Will Shortz

What's an enigmatologist? It's Will Shortz, the only academically accredited puzzle master in the world. He designed his own major program at Indiana University, which in 1974 led to his one-of-a-kind degree in enigmatology, the study of puzzles.

Shortz has been the puzzle master for NPR's “Weekend Edition Sunday,” since the program's start in 1987, crossword editor of The New York Times, editor of Games magazine for 15 years, and the founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. He sold his first puzzle professionally when he was 14 to Venture, a denominational youth magazine. At 16 he became a regular contributor to Dell puzzle publications.

Shortz received a law degree from the University of Virginia. He originally entered law school with the intention of practicing law for 10 years in order to make a lot of money before retiring do what he really wanted -- create puzzles. However, law was not creative enough for him, and following graduation he skipped the bar exam and began his career in puzzles immediately.

Today, Shortz relishes his position at the Times because he believes the paper garners the most intelligent, best-educated group of solvers in the country. This allows him to presume a level of culture and solving skill that he couldn't anyplace else.

Upon starting at the Times, Shortz made modest modifications to the crosswords. Constructor bylines were added to the daily puzzles; previously the contributors had labored anonymously. He had the puzzles become increasingly harder each day of the week to provide something for every skill level. Additionally, the cultural references were broadened to include movies, television, and rock music.

Shortz’s puzzle that has elicited the most response appeared on Election Day, 1996. The clue to the middle answer across the grid was "Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper." The answer appeared to be CLINTON ELECTED. Because of intentional ambiguity in the crossing clues, however, the answer could also have been BOB DOLE ELECTED. Either answer fit.

Shortz is the founder of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, the founder and director of the World Puzzle Championship and the co-founder of the World Puzzle Federation. Shortz was also the riddle writer for Batman Forever.

In addition to editing the weekday and Sunday puzzles for the Times, Shortz is the author or editor of over 200 puzzle books. Recently, Shortz was the subject of the feature documentary film Wordplay in 2006.