--:-- [Rachel Abrams speaking]
Rachel Abrams: I'm Rachel Abrams, and welcome to our first subscriber-only episode of The Daily. We are going to be making these from time to time, in part because there are just things we don't do on the show that could be interesting and fun. At least fun for us, but hopefully also fun for you, our listeners, who go the extra step of subscribing and supporting our work.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: So for our first episode, we asked all of you for questions about how we make things at the times. And we heard from a lot of people about one topic in particular, games. Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee. You all had a lot of questions. So we assembled an all-star team of editors and game makers from the New York Times Game Department to tell us how they work. We got them into a room on a call. We asked them your questions. We asked them some of our questions. I definitely asked them at least one question from my dad. And here's that conversation.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: I am so excited that we are going to get to talk about New York Times games today. It's one of my favorite parts of this company. I am here with three New York Times games editors. Guys, you want to introduce yourselves really quickly. Tell us your name and what game or games you work on. We'll start with you, Winna.
--:-- Winna Liu: Yeah, hi. My name is Winna Liu. I am a puzzle editor on the games team, and I write the Daily Connections puzzle and also edit the crossword.
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I'm Joel Fagliano. I created the mini crossword for The New York Times and work on many other games here.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I'm Sam Mazerski, digital puzzles editor for The Times. Most of you all know me from editing the Daily Digital Spelling Bee as well as Letterboxd, but I also still lend a helping hand with the crossword, which is how I got my start.
--:-- [Discussion continues]
--:-- Winna Liu: I will share my own, which is during the pandemic, my dad and I, my dad lives in California. We played the crossword every single day together over the phone. So we each have our phones out and would be solving it together. My dad also can solve a Saturday crossword, I'm not even kidding, without cheating, in 12 minutes. Respect. Speedy, speedy.
--:-- Joel Fagliano: Yeah.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: My very first question is, do you ever cheat? I have a story about cheating versus not cheating.
--:-- Winna Liu: Excellent. Let's start there.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: So when I started solving the New York Times crossword in the paper, you know, you get to fold it up and it's this nice little packet. By hand?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Yeah. Every time I didn't know an answer, which was most of the time, I left it blank and I never looked up the answer from the next day. It was like some sort of like weird punishment for myself. Like I didn't earn the answer, so I didn't get it. And as a result, I never learned any of those words. And so I didn't really get better. And I kept on making the same mistakes over and over again.
--:-- Winna Liu: And so now I recommend that like cheating is great or looking at the answers. It's great.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Hot take. Cheating is great. Quote Winnaloo, cheating is great.
--:-- Joel Fagliano: Yeah, let's get that out there in the world.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, we'll just end the subscriber content now. I think we got what we need.
--:-- [Discussion continues]
--:-- Winna Liu: I have a very similar story to that, which is the very first puzzle book I ever got. Really, the first puzzle I ever solved was like a vacation I was taking with my mom in seventh grade, and she got me a New York Times Crossword book. And it was like Monday puzzles. And I was so excited. And I was like, here we go. And I got two answers on the first puzzle. And I was like, okay, maybe this one was like a hard one. And I like flipped it, and I got like one answer on the next one. And I was just defeated.
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I was just a giant nerd.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- [Discussion continues]
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: So how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Winna Liu: I was 17 when I got a crossword published.
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I was 17 when I got a crossword published.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was 17 when I got a crossword published.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts' favorite crosswords. I must have been like 12, 13 years old. That was like a monumental change for me because it wasn't just like, all right, I get it. Like I don't know all this trivia that I'm supposed to know and it's that these grids just looked so cool. These themes were so interesting. You could write multiple letters into a single square. You could stack three 15-letter answers at the top. Like I was so into just the patterns and the pyrotechnics, if you will, of puzzles.
--:-- Rachel Abrams: Okay, so how does one end up working as an editor for the New York Times game section?
--:-- Joel Fagliano: I joined the earliest of the three of us here. So myself, Winna, and Sam all got our start making crossword puzzles for the New York Times. So one of the really cool things the New York Times puzzle team does is accept crossword submissions from around the country. Anybody can send a puzzle in and you hear back from the editors with feedback. So all of us got into crosswords and realized, you know, somebody must be making these, started sending in our puzzles.
--:-- Sam Mazerski: I was just a giant nerd. I don't really have like that cool of a story other than I was into fill it in puzzles, which look just like crosswords, but instead of clues, it gives you a list of answers alphabetized by length. And at some point along the line, I think it was my dad just in trying to get me into crosswords, got me this book of Will Shorts
