Fun fact: He’s the only “academically accredited puzzle master” in the world, holding a degree he designed himself in “enigmatology.” It’s such a specialized degree, there’s not even an entry for it on, but it stems from the word enigma.

Shortz has gained widespread notoriety since that time, taking the puzzle to higher and higher heights over the years. Will Weng and Eugene Maleska followed in her footsteps before Will Shortz took the coveted reins in 1993. Since that time, there have only been four editors of the NYT Crossword puzzle, beginning with Margaret Farrar, who served as editor from the publication of the first puzzle until 1969. By 1950, the paper began running a crossword puzzle daily. The first puzzle ran Sunday, February 15, 1942, and it was, in fact, a primitive pursuit, (’s first definition for the adjective: “Being the first or earliest of the kind or in existence”), as they were the first major US paper to run a crossword puzzle. So, what absolved the crossword puzzle in the illustrious publication’s mind and made them eat their words? Reportedly, it was after the bombing of Pearl Harbor that Lester Markel, the paper’s Sunday editor at the time, decided the country could use some levity, primitive or not. In 1924, the paper ran an opinion column that dubbed them “ a primitive sort of mental exercise.” (Here, we’re inferring they meant primitive as in “simple unsophisticated”-’s ninth entry for the adjective) and a “sinful waste.” Harsh! When crossword puzzles first came about in the 1920s, the NYT turned up its nose at them. There are plenty of crossword puzzles in publications across the country, but when we think of the pinnacle of puzzledom (Not officially a word, but, perhaps, it should be?), the purveyors of the most preeminent puzzles, we bow to The New York Times (NYT).įor more than 75 years, the NYT crossword puzzle has been stumping readers with its clever clues and then sending them soaring when they finally fill in all the squares.

Nytimes crossword online free