Margaret Farrar
| Margaret Petherbridge Farrar | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 23, 1897 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | June 11, 1984 (aged 87) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Smith College 1919 |
| Genre | Journalist, crossword puzzle editor |
| Notable works | The New York Times crossword puzzle |
| Spouse | John C. Farrar |
Margaret Petherbridge Farrar (March 23, 1897 – June 11, 1984) was an American journalist and the first crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times (1942–1968). Creator of many of the rules of modern crossword design, she wrote a long-running series of crossword puzzle books including the first-ever book of any kind published by Simon & Schuster.
Margaret Petherbridge was born March 23, 1897, in Brooklyn, New York, to Margaret (Furey) and Henry Petherbridge, who owned a licorice factory. A lifelong resident of New York City, she attended Berkeley Institute in Brooklyn and graduated from Smith College in 1919.
Her career in crossword puzzles began at the New York World in 1920. Although she had been hired as the publisher's secretary, she was told to assist crossword inventor Arthur Wynne in proofreading puzzles prior to publication. Her puzzles soon became more popular than Wynne's.
In January 1924 Petherbridge was given an advance of $25 and asked to compile a book of crossword puzzles by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster, who were launching a book publishing company but did not yet have any manuscripts. The Cross Word Puzzle Book launched Simon & Schuster as a major publisher and was the first of four bestselling compilations published that year. Simon & Schuster's crossword books became the longest continuously published book series.
In 1926 Petherbridge married John C. Farrar, one of the co-founders of Farrar & Rinehart and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. She left the World to raise a family, and returned to journalism in 1942 as founding puzzle editor of The New York Times. She remained with the newspaper until 1969. She also edited novels for Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1950–1960), and upon her husband's death in 1974 she succeeded him as a member of the company's board of directors.
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