
I'm the Editorial Manager, Puzzles, at Andrews McMeel Universal (AMU), where I acquire and edit the Universal Crossword, a daily internationally syndicated puzzle feature, and oversee a team of five puzzle editors and one contractor whose portfolio includes the Apple News+ Crossword, USA Today Crossword, Universal Crossword, and a growing catalog of original puzzles on PuzzleSociety.com. I develop (create, design, and code) playable prototypes for AMU's original puzzle concepts; I created Upwordly, Hex 10, and ThruLine, and co-created The Modern Crossword, all of which are original puzzles currently featured on PuzzleSociety.com. Previously, I was the Lead Puzzle Editor at AMU, editing the Universal Crossword, creating and developing digital puzzles and games, and supervising a team of editors. I became the Universal Crossword editor while still a full-time student at Stanford University; before that, starting in 2017, I edited The Puzzle Society Crossword, a daily nationally syndicated feature for AMU and for which I created and wrote The Puzzle Society Crossword Crossing blog. And prior to that, starting at age 15, I was the crossword editor of The Orange County Register associated newspapers, where I acquired and edited a weekly crossword for more than five years. I've been constructing crosswords since middle school; at age 14, I had my first puzzle published in The New York Times. Since then I've published more than 500 crosswords there and in the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Andrews McMeel Syndication, The Atlantic, Zynga's Crosswords with Friends, BuzzFeed, Simon & Schuster, and many other venues. My first book of puzzles, Chromatics, was published by Puzzazz; my second, Juicy Crosswords, by Sterling/Puzzlewright Press. I'm also the founder and director of The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project, a collaborative effort to build a digitized, fully analyzable database of early New York Times crosswords. I've been interviewed on National Public Radio's KCUR and given talks about crosswords at Stanford University; Wofford College; the Davidson Young Scholars Summit in Reno; Toronto's ideacity 2015; the 2013, 2014, and 2015 American Crossword Puzzle Tournaments; the Newport Beach Public Library; the Palos Verdes Peninsula Center Library; the Silicon Valley Puzzle Fest at the Morgan Hill Library; and elsewhere. I also run a custom crossword business.
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Palo Alto, California, United States
Editorial Manager, Puzzles
Andrews McMeel Universal
• www.linkedin.com/company/andrews-mcmeel-universal
• Full-time
Feb 2024 - Present
Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Lead Puzzle Editor
Andrews McMeel Universal
• www.linkedin.com/company/andrews-mcmeel-universal
Oct 2023 - Feb 2024
Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Puzzles and Games Editor
Andrews McMeel Universal
• www.linkedin.com/company/andrews-mcmeel-universal
Sep 2019 - Oct 2023
Kansas City, Missouri
Crossword Editor, Universal Crossword
Andrews McMeel Universal
• www.linkedin.com/company/andrews-mcmeel-universal
Dec 2018 - Sep 2019
Crossword Editor, The Puzzle Society Crossword
Andrews McMeel Universal
• www.linkedin.com/company/andrews-mcmeel-universal
Oct 2017 - Dec 2018
Crossword Constructor
Self-Employed
Nov 2009 - Present
Director
The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project
Jun 2012 - Present