Will Shortz
Encyclopedia
Will Shortz is an American
puzzle creator and editor, and currently the crossword puzzle
editor for The New York Times
.
farm in Crawfordsville, Indiana
. Graduating from Indiana University in 1974, he is the only person known to hold a college degree in enigmatology, the study of puzzles. Shortz achieved this feat by designing his own curriculum through Indiana University's Individualized Major Program. While at IU, Shortz pledged and was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He also earned a Juris Doctor
degree from the University of Virginia School of Law
(1977), though he forwent the bar exam and began a career in puzzles instead.
puzzle editor for The New York Times
since 1993 (the fourth in the paper's history, following Eugene Thomas Maleska), and has been the puzzle master on NPR's
Weekend Edition Sunday
since the program was started in 1987. He is the founder of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
(1978), and has served as its director since that time. He founded the World Puzzle Championship
in 1992 and is a director of the U.S. Puzzle Team.
Shortz is the author or editor of more than 100 books and owns over 20,000 puzzle books and magazines dating back to 1545, reportedly the world's largest private library on the subject. Shortz is a member of the National Puzzlers' League
. He is currently the league historian.
Shortz provided the puzzle clues which The Riddler (Jim Carrey
) leaves for Batman
(Val Kilmer
) in the film Batman Forever
.
On his 50th birthday, Shortz received a personal note from former U.S. President
Bill Clinton
, who is a fan of The New York Times crossword puzzle.
He says that his favorite crossword of all time is the Election Day
crossword of 5 November 1996, designed by Jeremiah Farrell
. It had two correct solutions with the same set of clues, one saying that the "Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper (!)" would be "BOB DOLE
ELECTED", and the other correct solution saying "CLINTON
ELECTED".
He has declared that his favorite crossword clue of all-time is "It might turn into a different story" (whose solution is SPIRAL STAIRCASE
).
Shortz currently resides in Pleasantville, New York
, where he works from home. Shortz is an avid table tennis player; in May 2011, he opened one of the largest table tennis clubs in the Northeast in Pleasantville.
In February 2009, Shortz helped introduce the KenKen
puzzle into The New York Times.
by Patrick Creadon
focuses on Shortz and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Various famous fans of his puzzles such as Bill Clinton
, Ken Burns
, Jon Stewart
, The Indigo Girls
and Mike Mussina
appear in the film.
Shortz has been a guest on a number of TV shows, including Martha Stewart Living
, Oprah
, The Daily Show
, and The Colbert Report. He has also appeared on Millionaire
as an expert for the "Ask the Expert" lifeline.
He appeared on an episode of The Simpsons
titled "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words
", which first aired on 16 November 2008.
He appeared in Dinner: Impossible
as himself, challenging the chef to create dishes that mimic common English idiom
s at the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. The episode aired on 6 May 2009 (the tournament ran 27 February through 1 March of that year).
He also appeared on an episode of How I Met Your Mother
titled "Robots Versus Wrestlers
", which first aired on 10 May 2010 during season 5. He appeared as himself at an upscale dinner party that included Arianna Huffington
and Peter Bogdanovich
, also playing themselves.
Shortz is a weekly guest on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday where he hosts the Sunday Puzzle, a cooperative game between the show's host, Liane Hansen
(until Spring, 2011), and one of the show's listeners. Currently, the segment is hosted by Audie Cornish
(from Fall 2011 to present). The lucky player is picked randomly from a group of submissions containing the correct answer to a qualifier puzzle issued the week before.
In May 2010, Shortz was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Wabash College
in Indiana.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
puzzle creator and editor, and currently the crossword puzzle
Crossword Puzzle
For the common puzzle, see CrosswordCrossword Puzzle was the second to last album made by The Partridge Family and was not one of the most popular albums. It was released in 1973 and did not produce a U.S. single. This album was finally released on CD in 2003 on Arista's BMG Heritage label...
editor for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Early life and education
Will Shortz was born and raised on an Arabian horseArabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
farm in Crawfordsville, Indiana
Crawfordsville, Indiana
Crawfordsville is a city in Union Township, Montgomery County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 15,915. The city is the county seat of Montgomery County...
. Graduating from Indiana University in 1974, he is the only person known to hold a college degree in enigmatology, the study of puzzles. Shortz achieved this feat by designing his own curriculum through Indiana University's Individualized Major Program. While at IU, Shortz pledged and was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He also earned a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree from the University of Virginia School of Law
University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The law school maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students in its initial degree program...
(1977), though he forwent the bar exam and began a career in puzzles instead.
Career
Shortz began his career at Penny Press Magazines, then moved to Games magazine for 15 years, serving as its editor from 1989–1993. He has been the crosswordCrossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right, the answer...
puzzle editor for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
since 1993 (the fourth in the paper's history, following Eugene Thomas Maleska), and has been the puzzle master on NPR's
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
Weekend Edition Sunday
Weekend Edition
Weekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...
since the program was started in 1987. He is the founder of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is a crossword-solving tournament held annually in late February or early March. Founded in 1978 by Will Shortz, who still directs the tournament, it is the oldest and largest crossword tournament held in the United States; the 2009 event attracted nearly...
(1978), and has served as its director since that time. He founded the World Puzzle Championship
World Puzzle Championship
The World Puzzle Championship is an annual international puzzle competition run by the World Puzzle Federation. The first one was held in New York in 1992...
in 1992 and is a director of the U.S. Puzzle Team.
Shortz is the author or editor of more than 100 books and owns over 20,000 puzzle books and magazines dating back to 1545, reportedly the world's largest private library on the subject. Shortz is a member of the National Puzzlers' League
National Puzzlers' League
The National Puzzlers' League is a nonprofit organization focused on puzzling, primarily in the realm of word play and word games. Founded in 1883, it is the oldest puzzlers' organization in the world...
. He is currently the league historian.
Shortz provided the puzzle clues which The Riddler (Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
) leaves for Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
(Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
) in the film Batman Forever
Batman Forever
Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is a sequel to Batman Returns , with Val Kilmer replacing Michael Keaton as Batman...
.
On his 50th birthday, Shortz received a personal note from former U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, who is a fan of The New York Times crossword puzzle.
He says that his favorite crossword of all time is the Election Day
United States presidential election, 1996
The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...
crossword of 5 November 1996, designed by Jeremiah Farrell
Jeremiah Farrell
Jeremiah Farrell is an American professor emeritus of mathematics at Butler University in Indiana. He is well-known for having designed Will Shortz's favorite puzzle, the 1996 "Election Day" crossword in The New York Times...
. It had two correct solutions with the same set of clues, one saying that the "Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper (!)" would be "BOB DOLE
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
ELECTED", and the other correct solution saying "CLINTON
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
ELECTED".
He has declared that his favorite crossword clue of all-time is "It might turn into a different story" (whose solution is SPIRAL STAIRCASE
Spiral staircase
Spiral staircase may refer to:* A type of stairway characterized by its spiral shape* The Spiral Staircase , a 1946 American psychological thriller film* The Spiral Staircase , a 1975 British film, a remake of the 1946 film...
).
Shortz currently resides in Pleasantville, New York
Pleasantville, New York
Pleasantville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 7,019 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Mount Pleasant. Pleasantville is home to a campus of Pace University and to the Jacob Burns Film Center...
, where he works from home. Shortz is an avid table tennis player; in May 2011, he opened one of the largest table tennis clubs in the Northeast in Pleasantville.
In February 2009, Shortz helped introduce the KenKen
KenKen
KenKen or KenDoku is a style of arithmetic and logic puzzle invented in 2004 by the Japanese math teacher Tetsuya Miyamoto, an innovator who says he practices "the art of teaching without teaching". He intends the puzzles as an instruction-free method of training the brain...
puzzle into The New York Times.
Publicity
The 2006 documentary WordplayWordplay (film)
Wordplay is a 2006 documentary film directed by Patrick Creadon. It features Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, crossword constructor Merl Reagle, and many other noted crossword solvers and constructors...
by Patrick Creadon
Patrick Creadon
Patrick Creadon is an American documentary filmmaker, best known for the documentary film Wordplay. A profile of New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz, Wordplay premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and became the second-highest grossing documentary of that year...
focuses on Shortz and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Various famous fans of his puzzles such as Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
, Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
, The Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls
The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
and Mike Mussina
Mike Mussina
Michael Cole Mussina , nicknamed Moose, is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He played for the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees ....
appear in the film.
Shortz has been a guest on a number of TV shows, including Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living is a magazine and a television show featuring entertaining and home decorating guru Martha Stewart. Both the magazine and the television program focus on the domestic arts. Martha Stewart Living began as a quarterly magazine in 1990, published by Time Inc..and is currently...
, Oprah
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
, and The Colbert Report. He has also appeared on Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty. Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing...
as an expert for the "Ask the Expert" lifeline.
He appeared on an episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
titled "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words
Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words
"Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons twentieth season. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 16, 2008. In the episode, Lisa discovers that she has a talent for solving crossword puzzles, and she enters a crossword tournament...
", which first aired on 16 November 2008.
He appeared in Dinner: Impossible
Dinner: Impossible
Dinner: Impossible is an American television program broadcast by the Food Network. The first episode aired on January 24, 2007. Food Network began airing the eighth season on March 3, 2010....
as himself, challenging the chef to create dishes that mimic common English idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
s at the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. The episode aired on 6 May 2009 (the tournament ran 27 February through 1 March of that year).
He also appeared on an episode of How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
titled "Robots Versus Wrestlers
Robots Versus Wrestlers
"Robots Versus Wrestlers " is the 22nd episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 110th episode overall. It aired on May 10, 2010.- Plot :...
", which first aired on 10 May 2010 during season 5. He appeared as himself at an upscale dinner party that included Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...
and Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
, also playing themselves.
Shortz is a weekly guest on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday where he hosts the Sunday Puzzle, a cooperative game between the show's host, Liane Hansen
Liane Hansen
Liane Hansen is an American journalist and radio personality who was senior host of the National Public Radio newsmagazine Weekend Edition Sunday until her retirement in May 2011...
(until Spring, 2011), and one of the show's listeners. Currently, the segment is hosted by Audie Cornish
Audie Cornish
Audie Cornish is the host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday.Cornish is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. During her years there, she interned with NPR, and worked with campus radio station WMUA....
(from Fall 2011 to present). The lucky player is picked randomly from a group of submissions containing the correct answer to a qualifier puzzle issued the week before.
Honors and awards
Shortz gave the commencement address at his alma mater, Indiana University, in May 2008.In May 2010, Shortz was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Wabash College
Wabash College
Wabash College is a small, private, liberal arts college for men, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Morehouse College, Wabash is one of only three remaining traditional all-men's liberal arts colleges in the United States.-History:Wabash College was founded...
in Indiana.
External links
- A Puzzling Occupation from the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
- About Will Shortz from NPR
- Opens New Table Tennis Club in Westchester 2011
- Bookologist Interviews Will Shortz About Crossword Puzzle Collecting
- American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
- New York Times crosswords some sample puzzles and crossword forums are free; access to the daily puzzle requires a paid subscription
- New York Times crossword editor to give "puzzling" lecture at IU
- Synopses of Will Shortz puzzle segments on Weekend Edition Sunday
- The Puzzle Master - WiredWired (magazine)Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
magazine interview - WORDPLAY site for Independent LensIndependent LensAiring weekly on PBS through ITVS, the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama and documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie...
on PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....