
Reddit: How do you feel about the outlook for printed media, specifically newspapers such as The New York Times? Do you feel that this will impact your career in the near future? Is Times puzzle editor Will Shortz a nice guy? Since I give away puzzles on my site, I’m afforded the opportunity, if something comes up today, for example, to put it in the Thursday puzzle." His least favorite part? That's a little more complicated, but fascinating: "There’s a little unspoken race among us constructors who can be the first one to get the new buzz word in there. "There are obviously crossword fans there." Quigley told us his favorite part of puzzle writing was debuting a new word before his competitors. I was completely shocked that it skyrocketed to the front of Reddit," he said via telephone. I thought I’d give it a shot and see what happened.

"I didn’t have any preconceived notions for it. We had to call Quigley up to get his take on today's online exercise. Of course, we couldn't just leave the questioning to Reddit. But if you pull out just the pithy answers, they make for a neat FAQ that details how such puzzles are made. Today, a Times crossword creator (actually they call themselves constructors) named Brendan Emmett Quigley took to Reddit to answer questions about his craft, and the result was a fascinating bunch of information in the form of a dizzyingly long message board thread. But if you're anything like us, you do occasionally guffaw at a particularly brilliant clue, or sit befuddled at a stumper, wondering idly how they come up with those things.

Unless you're the type who finishes The New York Times' Sunday crossword puzzle in ink every week, you may not spend a lot of time thinking about the science behind puzzle-making.
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