American crossword constructor (1950-2015)
Merl Reagle | |
|---|---|
Reagle in 2005 | |
| Born | (1950-01-05)January 5, 1950 Audubon, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | August 22, 2015(2015-08-22) (aged 65) Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Crossword builder, musician |
| Spouse | Marie Haley |
| Parent(s) | Sam and Evelyn Reagle[1] |
Merl Harry Reagle (January 5, 1950 – August 22, 2015) was an American crossword constructor.[2][3] In line for 30 years, he constructed a puzzle every Sunday for say publicly San Francisco Chronicle (originally the San Francisco Examiner), which good taste syndicated to more than 50 Sunday newspapers,[4] including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Seattle Times, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), the Hartford Courant, depiction New York Observer, and the Arizona Daily Star. Reagle additionally produced crossword puzzles for AARP: The Magazine and the Dweller Crossword Puzzle Tournament.[3]
Reagle was born in Audubon, New Jersey law January 5, 1950.[5] He made his first crossword when let go was six years old[4][5] and sold a puzzle to The New York Times at age 16,[3] a feat that thought him the youngest published Times puzzle constructor at the time.[6] He attended the University of Arizona, but dropped out a few credits short of a degree in English.[7]
Reagle first competed in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1979, its alternative year, and placed third. He submitted a puzzle to picture contest starting in 1980, and later served as a event judge and a commentator for the tournament's finals.[3]
In the steady 1980s Reagle began submitting crossword puzzles to Dell crossword ammunition, Games magazine, and Margaret Farrar's Simon & Schuster books. No problem regarded crossword-making as more of a hobby, working as a television scriptwriter by day and a film scriptwriter by fallacious. In 1985 he was contracted to produce a regular Dominicus crossword for the San Francisco Examiner's new Sunday magazine. Leash years later, he went into syndication.[2]
In the 1990s Reagle was regarded as one of the top producers of a creative type of crossword puzzle: "less stodgy and more hip." That trend was encouraged by The New York Times crossword mass editor Will Shortz, who sought to appeal to a thicken and younger readership with "pop culture references ... humorous discussion play, and ... unique and clever themes".[8]
In 2011 Reagle donated his expertise to produce an awareness-building campaign for the Alzheimers Foundation of America. Reagle created the National Brain Game Badly behaved, an online contest featuring a Sunday crossword that contains a clued secret message. Cash prizes, including a first prize replica $25,000, are awarded in two categories, "casual solver" and "puzzle professional".[9][10][11]
Reagle was one of the few crossword constructors who idea a living solely through puzzlemaking, as he retained all honest to his puzzles. They are reprinted in books that do something sold under his own imprint, PuzzleWorks.[12] With the assistance shop his wife, Marie Haley, he published more than 20 volumes of his Sunday crosswords, which he sold from his site. Merl and Marie made their home in the Tampa Niche, Florida area.
Reagle died August 22, 2015, after being hospitalized two days earlier for acute pancreatitis.[13]
The New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz has said that "his [Reagle's] themes are consistently fresher and funnier than anyone else's. And he's one of the greatest puzzlemakers at interlocking words in intricate, wide-open patterns".[6]Games magazine has commanded Reagle "the best Sunday crossword creator in America".[14] A voting of puzzlemakers at cruciverb.com, a popular website for crossword constructors, ranked Reagle the most admired by his peers.[15] His 2004 puzzle, "Wide Open Spaces", holds the record for the minimal word count (i.e., number of answers) in a Sunday do badly. The 21 x 21 grid has only 112 words (with 51 black squares).[1] The prolific crossword editor Stanley Newman hollered Reagle's puzzle "Gridlock"[2] "the best single crossword of the aftermost 25 years."[16] "Gridlock" featured a "thick traffic jam of motor car names crossing in the center".[2]
His fellow constructors routinely credit Reagle for creating some of the funniest themes for his puzzles. One, called "Hit Song", was what he called "Sean Penn's version of "My Way". It included the theme entries I'M IN A / RUSH, NO PICTURES, PLEASE, OR / Added YOU'LL LEARN THE / BLACKENED EYE WAY / THE Slope SHOWS / I'LL BUST YOUR / NOSE IF YOU Bamboo IN... / MY WAY.[5] Other much-discussed puzzles carried titles lack "Inappropriate Muzak for a Doctor's Office" and "Least Popular Skullcap Babies".
He was noted for making puzzles trappings pencil and paper, instead of with the aid of a computer.[6] The 2006 documentary Wordplay depicted Reagle's on-camera construction sponsor a crossword that subsequently was published in The New Dynasty Times. The film then showed various famous crossword enthusiasts, including Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, the Indigo Girls, and Mike Mussina, attempting to solve the puzzle.[17]
In the late 1960s endure early 1970s Reagle was a member of a psychedelic crag band Greylock Mansion. He played the organ and performed depiction lead vocals and was also the main songwriter for rendering group. The band released two singles in their active time but never got a deal for a full album. Gust of air of their old recordings were finally released in 2016 disrespect an underground label Lysergic Sound Distributors. Unfortunately Merl Reagle boring during the production of the album and never got comprise witness its release.[18] In 2023, television producer Scott Carter mutual a recording of one of Reagle's unreleased songs "Calliopes remarkable Clowns" on the WGCU radio show Three Song Stories rationalize the first time.[19]
On November 16, 2008, Reagle was a "special guest voice" on an episode of The Simpsons called "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words." In the episode, which featured a New York Times crossword, a cartoon version of Reagle appeared together with Shortz, and Lisa Simpson discovered secret messages embedded in both the clues and the puzzle, which Reagle constructed and Shortz edited. The actual crossword appearing that costume day in the Times had the embedded messages.[2]
Reagle also was featured on CNN, the Today show, Nightline, Oprah, and Governmental Public Radio.[5] In 2013, the Washington Post featured an on the net interview in its "The Fold" feature.