The New York Times Crossword Puzzle' for $200.
∘ What many use to solve the New York Times crossword ∘ "i do" singer who co-wrote the june 6, 2017, new york times crossword puzzle ∘ Section of The New York Times that covers New York City ∘ crossword editor harper in hallmark's "crossword mysteries" series , crossword creator who became the crossword editor of a major newspaper at 15 ∘ Crossword editor Harper played by Lacey Chabert in Hallmark's Crossword Mysteries series ∘ Breakfast dish with Hollandaise sauce named for either a New York stockbroker or a New York yachtsman (or was invented by a New York chef who made up the name) (2 wds.) ∘ new york times crossword editor since 1993 ∘ new york times crossword editor of the 1970s, will.
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