For women constructors, that’s a powerful percentage play.Īre more women getting involved in puzzle constructing? I see tremendous opportunity in the independent space. Let’s channel Sandra Bullock, who created her own production company. Today’s robust technology enables us to create, offer and maintain control over our own products. And then, let’s offer those puzzles to our Tribes. Women can improve the quality of crosswords by establishing higher standards for their own independent puzzles. This is where we can take a page from the men’s playbook. I love creating new, never-before-seen themes for solvers.Īs for increasing the number of women in the field: I’m going to go all Seth Godin on you and encourage women to serve their own “tribes” as independent providers of puzzles-like Matt Gaffney, Brendan Emmett Quigley and Ben Tausig. I feel that paying subscribers deserve fresh, professionally-made puzzles with new themes. Crossword Nation puzzles are created, edited and fully tested within days of publication. My goal is to serve men and women with fresh, up-to-date crosswords. Three years ago I launched my own weekly puzzle brand-Crossword Nation.
To change the gender dynamic, women should be proactive and create their own markets (à la Oprah and Arianna Huffington). Men love solving high-quality puzzles made by women. Male solvers are very open and tolerant to change. And the irony is, over the years, 80% of the solvers who write to me are male. Publishing crosswords by women and men-in even numbers-is good business. It’s common sense and good business to be more diverse.
Young editors (under 35) are now commissioning puzzles from top women to offer a more balanced experience for solvers. Major outlets have always had the power to commission puzzles from an existing lineup of top women constructors. Have there been efforts to change this gender dynamic? Is it discussed in the puzzling community? You are one of a small handful of female crossword puzzle constructors. On that Sunday, museum visitors were seen walking the spiral with the crossword in hand! It was thrilling to echo the unique spiral shape that Frank Lloyd Wright envisioned for his greatest, and final, design. My other favorite is the Guggenheim Museum puzzle ( New York Times, October 2009) - a spiral-shaped, asymmetric crossword that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the museum. It’s gratifying to see other constructors emulate the connect-the-dot crossword form. Since then I’ve made connect-the-dot puzzles that celebrate the Louvre Pyramid, a gingerbread man, Frosty the Snowman, an angel and Secretariat. I’d invented a new puzzle form- the connect-the-dot crossword! Solvers asked for more. That crossword was the first of its kind. I didn’t realize it back then, but it was the beginning of an era. I’m very fond of the Christmas Tree connect-the-dot crossword ( New York Times, December 2002). I know this is probably a tough question to answer, but. My first New York Times puzzle was published in 1995 and since then I’ve made over 200 puzzles for the newspaper. My steep learning curve began in the early 1990s.
#Margaret crossword editor how to#
Rather than torture my friends and family with the puns, I set out to learn how to make crosswords, which welcomed said wordplay. I’ve always loved thinking of dreadful puns (oxymoron?)-like crossing seafood with Mario Puzo characters (Marlon Brando as The Cod Father, or James Conch as Sonny). Why did you get involved in crossword puzzling? We even got her to share and comment on some of her best-loved work. We talked to Gorski about this gender imbalance, as well as her pioneering work and love of puns. It's been estimated that about 20% to 30% of puzzles are bylined by females, down from about half in the heyday of the 60s and 70s. Last year, 31 men debuted a puzzle for The New York Times just six women did the same. Įven more impressive? Gorski has accomplished this while quietly stepping over a crossword puzzling gender line. Her puzzles have appeared in the documentary Wordplay and (yes) the Sandra Bullock film All About Steve.
Last year, she was named Constructor of the Year. She's prolific, too: her work regularly appears in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the Simon & Schuster Mega Series, and she publishes a weekly puzzle for the website Crossword Nation, where she serves as managing editor. Her consistently inventive puzzles are visual wonders that combine craftsmanship with style, nuance with big-picture vision. If crossword puzzling were architecture, Elizabeth Gorski would be I.M.
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