by Alan Connor
The Long Green Gaze: A Crossword Puzzle Mystery (Fuller), 137
Lord of the Rings trilogy (Tolkien), 34
Los Angeles Reader (newspaper), 141
Lottery, pay-to-play puzzles as, 17–18
Love of language, crossword puzzles as, ix
Mackail, Denis, 158
Made-up language, 7, 34
Mailer, Norman, 161
Maleska, Eugene T., 33, 46, 56–58, 65
Manley, Don, 44–45, 74
Margaret (princess of England), 161
Marital relationships, crosswording and, 52–53, 109–112, 116–117
“Marrowskies” (aka spoonerisms), 69–70
Mathers, Edward Powys (“Torquemada”), 73, 81, 134
Mazes (puzzle format), 4, 21
McElveen, George (Rev.), 14
McGraw, Phil, 119
Mental health, crosswording and, 97–102
Merrell, Patrick, 65
MI5 (British intelligence service), 129–131
Miles, Josie, 14
Millington, Roger, 176
Milne, A. A., 160
Mnemonics, 132. See also Acrostics (puzzle)
Möbius strip, 169
Monk (constructor), 34
Moor, Edward, 48
Moseley, David (“Gordius”), 57, 58
Mudd (constructor), 83, 86
Murder Across and Down (Resnicow), 137
“Murder Mystery” (puzzle), 135
Mussina, Mike, 103–104, 115
Nabokov, Vladimir, 24
Nader, Ralph, 63–64
Names, ambiguity of misleading, 41–42
The Nation, 88
National Security Agency (NSA), 125
The Neighbor’s Home Mail (newspaper), 162–164
Newman, Stanley, 56–57, 122, 177
Newsday (magazine), 56
News of the World (newspaper), 17, 31
New Wave crosswording (“the Newman ripple”), 56–57
New York Post (newspaper), 4
The New York Times
cryptic puzzles, 88
Eugene Maleska as puzzle editor, 33, 46, 56–58, 65
maintaining good taste, 148–149
Margaret Farrar as first crossword editor, 11
overlapping puzzle with The Simpsons, 139–144
puzzles expressing political views, 63–65
puzzles using slang, 58–59
reporting on faked Spoonerisms, 70
Will Shortz as puzzle editor, 57, 107, 139–141, 146–147
Will Weng as puzzle editor, 95
Wordplay blog, 177
New York World (newspaper), 4–5, 8–9, 11, 162
Ninas, 30–35
Notabili (constructor), 83
Nottingham Evening Post, 16
Obesity, crosswording and, 100
Oddities and Curiosities of Words and Literature (Bombaugh), 177
Old Testament (The Bible), 25
Olsher, Dean, 176
O’Malley, Christine, 176
Orlando (constructor), 82, 85, 166
Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle), 71
The Oxford Book of English Verse, 111
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 70
Oxford Guide To World Games (Augarde), 176
Palindrome, 26–28
Papalia & His Orchestra (musical group), 14
Paul (constructor), 74, 81, 85, 87
Pay-to-play puzzles, 17–18
Pearson’s Magazine, 14
“Penny-drop” moment of clarity, x, 98–99, 143, 151
The People (newspaper), 17
Perception (journal), 99
Perec, Georges, 45, 53, 134
Perkin, John, 57
Perot, Ross, 63–64
Personality, crosswording and, 172–173
Petherbridge, Margaret. See Farrar, Margaret Petherbridge
Plaza Publishing (alias for Simon & Schuster), 8
Poe, Edgar Allen, 24, 134
Politics, crosswording and, 31–32, 63–65, 87–88
Predictions, crosswords making, 63–67
“Predictors of Crossword Puzzle Proficiency and Moderators of Age-Cognition Relations” (Hambrick), 100
Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (Balfour), 175–176
Private Eye (magazine), 149
Prostitution, crosswording and, 87–88
Puck (constructor), 83
Pulitzer, Joseph, 4
The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life (Danesi), 177
Puzzles of 1925 (musical revue), 13
Quigley, Brendan Emmett, 32, 58, 79, 114
Quixote (constructor), 85
Rathvon, Henry, 116–117
Reagan, Ronald, 65
Reagle, Merl, 141–144, 148–149
Rebuse (puzzle format), 4
Renault, Gilbert (aka Colonel Rémy), 72, 177
Resnicow, Herbert, 137
Reversal clues, 84–85
Rhombus (puzzle format), 12
Ritchie, A. F. (“Arfit”), 37–39, 83–84, 177
Robin, Christopher, 160
Romano, Marc, 104, 107, 113–114
Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel, 125–126
Rubicon (TV series), 142
Rubik’s Cube, 169
Run-DMC (music group), 59
Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook (Silverstein), 68
Sanders, Al, 104, 106
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 126
Sayer, Dorothy L., 136–137
Schuster, M. Lincoln (“Max”), 8
Schwed, Peter, 177
Secret messages. See Espionage; Hidden answers/messages
Sedgewick, Stanley, 128
75 Years of the Times Crossword, 175
Sex, crosswording and, 87, 150
Shirley (Brontë), 21
Shortz, Will, 57, 63, 64–65, 107, 139–141, 146–147
Sideways (movie), 109
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (Dexter), 138
Silverstein, Shel, 68
Simon & Schuster, Inc. (publisher), 8–10
Simon, Richard L. (“Dick”), 8
The Simpsons (TV series), x, 6–7, 139–144
Sinatra, Frank, 160
A Six-Letter Word for Death (Moyes), 137
Smith, Michael, 177
Solutionists, 11
Something Fishy (Wodehouse), 159
Sondheim, Stephen, 76–78, 125, 135
Soundalike clues, 85–86
“Sound Thinking” (game), 167
The Spectator (newspaper), 18
Spielmann, Marion, 24
Spooner, Archibald [“the Spoo”] (Rev.), 69–70, 74
Spoonergram, 73–74
Spoonerisms, 7, 68–75
Spying. See Espionage
From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords (Olsher), 176
Squires, Roger (“Rufus”), 80, 87, 123
Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park (Smith), 177
Stenography, 8
Stewart, Jon, 103–104
“Sticky Wickets at Blandings” (Wodehouse), 158
Still Life (stage play), 109
The Strand Magazine, 155
The Strange World of the Crossword (Millington), 176
Sudokus, 51, 100, 101, 167
Suffolk Words and Phrases: or, An Attempt to Collect the Lingual Localisms of That County (Moor), 48
Sugarhill Gang (music group), 59
Summer Moonshine (Wodehouse), 153–154
Sunday Graphic (newspaper), 17
The Swimming-Pool Library (Hollinghurst), 95
&nb
sp; Sybil (Erythraean prophetess), 24
Synonyms, 15–16, 51, 58, 85–86, 93, 101, 121
Tabourot, Étienne, 26
Tamsworth Herald, 15
Tausig, Ben, 177
Taylor, A. J. P., 134
Teamwork/team spirit, crosswording and, 114–116
Technology, crosswording and
about future of, 164–168
crossword construction, 121–124
crossword solving, 119–121
digital online puzzles, 106
multi-dimensional formats, 169–171
replacement of print, 168–169
sudoku-solving, 118–119
wartime code-breaking, 128–129
“Telegraph Six,” 123
Telekinesis puzzle, 62, 66, 178
“The Riddler: Meet the Marquis de Sade of the Puzzle World” (Jerz), 177
With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill (Hall), 137
Times Crossword Championship, 34, 104–105, 150
Times for the Times (crossword blog), 175
Timeshift: How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword (film documentary), 177
“Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (Borges), 55
Tolkien, J. R. R., 34
The Torquemada Puzzle Book (Mathers), 73
Tournaments and Championships
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, 74–75, 103–104, 106–108, 119–121
“Citywide Crossword Tournament,” 140
Times Crossword Championship, 34, 104–105, 150
U.S. Open Crossword Puzzle Championship, 167
Translations
differing letter counts, 52–55
multiple meanings of English words, 49–51
“The Truth About George” (Wodehouse), 155
Turning the Pages: An Insider’s Story of Simon & Schuster 1924–1984 (Schwed), 177
The Two Ronnies (TV show), 73
U.S. Open Crossword Puzzle Championship, 167
“The Vane Sisters” (Nabokov), 24
Veltman, Noah, 43–44
The Victorians (Wilson), 134
Victoria (queen of England), 22–23
Virgilius (constructor), 81
Vowels
as nicknames, slang, and formulas, 58
words starting and ending with, 43–44, 46
words without, 47
The Wall Street Journal, 88
Weng, Will, 95
Westbrook, Eric, 168–169
West Side Story (Broadway musical), 76
The West Wing (TV series), x, 52–53, 146
Wheen, Francis, 149
White, F. D., 11
Whodunit mystery novels, crosswords and, 133–138
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (Christie), 136
Wilson, A. N., 134
Wodehouse, P. G. (“Plum”), 46, 148, 153–159
Woolf, Virginia, 77
“Word-Cross,” 7, 28, 162
Word diamond (puzzle format), 28
Wordplay (film documentary), 103–104, 106, 115, 139, 176
Wordplay (New York Times blog), 141–142, 177
Word search (puzzle format), 4, 51
Word square (puzzle format), 4–6, 27–29
Workshop of Potential Literature (Oulipo), 71
The World (newspaper), 4–5, 8–9, 11, 162
World War I, 20, 127
World War II, 125–131, 157–158
Wynne, Arthur
about origins of “Word-Cross,” 3–7, 28, 162
failure to patent idea, 11–12
solution to first puzzle, 178
Yale University, 14
The Year of Magical Thinking (Didion), 62
You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled (Hall), 137
ACROSS
1. TIMES (items anag.) 4. CHAMBERS (2 defs.) 8. SEGA (ages rev.) 9. TORQUE + MAD + At 10. PALIN + D + ROME 11. N + IN + A (& lit.) 12. RI(N)SE 14. B + LETCH + LE + Y 17. pUN(HIT)CHED 20. WYNNE (hom.) 21. ME + ET 23. WO(RDSQUA)RE (R + squad anag.) 26. WILL SHORTZ (shill warts spoonerism) 27. E + BBS 28. AT RANDOM (mandator anag.) 29. S + LICK
DOWN
1. sT(HEN)ATION 2. MI + A + MI 3. SATED (first and last letter swap in DATES) 4. CARROLL (hom.) 5. AC(UTES)T 6. BIMONTHLY (BLT, hominy anag.) 7. RAD + ON 13. SC(INT)ILLA 14. BlAH 15. bEND 16. ERNO RUBIK (I broke urn anag.) 18. CrOW(SHE)D 19. EARDRUM (murder a anag.) 22. EDICT (cited anag.) 24. SeIZES 25. UTERI (hid.)