In addition to his work at The New York Times, Shortz is also the puzzlemaster on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday and is founder and director of the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.
Shortz began his career at Penny Press Magazines, then worked at Games Magazine for 15 years, becoming editor from 1989-1993. Shortz is author or editor of more than 100 books. A member of the National Puzzlers League, Shortz currently serves as league historian for that organization. He is the focus of the 2006 documentary film Wordplay. He counts Bill Clinton, Ken Burns, and Jon Stewart among his many fans.
Shortz currently resides in Pleasantville, NY, 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.
During the event Shortz discussed his favorite crosswords and puzzlemakers, how crosswords are created, their curious history and his lifelong passion for puzzles. He also answered questions and conducted audience participation word games.
In the end, the Pongs took the game. Will Shortz came to the Library on Monday, December 5th to talk about his work as the Editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle and as Puzzle Master for Weekend Edition Sunday. After talking about some of his favorite puzzles, including one from a 14 year old who had been working on getting a puzzle accepted for the Times for 2 years, he then answered questions from the audience.
The last and most fun part of the program had audience participation as Will divided the attendees into two groups for word games, the Pings and the Pongs. (He's a serious Ping Pong player himself.) He started with categories of words that had one possible alphabetical choice between them (Housing and Urban Development and Labor - the answer is Interior) and moved on to phrases and sentences that had the names of a President in order. For the latter, I was glad that I wasn't playing as I didn't get any of these. One example, Get rum and cake for everyone! (Truman)
It was a wonderful evening with the world's only degreed enigmatologist (one who studies puzzles), and great publicity for the Library as Will's interview on WAMC's The Roundtable brought new people into our wonderful library. The Hospitality committee arranged for a cake with a crossword puzzle on it. Will was very impressed.
Shortz began his career at Penny Press Magazines, then worked at Games Magazine for 15 years, becoming editor from 1989-1993. Shortz is author or editor of more than 100 books. A member of the National Puzzlers League, Shortz currently serves as league historian for that organization. He is the focus of the 2006 documentary film Wordplay. He counts Bill Clinton, Ken Burns, and Jon Stewart among his many fans.
Shortz currently resides in Pleasantville, NY, 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.
During the event Shortz discussed his favorite crosswords and puzzlemakers, how crosswords are created, their curious history and his lifelong passion for puzzles. He also answered questions and conducted audience participation word games.
In the end, the Pongs took the game. Will Shortz came to the Library on Monday, December 5th to talk about his work as the Editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle and as Puzzle Master for Weekend Edition Sunday. After talking about some of his favorite puzzles, including one from a 14 year old who had been working on getting a puzzle accepted for the Times for 2 years, he then answered questions from the audience.
The last and most fun part of the program had audience participation as Will divided the attendees into two groups for word games, the Pings and the Pongs. (He's a serious Ping Pong player himself.) He started with categories of words that had one possible alphabetical choice between them (Housing and Urban Development and Labor - the answer is Interior) and moved on to phrases and sentences that had the names of a President in order. For the latter, I was glad that I wasn't playing as I didn't get any of these. One example, Get rum and cake for everyone! (Truman)
It was a wonderful evening with the world's only degreed enigmatologist (one who studies puzzles), and great publicity for the Library as Will's interview on WAMC's The Roundtable brought new people into our wonderful library. The Hospitality committee arranged for a cake with a crossword puzzle on it. Will was very impressed.
