Interview with Half-Century Constructor Lou Sabin

Today I'm delighted to publish an interview with Lou Sabin, a prolific New York Times crossword constructor of at least 137 puzzles, 108 during the pre-Shortz era and 29 under Will Shortz's editorship.  Lou is also one of the few constructors to have published in The Times for more than 50 years!  To read the interview, click here or on the Pre-Shortzian Constructor Interviews tab above, then scroll down.  If you'd like to read more about Lou, see this 2009 Wordplay article by XWord Info's Jim Horne and this 2011 profile by John Saccenti, "The Puzzling Pastime of Creating Crosswords."

Stan Newman Finds William Lutwiniak NSA Interview; Constructor Regina M. Heil Identified

Stan Newman Finds William Lutwiniak NSA Interview

Some time ago I received an email from Newsday crossword editor Stan Newman, who'd discovered a long piece about William Lutwiniak, one of the most prolific New York Times crossword constructors ever.  Lutwiniak, a former cryptologist for the National Security Agency (NSA), published at least 304 pre-Shortz puzzles in The Times, which are available here on XWord Info.  Stan's find is a long, formerly top-secret but now declassified interview by Robert Farley of the NSA on October 18, 1981.  Here's Lutwiniak discussing his background:

To read the full interview, click here.  (And for more on William Lutwiniak, see other links on this blog, including on the Pre-Shortzian Constructors page; this CROSSW_RD Magazine profile by Helene Hovanec; and, as Stan suggested, links that come up when Googling "Lutwiniak NSA," such as this Wikipedia entry.)  Thanks so much again, Stan, for this great discovery!

Constructor Regina M. Heil Identified

Regina M. Heil. Photo courtesy of Bill Heil.

In mid-April, Thomas Heil emailed The New York Times about his mother, Regina M. Heil, who'd built a daily crossword puzzle edited by Will Weng.  The puzzle was published on January 29, 1973.  Tom wondered whether The Times had a copy in its archives or wanted one for its files.

The email made its way to Times crossword editor Will Shortz, who sent Tom a copy of the puzzle, which our records at the Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project (and now on XWord Info) had previously listed as being by "Unknown."  Tom confirmed that this was indeed the puzzle his mother had constructed; he also mentioned that he recalled her having submitted two other puzzles to Will Weng before this one was published.  "Mr. Weng put my mother through Goldilocks editing," Tom noted.  "The first puzzle was too hard, the second too easy and the third was just right."  She received $10 for the puzzle.  Tom added that his mother "never missed a day of the puzzle, all while raising nine kids.  She was pretty amazing."  At the time, she lived on Thomas Road in Wayne, Penn.

Will suggested that Tom send a headshot of his mother, if he had one, to Jim Horne at XWord Info so it could appear with her puzzle.  I emailed Tom too asking if we could write about her on this blog and encouraging him to send along any further information or photos.

I then received an email from Bill Heil, Tom's brother, along with this photo and the one above:

Regina M. Heil. Photo courtesy of Bill Heil.

Bill wrote that their sister, Mary Colleen, had reiterated Tom's "Goldilocks" comment.  In a follow-up email, Bill reported that he'd asked Regina's 81-year-old brother, Brian Torsney, for more information, and Brian had written:

My father used to sit in the den and do the NY Times Sunday puzzle.  My father could do at least 3/4's of the puzzle and when he was stumped, he would get your mother and I to brainstorm.  I still do the NY Times crossword puzzles.  They appear in the Desert Sun (the Palm Springs paper) daily and Sunday. I can complete the Sunday puzzle in one sitting about 1/2 the time, and completely at least 90% of the time. I run into trouble when they use rap music stars, current movie/TV stars or new movies as clues.

And Tom, who'd originally contacted The Times, added:

Did I mention that I also do the puzzles every day but Sunday. Sundays Bobbie [Ed.: Tom's wife], who does at least a puzzle a day, and I work on the puzzle together. It's good for the marriage — 28 years now.

Thanks so much again, Tom, Bill, Mary Colleen, and Brian, for helping us identify and get to know the long-lost constructor of this puzzle!  It's also wonderful to see how an interest in puzzles was passed down over three generations—from Regina's father, to Regina and Brian, to Tom himself.

J. A. Felker (and Another Puzzle Identified), Warren W. Reich, and James E. Hinish Jr.

J. A. Felker (and Another Puzzle Identified)

Photo courtesy of Janet Felker, from 1983

Back in January, Jim Horne and Jeff Chen of XWord Info received an email, which Jim subsequently copied me on, from Janet Felker, the daughter of pre-Shortzian constructor J. A. Felker (1911–91).  Janet wrote that her mother, whose full name was Josephine Ann, had had crossword puzzles published in The New York Times (as well as Bantam Books and Pocket Books) between 1971 and 1977.  Will Weng had published 11 of her diagramless puzzles and four of her regular Sunday puzzles (as well as what turned out to be a previously anonymous Friday puzzle!).  Janet noted that she had files of her mother's submissions to the Times that were accepted, as well as of some submissions that had been rejected.  "Perhaps of most interest to crossword puzzle enthusiasts," she wrote, "are the original memo notes from Will Weng regarding some of the puzzles, including his rationale for those he rejected."

I wrote to Janet expressing interest in these and other items, and she soon sent along the above photo of her mother, taken in 1983; a 1991 Miami Herald obituary, "Josephine Felker, N.Y. Times crossword puzzle composer"; a 1980 note from Will Weng (see below) about her mother's name; and a copy of the original clipping of her mother's August 27, 1971, daily puzzle, along with the original clues (or "definitions," as they were called then), some of which Weng subsequently edited for publication.  I've posted the obituary and clipping plus clues on Scribd; to see them, click on the links above.

Janet also mentioned that she remembered why her mother had used just her initials when submitting puzzles:

I have a vague memory of my mother explaining that she intentionally used "J.A." as she began submitting crossword puzzles to the NYT because she felt that her puzzles might receive more equitable treatment than if she were to submit under "Josephine."  It's interesting to me that in his note, Will Weng admits that he assumed that J.A. was a male and was "astonished" to learn that she was a female.

Here's the note Weng sent:

Janet also reported that her mother had two large puzzles published by Bantam Books, for which she won cash awards for fourth prize and fifth prize in The Bantam Great Master's Crossword Puzzle Hunt, which was where Janet thought Weng had discovered that "J. A." stood for "Josephine."  She had documents for those two puzzles, along with a folder of six rejected large puzzles, each of which included her mother's clues, as well as a blank and handwritten completed grid.  Several puzzles had Will Weng's memos attached, with an explanation of why he was returning them.

In addition to her regular crosswords, J. A. Felker also had 12 diagramless puzzles published in the Times between 1971 and 1977; Janet sent the note below from Will Weng—addressed to "Mr. Felker"—accepting J. A.'s first diagramless puzzle, which was published on August 29, 1971.

Janet also noted:

I don't know if you are interested in more background on my mother, but she was quite educated (for a woman of her time) and talented in other ways as well.  She earned a bachelor's of art from Carnegie Tech and a master's of art from Penn State College in 1936.  She was quite artistic and continued to sketch and paint through much of my childhood. She was also an accomplished seamstress (her master's thesis was on the history of women's dress) and sewed many of her own and her children's clothes, often designing her own patterns.  A few of the outfits (sewed with fabric from Europe) are now part of the collection for students to study in the Fashion Institute of Salt Lake Community College.  As the Miami Herald article indicates, mom also learned several languages as a result of living abroad (Brazil, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, Italy, Belgium, Japan, Hong Kong)  due to my father's work, between 1946 and 1972.  She was an avid reader and loved not only doing crossword puzzles but also jigsaw puzzles.

Thanks so much again for writing and telling us about your mother, Janet!  Thanks to this information, we were able to identify one more previously anonymous daily puzzle and to provide an illuminating look not only into one of the rare female constructors of the pre-Shortz era but also into the mind of editor Will Weng!

Warren W. Reich

Photo courtesy of the Times Union

Shortly after my recent post containing an olio of Todd Gross pre-Shortzian constructor research appeared, I received an email from constructor Jim Modney, who wrote that there had been an obituary of Warren W. Reich in his local paper, which you can read here and which also contained the above photo.  Jim noted:

I met Warren once in the early 1980’s, after Eugene Maleska noticed that Warren and I were both in the Albany, NY area.  By that time I had begun my 30 year “hibernation” from crossword constructing, so Warren and I never crossed paths again.

Jim's email was followed by one in early January from crossword historian Todd Gross, who also sent a link to the Times Union obituary and mentioned that he'd received an email from Warren Reich's daughter, who'd said some nice things about her father.  Thanks so much again for letting me know about this, Jim and Todd!

James E. Hinish Jr.

  Photo courtesy of the Williamsburg York-
  town Daily

A few days later, Todd wrote that another pre-Shortzian constructor, James E. Hinish Jr., had died and sent a link to an obituary, which had the above photo and which you can read here.  James published at least 16 puzzles in the pre-Shortz era.

Thanks again, Todd!

Stay tuned for more updates and commentary coming soon!

Interview and Visit with Guido Scarato—and Maleska's Letters

Happy New Year, everyone!  Over winter break I was delighted to receive an email from Will Shortz telling me about another pre-Shortzian constructor who'd resurfaced:  Guido Scarato.

Guido published many puzzles in The New York Times under Margaret Farrar, Will Weng, and Eugene T. Maleska, but almost all of them appeared without bylines, and many have been misplaced over the years, especially during a move from New York to California.  Guido now lives on the Monterey Peninsula in Pacific Grove, where his family has been since he was 13.  The area, which I've visited many times with my parents over the years, is a short detour from one of the routes we take between Los Angeles and Palo Alto, so it occurred to me that I might actually be able to meet Guido in person on my way back up to Stanford after the break!

I wrote to Guido and introduced myself, and before long we'd set up a time to meet.  I sent him some interview questions in advance, and you can read his responses by clicking here or on the Pre-Shortzian Constructor Interviews tab above.  But the real treat began when we pulled up in front of his house just a few steps away from Monterey Bay.

Guido, who is also a painter and singer, had a long career as an art director for boutique advertising agencies in New York, producing campaigns for clients including Citibank, Pan Am, Nabisco, and many others; his creativity and talent are evident even from the outside of his house, whose colors are unusually vibrant for the area.  You can see a little of that in this photo of us together by his front door:

And here's a painting he did of his house and yard:

When I came inside, I was immediately greeted by his two friendly dachshunds, whom he also painted in this self-portrait:

And taking up almost the entire wall facing the entrance is this triptych of wood panels painted by Rex Clawson in 1985:

Here's an explanation of it:

And below is a closer picture of one of the chairs:

After chatting a bit with Guido and a couple of his friends who'd brought over some delicious cookies, we went into another room filled with art (as was the rest of the house—not to mention the backyard, whose fence he turned into another masterpiece and where he celebrated his 80th birthday with more than 100 friends).  There, Guido showed me his crossword puzzle dictionary, much used and very worn over the years:

Front

First page

Sample pages

We then began discussing Crossword Compiler and other construction software, which Guido had never tried but was fascinated by.  I'd brought along my laptop, so I was able to show him how it worked (and also give him a tour of XWord Info, which amazed him!).  We got so into it that we actually began constructing a puzzle together that we may eventually finish and submit somewhere!

During the course of my several hours there, Guido told me more about his constructing and also showed me some of the letters he still had from Maleska, including the latter's missive to all constructors informing them of a moratorium on puzzle submissions.  I've posted them on Scribd here—highlights include the August 82 [sic], 1988, letter, in which Maleska says Guido owes him 25 cents; the September 23, 1989, letter, at the end of which Maleska asks Guido whether he'd solved a recently published Times puzzle that reminded Maleska of Guido's current submission; and his January 19, 1990, puzzle, in which he chides Guido for "careless defining."

Guido also still has a few of his old puzzles, and one of them—June 19, 1972—was a puzzle previously identified in my database as being by "Unknown."  It was great to be able to put a name to yet another anonymous puzzle.

Before our meeting came to a close, Guido offered to play a CD of his singing in South Pacific.  Guido has an amazing voice and has appeared in numerous musical productions, including The Sound of Music, Man of La Mancha, Oklahoma! and many others.

After I left, I was struck by how diverse Guido's interests and accomplishments were.  The pre-Shortzian constructors were (and are) remarkable for the variety and depth of their talents, and I suspect that the same holds true for some of today's constructors as well, though many of us are often too busy to do or talk about much other than crosswords.  There's a wealth and richness to the lives of these early constructors—and a willingness to share their experiences and thoughts—that seems elusive in our increasingly hurried and fragmented existences.

Thanks so much again for our wonderful afternoon, Guido!

Updates on Charles Erlenkotter, Betty Jorgensen, and William J. Yskamp

Project Update

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  Today I'm especially thankful for all the people who've helped out with the project and delighted to present some fascinating new information that's come in recently about several pre-Shortzian constructors—read on!

Charles Erlenkotter

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Donald Erlenkotter, Professor Emeritus of Management at UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management (and former fellow Stanford student—M.B.A., M.S., and Ph.D.!).  Charles Erlenkotter, whose February 15, 1942, puzzle was the first crossword ever published in The New York Times, was Don's great-uncle.  Don informed me that the Ancestry.com information about Charles's wife contained a couple of errors:

They give her name as Wilhemina Weinachten, whereas it should be Wilhelmina Weinacht.  In almost all records, she used the shortened version Mina.  We haven't been able to track down her death date, but it was after Charles's in 1948 and before her sister Henrietta's in 1951.

Don also enclosed this September 28, 1948, obituary from the Times, along with his current writeup on Charles, which "documents his early history with the Hamburg-American Line at San Francisco (1910–11) and as Southwestern regional manager at St. Louis (1914–17)."

Image courtesy of Donald Erlenkotter.

Image courtesy of Donald Erlenkotter.

In a follow-up e-mail, Don told me that he'd had two other great-uncles in addition to Charles—Walter and Francis—and that none of them had had any children.  Don didn't remember ever meeting Charles, though he did meet Frank once in San Francisco in the mid-1960s.  He added:

From an on-line search, I have the same set of 8 puzzles you have from the NYT.  I searched some other newspapers and turned up a dozen of his puzzles in The Washington Post.  The earliest was on 26 November 1939, and is titled "Meeting Place of the Puzzle Makers."  The last was on 9 October 1944.  Some are captioned "Daily Crossword Puzzle."

There are a number of entries for him on Ancestry.com under passenger lists.  I included one in my writeup since it had dates of birth for him and his wife.  There's another for the two of them in 1911 for their arrival from Bermuda - undoubtedly on their honeymoon.

There's also an entry for him in Biography Index for 1949 - probably referencing the NYT obit.

In a subsequent e-mail, Don sent me a notice of Louise Erlenkotter's estate, as published in the January 24, 1937, New York Times:

Image courtesy of Donald Erlenkotter.

Don noted:

Unfortunately, I don't know of any photographs of Charles Erlenkotter.  Documents are scarce in my family - my grandfather, Herman Erlenkotter, was a West Point graduate and artillery officer, so the family moved frequently and didn't spend much time in NJ or NY.  He died in 1933, and the only photos I have from the family are from about 1912 into the 1920s, mostly of the children.

Don mentioned, though, that while searching for more crossword information on Charles, he'd found more of his puzzles in other papers:  34 Sunday puzzles in the Springfield Republican (Springfield, Mass.) from 1934 to 1945; 4 puzzles in the Pittsburgh Daily Post (9/21/24, 6/11/25, 7/11/25, 11/7/28); 1 in the Oakland Tribune (Oakland, Calif.; 11/5/24); 1 puzzle printed twice in The Billings Gazette (Billings, Mont.; 10/19/28 and 10/21/28); 7 puzzles in The Charleston Daily Mail (Charleston, W.Va.; 7/3/32, 12/4/32, 2/19/33, 8/6/33, 1/6/35, 3/24/35, 10/8/35) under the heading "Meeting Place of the Puzzle Makers," as also seen in The Washington Post; and 1 posthumous puzzle published on 7/4/54 in both the Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Texas) and The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah).

The Billings puzzle was preceded by this comment:

We haven't seen any puzzles by Mr. Erlenkotter, our Canadian contributor, on this page for some time.  Whenever we do, though, we feel quite pleased about it, because we know that here we have a puzzle that conforms beautifully to all rules of puzzle construction - with some original additions of Mr. Erlenkotter's own.

Have you ever noticed that these diagonally bi-symmetrical puzzles almost invariably have diagonal staircases running from the lower left-hand corner to the upper right?  There must be some strange reason for it, because there's certainly no reason why the diagonals shouldn't run downward and to the right.  Have you any theories on the subject?

Don noted that the posthumous puzzle was copyrighted by Simon & Schuster and wondered whether Simon & Schuster might still have any files on Charles.  He also wondered how puzzles were sold to newspapers:  "It looks like the contributors probably dealt with newspapers individually—there's no indication that puzzles were syndicated like comic strips, or that newspapers copyrighted them."

While researching Charles's puzzles, Don began thinking about how Charles's puzzle was chosen to be the first in the Times and came up with this very interesting theory:

Here's a crossword puzzle "mystery":  why, and how, was a puzzle by Charles Erlenkotter chosen as the first to appear inThe New York Times?  As far as I can determine, there was no advance notice in the paper that puzzles were about to appear.  They just showed up on 2/15/1942 on p. 36 of the NYT Magazine.

The Times seems to have been in something of a state of disarray about this.  It appears that they were revamping the Magazine in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into WWII.  On 2/21/1942, p. 8, they describe its coming features, and below the heading "If We Want to Win This War" they include a list of features "Fashions - Food - Home Decoration - Child Care - Crossword Puzzles" followed by the announcement "Sunday in The New York Times Magazine."

The next day, p. 26, the contents IN TODAY of The New York Times Magazine conclude with "and a brand new Crossword Puzzle Page."  No mention is made of the one the previous week.

Three days later, on 2/25/1942, p. 40, we have:

So, after missing the ball originally, the NYT was trying here to make up the lost ground.

Now, back to the Charles Erlenkotter puzzle.  Certainly the 2/15/1942 puzzle wasn't submitted in response to any call for puzzles in the NYT since there wasn't any before this date.  Surely the key here is Margaret Farrar.  I doubt that she could have used any puzzles she may have already had on hand since there would be a conflict of interest with her other employers for whom she had obtained the puzzles - Simon & Schuster, etc.  Most likely she contacted some of the puzzle constructors she knew and solicited puzzles from them specifically for the NYT.  I would bet that she knew, or knew of, Charles.  They had both been active in producing puzzles since the mid-1920s.  When Charles returned to the U.S. from Canada at the outset of WWII, it's highly plausible that he would have contacted her since she was highly visible through the Simon & Schuster puzzle books, etc.  He then could have sent her this new puzzle, and probably others as well.

Don's theory makes a lot of sense—if only we had more details on exactly what happened back then!  But at least we still have the puzzles and copies (if only digital now!) of the papers, which give us enough to make some very good guesses.

In my most recent e-mail from Don, he reported some new finds:

I've obtained some additional information for Charles from passenger arrivals and border crossings on Ancestry.com.  Have addresses for him in Irvington, NJ in 1926-1927, and in Montreal from 1928 through 1939.  He was living in the Bronx from 1942 until his death in 1948.  So far nothing on him from 1919 through 1926.

I ran across a 1943 puzzle book in the Library of Congress (not from Simon & Schuster) that lists Charles as a contributor.

Thanks so much again, Don, for all your help with this!  It not only fills in many of the gaps in what we know about Charles Erlenkotter but also brings that whole era back to life.

Betty Jorgensen

Moving on, in early October, Karen Richards of Eugene, Oregon, wrote to me about Betty Jorgensen.  Karen followed up on my October 4 update and contacted Laura Jorgensen, who works at the University of Oregon and might have been a granddaughter of Betty.  Unfortunately, although Laura's grandmother was indeed a Betty Jorgensen, she wasn't a puzzle maker.  Thanks so much anyway, Karen, for following up on this—at least we can cross that lead off our list!

William J. Yskamp

Finally, the morning of November 18 I received an e-mail from Amanda Yskamp, one of William J. Yskamp's daughters.  She had discovered the July 29, 2015, post and confirmed that we had indeed found the right person—William was her father, and he had passed away eight years ago on that very day.  Amanda noted, "He was a wonderful wordsmith, and would have been pleased to know that his legacy lives on."

Then, that evening, an e-mail arrived from Claire Yskamp, William's wife, who wrote:

Yes, that William J. Yskamp was a clever constructor of Sunday puzzles.  He stopped constructing, alas, after one of his puzzles was published erroneously by the Times under someone else's name.

I'm delighted to see that you found him and charmed to see his high school yearbook picture.

Claire also noted that the name of their oldest daughter is Lise (not Lis, as incorrectly listed in a 2003 obituary for Delia Yskamp).  In a subsequent e-mail, she wrote:

Although I met Mr. Maleska only once, at a dinner given him by New England constructors, I have many memories of his editing style.  For example, he labeled Bill's definition of Onan--"he cast his seed on the ground"--as "too seamy" for NYT solvers; and he changed it to "______ even keel."

The Times published a correction the week after the misattribution, but that didn't attach Bill's name to his puzzle. That was his last contribution to the Times.

Although Claire didn't remember when exactly that was, I checked XWord Info and dug through my records again, and the last puzzle William published in the Times was on August 4, 1985; although the puzzle itself was correct, the author and title were incorrectly listed as Bert Rosenfield and "Age 35: Aaugh!"  Bert Rosenfield's puzzle subsequently appeared eight weeks later on September 29.  If only Maleska had correctly printed the author and title of William's puzzle—who knows how many more William J. Yskamp puzzles might have appeared in the Times and been up on XWord Info today?  Thanks so much again, Claire and Amanda, for contacting me about William!

On that note, I'll sign off for now, especially since I smell the beginnings of Thanksgiving dinner!  Although I'll be busy for the next couple of weeks studying for finals, I hope to have another post up sometime in December for the holidays.

Updated List of Missing Puzzles, Plus an Olio of Todd Gross Pre-Shortzian Constructor Research

Project Update

After sorting through the pre-Shortzian constructor names and posting the remaining PS Notes on XWord Info recently, I went through my records and put together an updated list of the missing puzzles, whose 143 dates are listed below.  A few other dates not included below were problematic, and some puzzles (such as, but not restricted to, 10/11–10/18/65) have PDFs in ProQuest, but the PDFs aren't of the puzzles that should have run—they show repeats of puzzles that appeared earlier.

If anyone wants to help search for these puzzles, be sure to read the previous posts about the missing puzzles first.  I still think the only places we might find them at this point is in old books of the daily Times crosswords (best bet) or in the Times's International or Los Angeles editions, both of which published the puzzles concurrently.  Unfortunately, now that "everything" has been put on ProQuest, locating actual copies of these old editions, even in microfilm form, may not be possible through traditional channels.  It's always possible, though, that someone somewhere kept copies of all the old International or Los Angeles papers, though after all these years their condition probably wouldn't be good.

1953 (9):  11/30, 12/1–12/8
1958 (17):  12/12–12/28
1962 (4):  12/15, 12/16, 12/23, 12/30
1963 (13):  1/6, 1/13, 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/17, 2/24, 3/3, 3/10, 3/17, 3/24, 3/31
1965 (13):  9/18, 9/25, 9/26, 10/2, 10/3, 10/10, 10/11, 10/13, 10/14–10/18
1978 (87):  8/10–8/12, 8/14–11/5

Olio of Todd Gross Pre-Shortzian Constructor Research

Litzer, proofreader, and historian Todd Gross recently sent me the results of some more of his research on pre-Shortzian constructors—here's an olio of those findings, with constructors listed alphabetically in the order of their last names.  (Puzzle totals listed may be less than the actual puzzle totals, since many puzzles lacked bylines.)

Emory Cain

Todd discovered this obituary of Emory Cain, who began his lifelong newspaper career at age 12 and published 10 puzzles in the Maleska era.

William Canine

Todd also found a puzzle published in The Lethbridge Herald [Alberta, Canada] in September 1941 by a William Canine.  The puzzle appeared 40 years before "the" William Canine's first New York Times puzzle, which was published on October 16, 1981, so whether or not this is the same person is unclear, though it seems likely.  William Canine published 65 puzzles in the Maleska era and 2 during Will Shortz's editorship.

Part of 1941 puzzle by William Canine.

Walter Covell

Photo courtesy of Conservatory Craftsmen.

Todd also discovered this obituary for Walter Covell, an entertainer who published 33 puzzles in the Maleska era and 1 in the Shortz era.  Googling a bit, I discovered that Walter also has a brief bio on IMDb, which mentions his 1985 Clue VCR Mystery Game credit (as Colonel Mustard).

Chester (Chet) Currier

Photo courtesy of AHBJ.org.

Todd found quite a bit on Chester (Chet) Currier, who published 12 puzzles in the Weng and Maleska eras and 6 in the Shortz era.  Here's an excerpt from Todd's e-mail about Chet:

He worked for the Associated Press, and while he did compose many crossword puzzles for them, his main beat was business.  In fact, he worked for Bloomberg after the AP.  Though a native New Yorker, Chet moved . . . [to] Manhattan Beach [California] in 2005 . . . but, alas, didn't get to live there long, having passed away in 2007. . . . Chet wrote crosswords for the AP as well as business articles.  At least once, he wrote an AP article about crosswords. . . .

Here's that article, which appeared in the March 5, 1979, Schenectady Gazette and is about that year's American Crossword Puzzle Tournament:

Image courtesy of Google news.

Todd also directed me to Chet's Wikipedia page, as well as to an obituary of him in the American History of Business Journalism, at AHBJ.org.

Betty Jorgensen

Although he wasn't sure he'd found the correct person, Todd told me about some research he'd done on Betty Jorgensen, who published 69 puzzles in the Maleska era (and under Mel Taub), as well as 8 in the Shortz era.  Here's Todd's report:

An S&S puzzle of hers mentions Oregon, so I used that to try and find her. . . . Well, I found a Betty Jorgensen in Portland, born in 1919 and passed away 2008.  I was able to find her obituary on the Oregonian web site. . . . Alas, the obit made no mention of crosswords, which is odd considering how many she published.  So I can't be sure I have the right person.  I've found other Betty Jorgensens, but they aren't in Oregon and don't seem to be good candidates.  I have found out a fair amount about this Betty Jorgensen . . . but, again, nothing tying her to crosswords.  But she wrote poetry, which seems fitting.

Hopefully we'll be able to identify Betty definitively at some point in the future.

Bob Lubbers

Photo courtesy of Wikia.

Following up on his research on Louise Earnest, Todd discovered some information about Bob Lubbers (who, he noted, is likely the second-oldest living New York Times constructor after Louise).  Bob, a cartoonist, published 1 puzzle under Weng and 4 in the Shortz era.  Todd found this article that, despite the byline at the top, appears to be by Bob Lubbers.  Following up on Todd's lead, I discovered that Bob has his own very extensive Wikipedia page that mentions his crossword activities!  It's a fascinating overview of Bob's creative activities and also links to the National Cartoonists Society Web site, where I found this "bio" in the Members Directory:

Image courtesy of the National Cartoonists Society.

Marjorie (Lamont) Pedersen

Photo courtesy of Medford High School.

Todd also discovered an obituary of Marjorie Pedersen, who published 12 puzzles in the Weng and Maleska eras, as well as a long document about her from the archives of Tufts University, from which she received her B.A. and where she was chairman of the Department of Shorthand and Typewriting.  Here's something that appeared toward the end of the document:

Originally published at Tufts University.

Todd wrote:

I'd never heard of this, so I asked Will about it.  He hadn't heard of it either (though he pointed out such an event wouldn't have been the first ever such meeting, he'd arrange something similar in Fairfield Co., CT in 1977).

He also found more information on someone he thinks was her:

I found a few pictures of a Marjorie Lamont, all of whom look like the same person.  But one is a high school picture from 1939, when she would have [been] 21.  So I'm enclosing a picture from a different (but not far away) high school, when she would have been 17 (almost 18).

I'm pretty sure she was born Marjorie Louise Lamont on 8 Jun 1917 somewhere in the Boston area.  In the 1940 Census she was living with her parents in Medford, MA working as a teacher in a secretarial school.

Here's what appeared next to her photo in the Medford High School 1935 yearbook:

Image courtesy of Medford High School.

Joy L. Wouk

Finally, Todd discovered that a special edition of Random House's Sunday crossword series (volume 25) mentioned that Joy was the "sister of noted novelist Herman Wouk."  Apparently, though, she was actually Herman's sister-in-law—her husband, Victor, was Herman's brother.  Joy, who published 124 puzzles in the Maleska era (and under Mel Taub) and 9 in the Shortz era, passed away in 2008, as documented in this brief Times obituary.

Thanks so much again, Todd, for all your great research and leads!  It's especially nice, too, to finally have photos of some of these constructors!