For my course on the psychology of puzzles, I studied how the brain works as well as why people feel driven to solve puzzles.
NYT CROSSWORD EDITOR BEFORE SHORTZ PROFESSIONAL
This was my first experience creating professional quality crosswords.
For my course on crossword construction, for example, every two or three weeks I'd take a new puzzle I'd created to my professor's office and sit at his side while he solved and critiqued it. In each case I'd find a professor willing to work with me one on one on the topic I proposed. Not surprisingly Indiana had no existing courses on puzzles, so I made them all up myself. For my major in enigmatology at Indiana University, I took courses on "Word Puzzles of the 20th Century," "Construction of Crossword Puzzles," "Popular Mathematical Puzzles," "Logic Puzzles," "The Psychology of Puzzles," "Crossword Magazines," and related subjects. I, for one, would be very interested to learn what the course of study was that led to your degree in enigmatology, and particularly, how your progress was evaluated, and what your final thesis or project was, if any?Ī. And I like virtually all types of puzzles, including ones with words, math, logic, observation and real-life mysteries. I became a contributor to Dell puzzle magazines when I was 16. I sold my first one when I was 14 to Venture, my national Sunday school magazine. I started creating puzzles when I was 8 or 9, so I must have been solving puzzles even earlier. These discussions will continue in future weeks with other members of the Times staff.Ī. Their responses and those of other Times editors, reporters, columnists and executives are on the Talk to The Times page. Other Times staff members have answered questions in this column, including Executive Editor Bill Keller, Managing Editor Jill Abramson, Managing Editor John Geddes, Deputy Managing Editor Jonathan Landman, Assistant Managing Editor Glenn Kramon, Obituaries Editor Bill McDonald, National Editor Suzanne Daley, Living Editor Trish Hall, Entertainment Editor Lorne Manly and N.B.A. He holds the world's only college degree in enigmatology, the study of puzzles, which he earned in the Individualized Major Program at Indiana University in 1974. He will be the host of the Fifth World Sudoku Championship in Philadelphia in 2010. Shortz founded the World Puzzle Championship in 1992 and was its host in 19. He is also puzzle master for NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday" and is the founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which has been held annually since 1978. Shortz has been crossword editor of The New York Times since 1993. Will Shortz, The Times's crossword editor, answered questions from readers July 20-24, 2009.
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