A crossword is a word game consisting of a grid of black and white squares, into which solvers enter words or phrases ("entries") crossing each other horizontally ("across") and vertically ("down") according to a set of clues. Each white square is typically filled with one letter, while the black squares are used to separate entries. The first white square in each entry is typically numbered to correspond to its clue.
A cryptic crossword is a crossword puzzle in which each clue is a word puzzle. Cryptic crosswords are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where they originated, as well as Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, and in several Commonwealth nations, including Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malta, New Zealand, and South Africa. Compilers of cryptic crosswords are commonly called "setters" in the UK and "constructors" in the US. Particularly in the UK, a distinction may be made between cryptics and "quick" crosswords, and sometimes two sets of clues are given for a single puzzle grid.
Victor Anson "Vic" Fleming is an American judge, law professor, and writer residing in Little Rock, Arkansas.
William F. Shortz is an American puzzle creator and editor who is the crossword editor for The New York Times. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in the invented field of enigmatology. After starting his career at Penny Press and Games magazine, he was hired by The New York Times in 1993. Shortz's American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is the country's oldest and largest crossword tournament.
The New York Times Magazine is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of The New York Times. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazine is noted for its photography, especially relating to fashion and style.
The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is a crossword-solving tournament held annually in February, March, or April. Founded in 1978 by Will Shortz, who still directs the tournament, it is the oldest and largest crossword tournament held in the United States; the 2023 event set an attendance record with more than 750 competitors.
Stanley Newman is an American puzzle creator, editor, and publisher. Newman has been the editor of the Newsday Sunday crossword puzzle since 1988 and the editor of the Newsday daily crossword puzzle since 1992. He is also a trivia buff and the co-author of a trivia encyclopedia, 15,003 Answers.
The New York Times Crossword is a daily American-style crossword puzzle published in The New York Times as part of The New York Times Games, online on the newspaper's website, syndicated to more than 300 other newspapers and journals, and on mobile apps.
Merl Harry Reagle was an American crossword constructor. For 30 years, he constructed a puzzle every Sunday for the San Francisco Chronicle, which he syndicated to more than 50 Sunday newspapers, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Seattle Times, The Plain Dealer, the Hartford Courant, the New York Observer, and the Arizona Daily Star. Reagle also produced crossword puzzles for AARP: The Magazine and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.
Henry Hook was an American creator of crossword puzzles, widely credited with popularizing the cryptic crossword in North America. With Henry Rathvon and Emily Cox, he wrote the crossword for the Boston Globe.
Beaner is a derogatory slur originally from the United States to refer to individuals of Hispanic or Latino descent, particularly those that are from Mexico or of Mexican American heritage. It originates from the bean being a staple ingredient in Mexican cuisine.
Norman "Trip" Payne is an American professional puzzle maker. He is known by many as a three-time champion of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT). With his first victory in 1993, at the age of 24, Payne became the youngest champion ever in the tournament's history, a record he held until 2005.
Tyler Hinman is an American competitive crossword puzzle solver and constructor and a seven-time winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT). He holds the tournament record for youngest champion ever, winning as a 20-year-old in 2005, and he formerly held the record for consecutive titles with five, a feat matched and bested by six-time champion Dan Feyer. He was one of the featured players in the award-winning 2006 documentary film Wordplay.
Lollapuzzoola is a crossword-solving tournament held annually on a Saturday in August. Founded in 2008 by Brian Cimmet and Ryan Hecht, it is the second-largest crossword tournament in the United States, and the only major tournament in New York City. The term "Lollapuzzoola" was coined by Amanda Yesnowitz, as a play on the Lollapalooza music festival. Lollapuzzoola 16 took place on August 19, 2023, and was cohosted by Brian Cimmet, Brooke Husic, and Sid Sivakumar.
Matt Gaffney is a professional crossword puzzle constructor and author who lives in Staunton, Virginia. His puzzles have appeared in Billboard magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Beast, Dell Champion Crossword Puzzles, GAMES magazine, the Los Angeles Times, New York magazine, the New York Times, Newsday, The Onion, Slate magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, The Week, and Wine Spectator.
Frank Longo is an American puzzle creator, and author of over 90 books, which have sold over 2 million copies.
Dan Feyer is an American crossword puzzle solver and editor. He holds the record for the most American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) championships, with nine wins, and the most consecutive championships, with six. He was described by The New York Times as "the wizard who is fastest of all", solving the Times's Saturday crossword in an average of 4:03 minutes each week and the Sunday crossword in an average of 5:38 minutes.
Erik Agard is a crossword solver, constructor, and editor. He is the winner of the 2016 Lollapuzzoola Express Division, the 2018 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), a frequent contributor to the New York Times crossword puzzle, a crossword constructor for The New Yorker, the former USA Today crossword editor, and a former Jeopardy! contestant.
Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon are a married, retired American puzzle-writing team. They wrote the "Atlantic Puzzler", a monthly cryptic crossword in The Atlantic magazine, from September 1977 to October 2009, and wrote cryptic crosswords every four weeks for The Wall Street Journal from 2010 to 2023.
Michael David Sharp, known by the pseudonym Rex Parker, is an American college instructor and blogger known for his blog, Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle, about the New York Times crossword puzzle. Outside of crosswords, Sharp teaches English at Binghamton University in New York.
