Will Shortz

Will Shortz
Shortz in October 2006
Born	(1952-08-26) August 26, 1952 (age 64) Crawfordsville, Indiana, U.S.
Education	B.A. in Enigmatology, 1974 Indiana University Bloomington, J.D., 1977 University of Virginia
Occupation	Crossword editor table tennis center owner
Notable credit(s)	New York Times Puzzle Editor (since 1993), NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle master (since 1987)

Will Shortz (born August 26, 1952 in Crawfordsville, Indiana) is an American puzzle creator and editor, and currently the crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times.

Will Shortz was born and raised on an Arabian horse farm in Crawfordsville, Indiana. From an early age he was drawn to wordplay, and at 13 wrote to Language on Vacation author Dmitri Borgmann for advice on how to pursue a career in puzzles. Graduating from Indiana University in 1974, he is the only person known to hold a college degree in enigmatology, the study of puzzles. Shortz achieved this feat by designing his own curriculum through Indiana University's Individualized Major Program. He also earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law (1977), though he forewent the bar exam and began a career in puzzles instead. He is a brother in Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Shortz began his career at Penny Press Magazines, then moved to Games magazine for 15 years, serving as its editor from 1989–1993. He has been the crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times since 1993 (the fourth in the paper's history, following Eugene Thomas Maleska), and has been the puzzle master on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday since the program was started in 1987. He is the founder of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (1978), and has served as its director since that time. He founded the World Puzzle Championship in 1992 and is a director of the U.S. Puzzle Team.