Interview with Will Shortz

[firecat]

Will Shortz’s Life in Crosswords (in The New Yorker)

This conversation with NYTimes crossword editor Will Shortz addresses the increasing diversity of vocabulary in crossword puzzles, which I’ve noticed and I appreciate. And then at the end he comes out as gay and talks about falling in love for the first time at age 70. My heart melted.

Comments

[senmut]

Thank you! I needed that today.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Oh, wow. There was a big section about him in the book I read last month The Puzzler. He did sound like a very cool guy.

[firecat]

Did you like The Puzzler?

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, I liked it a lot. I still have it, in the hopes I'll go back and do some of the puzzles at the end of each chapter.

[bearshorty]

What a lovely read. Thank you for linking.

awesome!

[brainwane]

That was fantastic -- thank you so much for the link.

[bibliofile]

Aw, I am so happy for Will!

[fauxklore]

Thanks for the link. I'm surprised that the article wasn't widely shared among my puzzle friends.

[hitchhiker]

that was very sweet!

[silveradept]

It's a good article, and I like that the puzzling is moving away from being more of a cryptic and toward something that's solvable by having a good amount of knowledge of your current surroundings and eras.

(Also, when they talk about being recognized, when Will Shortz appeared on the Anthony Anderson version of To Tell The Truth, one of the panelists, after hearing the affidavit, asked the panel to introduce themselves as they would on NPR, where Shortz has been a regular, and then said she didn't need any more questions. She was right, because she's been listening to Shortz's puzzle segments on NPR for a very long time.)

The table tennis thing is interesting, and it's nice to see that he's been able to find a partner whose company he enjoys and who enjoys his company.

[firecat]

I love that anecdote about TTTT!