The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York) December 5, 2004 Sunday FINAL EDITION HEADLINE: HE KNOWS ALL THE ANSWERS (2 WORDS); WILL SHORTZ BYLINE: By Laura T. Ryan, Staff writer Will Shortz himself is a bit of a puzzle. He grew up on an Arabian horse farm in Crawfordsville, Ind., where his writer-mother's love of language nurtured in him an interest in word games, rather than horseplay. He attended law school, but never practiced law. After studying other subjects (mathematics, library science, economics) in fits and starts in college, he cooked up his own college major from scratch: enigmatology, or the study of puzzles. Which makes him the world's first - and quite possibly only credentialed - enigmatologist. After stints at Penny Press and Games magazine, Shortz in 1993 became crossword editor of The New York Times, where he immediately set out to punch up the puzzle with pop culture references, and weed out arcane words nobody ever uses in daily parlance. He also serves up weekly puzzles on the air, during Weekend Edition on National Public Radio. He promises to perplex a Syracuse audience Wednesday, when he delivers the third talk in this season's Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series. His presentation will include thoughts on what makes a good puzzle, a little crossword history and audience-participation word games. In a recent interview from his Westchester County home, Shortz, 52, spoke openly about his life in puzzles: Were you confident you could make a career out of this? My intention was to go to law school, which in fact I did, get my degree, practice law for 10 years. ... and make enough money to retire and do what I really wanted, which was puzzles. How did that plan work out? At the end of my first year, I wrote my parents that I'd be dropping out at the end of the semester, and they were horrified. They said, "Go ahead, complete your degree, and then do what you want.' And I thought that was good advice, so I did go ahead and get my degree. Of course, then they wanted me to pass the bar exam and do something. That I skipped. That I wasn't going to do. I went right into puzzles. Were you a big fan of the Times' crossword puzzles up until that time? I wouldn't say so because it was ... an old-fashioned style of puzzle that had a lot of obscurity and a lot of crossword-ese in it. And I didn't find it particularly playful. I'd contributed some puzzles to (former editor Eugene T.) Maleska, and I guess we got along all right, but I was really not a big fan of his and I don't think he was a big fan of me. When you say crossword-ese, what kind of stuff are you talking about? Words like anoa, a Celebes ox, or erne, sea eagle. There's a whole array of language like that that you virtually never see in everyday life, but it's very useful in crossword-making because of the vowel-consonant patterns. And it's impossible to get rid of that completely, but I thought there was a lot more of it in the puzzle than there should be. How did you get rid of it? I emphasize phrases, particularly lively phrases that are in the language, that don't appear in the dictionary. You know, like "DVD player.' There's a great answer. It's something that everyone knows, and it's an interesting, lively, colorful phrase. It starts with five consonants - you'd never expect an answer like that in a puzzle. So it's sort of surprising, but it's not obscure. What kind of resistance did your changes meet? I was overwhelmed with mail for the first month or six months. And it was quite divided. Lots of solvers loved it right from the start, thought it was a breath of fresh air. And there was another group who didn't like it. And they didn't like it, first of all, because it was a change. And any time you have a change, you know you're going to upset people. ... You're taking away their shorthand. How do you strike a balance between wanting to stump people and wanting them to succeed? Yeah. Well, first of all, my ultimate goal is for the solver to be able to finish the puzzle, because that's where the pleasure comes in. The best puzzle is one that you think you can't complete, but that you persevere on and finally are able to fill in the last letter on. And that is a wonderful feeling to have, and that's the feeling I like to give the solver. Of course, that ideal level of difficulty is going to differ for every solver. And that's why I have different skill levels through the week. So at least one puzzle or two puzzles I hope will hit you just perfectly. How do you edit a puzzle? Once I accept a puzzle, and determine what day of the week it's for, then I will edit it. ... The most important thing is accuracy. Every word and fact has to be looked up. If I have any question about an answer or a clue, I will look it up and verify it. I'm also editing clues for the proper level of difficulty. ... And then freshness, humor, clues you've never seen before. You have some favorites off the top of your head? Well, that will change almost from week to week, but I'll tell you my all- time favorite clue. It's one I wrote. The answer was "spiral staircase,' and the clue was "It may turn into a different story.' Do you just sit there and stare at the ceiling until things like that come to you? Exactly (laughing). That's funny. Why does staring at the ceiling, as opposed to looking down, why does that work? But it does, your mind works better when you're looking at the ceiling. Who sends you puzzles? Do they make a living doing it? Only a few people make their living from creating puzzles, because the pay, frankly, is not that great. And there aren't all that many markets either. The Times pays $100 for a daily crossword, and $350 to $400 for a Sunday puzzle. They come from all parts of the country. The youngest contributor I've published is 15. And the oldest that I'm aware of is one I'm publishing right now, is 90. So it's really a broad range. They tend to be 2-to-1 male over female, even though solvers tend to be 2- to-1 female over male. And they come from all walks of life. How long does it take to create, on average, a puzzle? A daily crossword, I'd say, on average, four to six hours. And the Sunday puzzle, on average, I'd say, 6 to 20 hours. It depends on just how facile you are at constructing. Also, how difficult a challenge you set for yourself. What kind of letters do you get? The biggest thing is "gotchas.' People who think they've found errors in the puzzle. Because I'm like the taskmaster, I'm their schoolteacher. So if they can get back at me and find where I've slipped up, then it gives them tremendous pleasure. That's just part of the game. My experience is only about 10 percent of the supposed errors actually are errors. Usually, both I and the writer are right, and sometimes they're just wrong. Do you have any idea how many people are doing your puzzle on an average day? That's a good question. There was a newspaper survey a few years ago that found that 27 percent of newspaper readers solve the crossword occasionally. Do you know what percentage do it religiously? No. But there was another survey I saw a few years ago I thought was interesting. Not of newspaper readers, but just Americans in general. And they asked them to name their favorite activity in the world, with no limit. And 1 percent named crossword-solving, which I think is quite extraordinary. What do you do in your spare time? My big thing is table tennis. I'm fanatical about that. I play five or six times a week. I love the geometry of the game, the fast pace. And it's just great exercise, too. What do you like about crossword puzzles? Boy, there's lots of things. First of all, there's the love of language. We use words every day in life to communicate our feelings and our thoughts. This takes this body of knowledge we have and turns it into a game. And uses it in a completely different way, and that's satisfying. There's also the mystery of a crossword. A challenge. Being able to solve a problem. You know, we're faced with problems every day in life. Most of them we're not able to work through to a complete solution. We just make things as good as we can, and move onto the next thing. With a crossword puzzle, you see the process through from beginning to end. And when you fill in that last letter in the square, it's a very nice feeling. Up close Born: Aug. 26, 1952, in Crawfordsville, Ind. Education: Earned a bachelor's degree in enigmatology (the study of puzzles - a field of study Shortz himself created) from Indiana University in 1974, and law degree from the University of Virginia in 1977. Career: Editor of Penny Press in Stamford, Conn. (1977-78); associate editor, Games magazine in New York City (1978-82); senior editor at Games (1982-89); Games editor (1989-93); crossword editor at The New York Times (1993 to present). Also founded the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, co-founded the World Puzzle Federation and serves as puzzle master for Weekend Edition on National Public Radio, wrote riddles for "Batman Forever." Writings: Author of several game-related books, including "Brain Games" (1979), "The American Quiz Book" (1979), "Games Magazine Book of Crossword Puzzles" (1985) "Games Magazine Presents Will Shortz's Best Brain Busters" (1991), "Will Shortz's Favorite Crossword Puzzles" (2002) and "The New York Times Will Shortz's Funniest Crossword Puzzles: (2004).