4/30/2023 0 Comments Pro crossword editor![]() When I published my first crossword in 2004, I took a typical path, trying my hand at making a grid on a sheet of paper and, with some mentorship from old hands on the Cruciverb-l email list, eventually refined it to the point of saleability. The last one, in 2007, came about from what he described as “long, careful persuasion with the Times.” (Shortz has also been a hugely important force in the popularization of modern crosswords the darts in this article are aimed more at the Sulzbergers than Shortz.) The Times has been very conservative about further pay increases, and the issue of giving constructors royalties for republished puzzles has never been seriously raised, ostensibly because of the challenges of keeping track of the bookkeeping but more likely because constructors lack any clout. In fact, he has presided over a humane increase from $50 to $200 for daily puzzles and $150 to $1,000 for Sunday puzzles in his two decades at the paper. To be clear, Shortz is not brandishing the ulu (Inuit knife) at this holdup. And out of that total, constructors collectively earn well under $200,000. Of course the feature has expenses as well, including Will Shortz’s salary, the cost of testing, and so on, but these are moderate compared to the millions of dollars that the puzzle earns from a variety of revenue streams. Lots of people buy the paper, or even subscribe, in whole or part because of the puzzle. Finally, the crossword has a significant impact on overall circulation. ![]() Visitors to will also be familiar with the crossword merchandise - mugs, shirts, calendars, pencils, and the like - pitched aggressively by the paper, and perhaps also with the 900 number answer line, which still makes some money from a presumably less Google-minded segment of solvers. In that same interview, Shortz called these “about the best-selling crossword books in the country.” All royalties go to the New York Times Company, the constructor having signed away - as is the industry standard - all of his or her rights. Meanwhile, The Times buys all rights to the puzzles, allowing them to republish work in an endless series of compendiums like The New York Times Light and Easy Crossword Puzzles. In this 2010 interview, Will Shortz, the paper’s famed puzzle master, estimated the number of online-only subscribers at around 50,000, which translates to $2 million annually. ![]() Standalone, online subscriptions to the crossword cost $40 a year ($20 for those who already subscribe to the dead-tree edition of the paper). However, The Times also makes piles of money from its puzzles. The New York Times, which runs the most prestigious American crossword series, pays $200 for a daily or $1,000 for a Sunday, which is certainly more generous than its competitors. The financial stakes of the crossword are higher than a casual solver might realize. For aspiring constructors, things don’t look so rosy - but that’s changing. Most outlets offer less than $100 for a daily crossword and less than $300 for a Sunday-sized, despite the huge number of readers who presumably buy the paper in part or in whole for the crossword, and despite the substantial labor and creative energy that construction requires. Pay is - to use a puzzle term - olid (foul). If you’re hoping for riches, you’ll be disappointed. ![]() And this is true not just at The Times, but at other papers that run puzzles, such as Newsday and the LA Times. Attribution comes in the form of fine-print bylines, and in syndication the author’s name is often excluded altogether. (A few months ago, constructor Tim Croce received an acceptance from The New York Times - for a puzzle he submitted in 2001.) Even after a puzzle is accepted, the constructor may not know in advance when it will run. Submissions may sit in an editor’s inbox for months or even years before the author hears back. Puzzles are sent on spec to editors, who buy them or turn them down, and who fine-tune the ones they accept without, as a nearly universal rule, consulting the constructor. In fact, crosswords are made by people (called constructors) whose status is roughly equivalent to freelance writers - that is to say, low. If you haven’t caught the documentary Wordplay, or bothered to look up the name that appears in tiny agate type below the grid in The New York Times, you might join many others in assuming that the crossword is written by editor Will Shortz. The crossword puzzle can seem utterly authorless.
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