Finishingup - Howto solvea Diagramless

crossword
PlusAmerica'sMostCreative
Grosswords
By the Nation'sTopGonstructors

DELT'SCHAMPIONEDITON
NancySchuster
byHeleneHovanec
s editor-in-chiefof Dell Champion thetwo setsof clues.
Puzzles,NancySchuster'sofficial
Examplesfrom "SayNo More" by John
daystartsat9a.m.whenshearrives Greenman
showthedifferencebetweenthe
at her Manhattanoffice. Unofficially, she clues:
startsworking assoonasshegetsup.
IIARD
EASY
ANSWER
"Notions
"Bent over
"Rainbow"Arcedt'
cometo me pretty earlyin the
moming,"Schuster
backward?"
says."I thinkit's because shapedtt
"Big Macks"
ttSemistt
'cTrucks"
my subconscious
hasbeenworking during
ttAccuratett
"Stranger
tofruett
thenight."Shethinksof clueswhile she's
than fictlon?"
brushingherteeth,comesupwithnewpuzzle
ideasover her morningcoffee,and solves
SinceSchusterusesonly ttremedcrossvarietypuzzleson thecommuteto work.
words,solvershaveampleopportunitiesto
Schusteroverseesa staff of six editors testtheirknowledgeofparticularsubjectsand severalfree-lancerswho put out 13 composers
in FrancesHansen's"Composer
different magazineand book titles a year pgg9l'9"-"l,achgammon,""HandelBars,"
(morethan65 issuesin all) includingcross- "After a Weill," and "Unlisztednumber;"
words,varietypuzzles,word searches,
fit- geography
in StanleyB. Whitten's"Movin'
ins,andlogic puzzles,representing
a broad totheBurbs,"-"WalttramTeaParty,""Meet
"SanGabrielLaw,"
rangefrom 99p word-searchmagazinesto Me in WebsterGroves,"
"The
$7.98spiralboundbooks.
Streetsof San Carlos,"and "The
Dell ChampionCrosswordsand DelI ArdmoreStory;"andmoviesin Robin and
ChampionVarietyPuzzlesarethe elite end NormanLandis's"MovieMilfllsss"-"9121
of themagazinespectrum,offeringsolvers Skirmishes,""Some Like It Tepid," and
puzzlesnotoftenfoundin othermassmarket "The FriskyBunch."
publications.
Althoughthesemagazines
are
Solverscanalsostretchtheirbrainswith
aimedat a broad-based
audience,they're puzzleslike Coral Amende's"GettingLitsomewhat
moredifficult than thecompeti- eral":
tion.
..I,0001,000"
"One In a million"
"I don't mind
having hard clues and
,I-C-EF-L-A.K.E-S" "Dashingthrough
the
puzzles
in thesemagazines,"
Schusternotes,
"becauseI think
sno\fltt
that for newsstandmaga..LTEMOE''
"Scrambled eggs"
zineswe probablyhavethe mostchalleng'Tin aleVtermini"
"Split endd'
ing group of puzzles.Although we try to
keepmostof thepuzzleson a mediumlevel,
gainedher"15 minutes"of naSchuster
get
pretty
theydo
difficult."
tionalprominence
in 1978afterwinningthe
Solversof Championpuzzlesdon'tjust grandprize at the frst modemcrossword
spewoutanswers
to tiredclues;ttreyhaveto contestin Stamford,Connecticut.
While the
thinkto solvetheseclues:
mediahypedherasa housewifeand,parenthetically,as a part-timepttzzleeditor,she
"Ointmentingredient?t,,Tly,
hadalreadybeenin thebusinessfor a num"Pltch resul! perhapstt
..Salett
ber of years.
r'Loseone's appetite"
,,Sate,t
Schusterstartedsolvingas a child wittr
t'One with pants on fire?tt ,,Liar,
herfattrerwho solvedTheNew YorkTimes
"Calculating chaPtt
"CPA"
crossword,
wenton to theDell massmarket
Everyissueof thecrosswordmagazine magazines,
andcontinuedsolvinga variety
includesan "As-You-Like-It" Crossword ofpuzzlesasanadult.Aftergraduating
from
with two setsof clues,one easyand one AdelphiUniversity(LongIsland,N.y.) with
difficult.By folding a pagein hatt solvers a majorin chemishy,she,like manywomen
canoptto challengethemselves
with a diffi- in thosedays,"had only one interestin an
cult setof cluesor can usethe easyclues; advanceddegree,an M.R.S."
theycanalsowork backandforth between
Shemarried,hadtwo children,andconJuly/August
1991

CROSSWRD

tinued to solve puzzles as a hobby. Her

friends were very aware of her crossword
"habit."
So, when the editor of the pTA
newspaperat her son's school neededa
crossword"to liven up the paper,"sheapproachedSchusterand askedher to constructone."I hadneverthoughtofconstructing before,"Schusteradmitted.
Althoughher first effort wascrude,she
"found it waslike
a drug." Shestartedconstructingandconstructing
andconstructing.
"My housenevergot
cleaned,my dinners
nevergotmade,my childrenwerefilthy, and
my husbandwas furious." Although
Schuster'shusband"developeda lifelong
hatredof crosswords,"
hesharedin hersuccesswhen shewon the 1978competition
and accompaniedher to plzzle events.
(Schusterwaswidowedin 1984.)
After masteringthe basicsof construction,Schusterstartedsubmittingpuzzlesfor
publication."I startedwith TheTimesiaftsr
I gotarejection
I sentthesamepuzzletoDell
and thenta TheNational Observer.Nter
thoserejections,Iwenttothenewsstand
and
found out the namesof the minor puzzle
publishers.I sentthemmy puzzlesandthey
would finally buy themfor g5 apiece."
In ashorttimeMargaratFarrar
alsostarted
buyingherpuzzlesfor TheNewYorkTimes.
WhenWill Wengtookoveraseditorin 1969
anddidn't havehis own cadreof constructors, he "openeddoors" for Schusterand
published severalof her puzzles in the
SundayTimes.
"Showing
tle Way" hada theatertheme:
"Prisonersof a kind" ,.Captiveaudience"
'3Covert"
..Behindthe scenes"
"Louder-and.funnier
..peanutgallery'
area',
"Animal acf usuallytt..Curtaln
raisert'

and "The Gang's All Here" useda party

theme-"Boston Tea Party," "party politics,""two-partysystem,""GrandOldparty,"
"be party
a
to," and"party lines."
The PTA editor alwaysenjoyedseeing
Schuster'sname in The Times and took
credit for startingSchusteron her new career.
(Continuedon page 7)

Schuster(fromPage5)
Schusterwaseagerto parlayher solving
skillsinto theeditorialarenaandaskedWeng
"if he would grantmy lifelongwish andlet
mebehisassistant."
AlthoughWengrefused,
he did recommendher to Dell's editor-inchiefKathleenRafferty,whohiredSchuster
asa free-lanceeditor.
For 10yearssheeditedmostof theexpert
crosswordsand all of the challengersfor
Dell. Shealso editeddiagramlesspuzzles
"becausenobodyknew how to do them."It
wasduringthis time that Schusterhad her
first opportunityto work with top construcand
torslike HenryHook,MauraJacobson,
MerlReagle."WhenI sawtheirfirstpuzzles
I knewwhattheraw materialwaslike. I had
it in my handsto do with asI wished."
Schuster'sfree-lanceexperienceled to a
pafi-timejob with a now defunctmassmarket publisherand then to a job at Official
Publications.Startingout as a three-day-aweek"word search"editor,shewasinsftumentalin creatinga new varietymagazine,
SuperbWordGames,andbecomingits editor. She worked her way up to editor-in-

chiefatOfficial,overseeing
astaffof 10,and rules--+ll overinterlock,nofwo-letterwords,
issuingmorethan100magazines
themedpuzzles,andsymmericaldiagrams.
a year.
I look at the themefrst and if it's flowers,
in
the
In 1988therewas a big shakeup
I don'twantit."
puzzleindustrywhenseveraleditorsplayed colors,ortheOscarwinners,
Dell Championusesmorethan500crossleft Officialandwent
musicaljobs.Schuster
"We frown on themes
to Dell Champion;Wayne Williams, the word puzzlesa year.
editor at Dell Champion,movedto Penny thatrepeata word,e.g.,browndog,brown
Press;Doug and Janis Heller, the Penny studyandbrownderby.I lookfor newtheme
of old themes."She
hesseditors,movedtoOfficialPublications. ideasor newtreatments
At Dell, theday-to-dayoperationof each also looks to seeif "tle diagramis loaded
magazineis the responsibilityof the indi- with three-letterwords and lots of black
vidual editor. Schusterlooks at every spaces,"a surecasefor dismissal.
"I' m notadamant
grid;
magazine
aboutawide-open
andbookseveraltimesduringthe
editorialprocessand makesany necessary thesolverneverknowsthedifference."She
changes.She also createsnew puzzles, thenrunsher eyedown theword list to see
"how much'crosswordese'
is in thepuzzle.
suggests
coverideasandcolors,decideson
type faces, finds free-lanceeditors and If there'snottoomuchI try to getrid of what
proofreaders,
herstaff,attendsex- there is; if tlere's a lot I don't want the
oversees
ecutivemeetings,and settlesa myriad of puzzle."Nor doesshewant"off-colorclues,
problemsthatcrop up daily. She'sso busy unpleasantwords,or lots of rite entries."
that she limits her vacationsto one-week Althoughasmanyasl1%oof thecluesmay
intervals.Evena boutof pneumoniadidn't berewrittenby anedi[or,Schusterlooksfor
preventherfrommissinganydeadlines;
she "some skill in cluing on the part of the
just workedfrom home.
constructor"becauseshewantsmaterialto
Schusterhas definite ideasabout what work with.
shewantsin a crossword."I'm assuming
Schuster'sconstructorscome up with
(Continued
that the constructorsare following basic
on Page9)

In the DellGhampion
Beginning...
Dell had been publishingpuzzle magazinessince 1937 and
alreadyhad a substantialshareof the crosswordmarketwhen it
startedtheChampiondivisionin 1982.
Genevieve(Jean)Millet Landau,editorialdirectorof Dell Publications,ran a blind ad in TheNew York Timesadvertisingfor a
puzzle editor. Since ads for ptszzleeditors are rarely found in
(The puzzleindustryis small,mostof the top ediors
newspapers
knowoneanother,andjobs areoften filled via a networkingsystem)
editorstelephonedone anothermadly trying to find out who was
behindthead.
I wasfree-lancingat Dell at thetime andwasenlistedto makea
few circumspectcalls.I did my shareby callingMike Donner,the
former ediwr of GurnesMagazine,who wasthen an editorial consultant.Neitherhenor hisclientshadplacedthead,nordid hehave
anyknowledgeof who wasbehindit. I posedthesamequestionto
Will Shorz atGamesandheassuredmethatit wasn'tanadfor his
staff.
Themysterycontinued,but RosalindMoore, Dell's editor-inchief,suspected
thatherown companymightbebehindthead. So
sheaskedone of her senioreditors,Mary Ann Kennedy,to write a
coverletter and sendin her resumeto apply for the job. When
Kennedywasn'tcontacted,
Moore'ssuspicions
wereconfirmed,so
MooreconfrontedLandauandaskedif she(I-andau)wasbehindthe
ad. After first denying it, Landautold Moore Dell was adding
anotherdepartrnent
to thepuzzledivision.Moorehadbeenaskedto
expand
thedepartment
with newmagazines,
buthadrefusedbecause
shedidn't feel shecould handlethe extra load with her already
overburdened
staff.
Landau,surprisedat the paucity of qualified applicantsand
determined
to get this division off the ground, "spirited"Wayne
RobertWilliamsawayfromConsumerReports
in Chicagowherehe
July/August
1991

waseditinga seriesof puzzlebooks.I happenedtobeworkingonsite

thedayLandauwalkedWilliams throughthepuzzledepartmentand
introducedhimto everyone.
Thereceptionwaslukewarm.Landau's
handling of the matter generatedhard feelings for a long time
betweenthe "regular" Dell division and the Championdivision.
Moore neverreally acceptedWilliams and the two divisionswere
alwayson an uneasytruce.
That changed,however, whenNancySchusteranived asDell
Champion'seditor-in-chief.Erica Rothsteinwas now editor-inchief of ttreregularDell divisionandhadknown andworkedwith
Schuslerfor many years.Schuster'swork was yery highly reMoorehadoftenstatedthatSchuster's
spected;
puzzles
diagramless
wereamongthebestin thebusiness.
Mostimportantly,Schuster
had
therequisiteexperience
puzzledivision.
of managingamass-market
Rothsteinwelcomedher with flowerson herfrst dayandrelations
betweenthe two divisionsarevery cordial.
The Champion division was started with two titles-De//
ChampionCrosswordPuzzles md D ell ChampionVarietyPuzzles,
bothof whicharestill big sellers.Williams briefly publishedWord
P/ay,anothervariety
magazine,butthatlastedfor only a shorttime.
Gradually,the Championdivision grew with the addition of three
"word search"magazines,
logic puzzlespecialsandbi-monthlies,
"fit-in puzzle"magazines,
andspecialissues.
Defyingthemyth thatAmericansaremath-phobic,Dell Champion recentlyissuedCross Srms, a magazinewith crossword
puzzlesthatarefilled in with numbersinsteadof let[ers.Schuster
wasoverwhelmed
by thepositiveresponseto this magazine.
"It's
the best selling magazinewe've ever had," she noted.
"People
areinsaneaboutit." Schusteris working on anothernew
magazne--Gamesand Puzzles , a magazineintended to offer
solversmorevarietypuzzles.- H.H.

CROSSW RD

Page 7

Schuster(fromPageT)

missingclues,etc. Puzzlecontestsare de- of fresh andexcellentmaterialnow."

Schuster's
demographics
indicatethather
innovativetlemes and clues,like the self- signedto have a specificanswerso that
readerscan mail in entrieson a postcard. averagereader is a married, middle-aged
qpoofing"Crosswordese"
byArthurVerdesca
Contestsare generatedby many different (35- to 5S-year-old)femalefrom a standard
"Cuckoo's call to
people,not only editors or constructors. household
andshemustconstantlykeep
this
"Anl get your guntt
arms?tt
Schusterwill look at a goodideafrom any- in mind whenpreparingher magazines.At
ttCoach Parseghlan's
bodywho submitsone.
thesametime,she"wantsto givetheyounger
r.Ara root,
starch?tt
Schusteris proud of her line of puzzle (20-to 30-year-old)solverssomethingthey
"Cupful ofcheer?"
..Cafe old'
magazines
andtheinnovationsshe'smade. cangrow with."
"Boxer runs out of
Shefeelsthatpuzzlesolverscanbasicallybe
Her philosophyis to "try to call forth
"Muhammad
wind?"
aleett
divided into threegroups- thosewho me from peopleknowledgethey may havein
"Maternal
contentto solve the puzzlein their daily everyfield." Sheappealsto culturedsolv"Enate abilitv"
endowment?"
newspaper;thosewho buy puzzle maga- ers who know music (all kinds), literature,
zinesat a newssland;and thosewho pur- theatre,movies, history, geography,etc.
"Heir
andquotepuzzleslike DonnaStone's
chase
booksofcrosswordpuzzles."There's "There'sa fact therethat solversknow and
Cuts," basedon an Erma Bombeckquip,
"My kids
comein, look me in the eye,and
CONTESTS IN THE CHAMPION shot at figuring out the answersto 64
askif anybody'shome."
MAGAZINES are very challengingand seven-lettercluesand
ttrenfillinginabull,s
AlthoughSchusterhobnobswith theinner
canconsumea lot of thecontestants'-time.eyediagramin suchawaythatth;divisions
circleoftop puzzleconstruclors,editors,and
Winnersreceivemodestcash prizes and containingbullet holes,when readclocksolvers,sheneverforgets
the"average"solver. seetheir namesin print. Contestsare de- wise, spelled
out the secret message,
"ThepeopleIknow
andspeaktoarefarmore visedby Dell staffersandfree-lancers,
but CHAMPION MARKSMAN. Again, the
skilled than the averagesolver, which is
anyonewith a goodideacan submitit to grand prize winner was rewardedwith a
something
I haveto keepin mind."Schuster Schuster.
modest$100checkwhile threerunners-up
David Rosenna former crosswordcon- received$25 apiece.
feelsthatthebiggestjobofapuzzleeditoris
to beableto assessthediffrculty of apuzzle testchampionanda contributingeditor to
LouisSantrey's"Stretchingapoint"had
"Living
D ell ChampionCrosntord Puzzles,wuthe four answersttrat bulgedbeyondthe bororclue.
in New York amongourown
devious mind behind "Order, Order." ders-"FROM TOP TO BOTTOM,'
associates
of a certainclassor interestis no
Solverswere given a standardcrossword *SINKS TO TIIE FLOOR,''?ASS ON
reflectionof therestof thecountrv."
gnd in which only lhe rows and columns THE RIGHT," and "LEFT TURN SIGwere identified. All definitions for each NAL," plus four entries whose answers
Shefrnowshow thesamecluecanbeinter- rowor columnwere
combinedintoonelist. were longer than the number of empty
pretedas difficult G easydependingon tlre
Solvershadto figure out theanswersto the squaresand ttrus had to contain two ietaudience
or consfiuctor.When shequerieda
cluesand then figure out whereto place ters-NEATER crossingwith OATEN,and
constructorabouthis
obscure
cluingof "milo" as
them in the grid. In addition, they had to FAIR T O MIDDLING crossingwittr MCE
"somekind
of wheat" insteadof thenaditional identify thefour secretordersthatappeared TO andTODDLERS (*re boldfaceletters
"Venus
de_," herepliedwith
aWestem
drawl, in thegrid.
are the onesthat bulgedout or werecon"Venus
There
were
four
different
meanings
deMilo is prety obscureouthere;we
for
tractedinto one square).
.
the word "order": class or ilk (order of
grow milo for milesaround"I wasusingthe
Solvenhadto discoverthemysteryword
arrangement),
Adam and Eve on a raft through a three-partpocess: 1) find ttre
easiest
clueI couldthinkof."
(poachedeggson toast,a shortorderin a leuen thateiths extendedoverthe
edgeor
Schusterfriesto bring herreaderspuzzles
diner), Corinthian(order of architecture), contractedwithin thegrid (F, R, T, L, o, R,
andcolumnsthey won't find in othermass
and Vicar's investiture(clerical orders).
D, D,), 2)eliminatetheduplicates
marketpublications.
In Dell Championsolvh qpiteof thecomplexityof thedirwtions {,T,T,O,
(R, T, O,R, T, O, D, D), and 3) rearrange
the
ersfind puzzlesby nationallyknown people anddifficultyoftheclues
muetlrran
7OOenties leftoversto form the secretword, ftRt
whosepuzzlesappearin other magazines, werereceivedSixpeoplewon$50each.
M-orerhan
600respondents
viedfor sixprizas
e.g.,Maura Jacobson(New York magazine),
In "TargetPractice"I ,200peopletooka of $50each.- H.H.
ThomasH. Mi ddlenn(TheNewyork Times),
EmilyCoxandHenryRarhvon(TheAttantic), abit ofa snobappealto notlooking puzzle
at
feelgmd aboutbeingableo writeinroa grid.
Ed Galli (Harper's), Richard Silvestri magazines
becauseyearsago peoplewere We don't.askfor only a pun or wordplay.,'
(CROSSWRD magazine)and puzzlesby turnedoffbynewsstandpuzzles
whichtended
Schusteris quick to note that sheloves
othertop constructors-Will Shortz,Mike to bepracticallyinterchangeable."
Schuster wordplay,'butnotattheelimination
of everyShenk,Wiltam Lutrviniak, Karen Hodge, is trying to get bokstore peopleto look
on thingelse.An easypuzzleisjust asimportant
MelRosen,StanleyNewman,etc.
thenewsstands
andfind themagazines
that asa hardpuzzleand it hasto havethe same
Dell Championalsosponsorscrossword have the kind of puzzlesthey like.
This inner integrity andelegance.I nevertum up
contests
run by StanleyNewman,and the means
ablendofthenew-stylepuzzles,
with my nose at a good easy puzzle which is
tournamentpuzzles
arethenreprintedin the innovativethemesandnew-wavecluing,as actuallyharder
to makebecause
theconstrucmagazines.
Contests
arealsoanintegralpart well asstraightforward
kind of cluing...Too tor is workingwith a smallervocabulary.It's
ofeachissueof the crosswordand variety manypunny,question-mark
kindof clues,to much harderthanbeing esoteric.Making a
magazines.
They're usually crossword- me,aren'tajokeanymoreandcanbejustas
simplepuzzleis notan easytask."
tr
based,
with solvershavingto do something repetitiousand boring as the old types
of
extraaftercompletingthegrid,for instance, clues.Peopleshouldnot dismisswhat's
on HELENE HOVANEC, atthorof Cr eative
findingoutwhattheclueshavein common, the standsnow becauseit's not the
sameas CruciverbaliJts,
is a writer andpuzzlecondiscoveringttre relationshipbetweenthe whatwasttrerein theold days;there's lot structor.
a
a

July/August
1991

CROSSW RD

Page 9