Jeremiah Farrell author page
1 puzzle by Jeremiah Farrell (1937-2022)
with Jim Horne comments
From Flip Koski: Jeremiah "Jerry" Farrell constructed the ingenious Dole/Clinton crossword that appeared in the Times on Election Day in 1996. The puzzle is widely considered the most famous crossword ever. A Schrödinger puzzle, its clue "Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper" can be answered either CLINTON ELECTED, or BOB DOLE ELECTED. In an interview with Slate, Will Shortz called it his favorite crossword of all time.
Although there is only one Times crossword attributed to Farrell in the XWord Info database, he may have others in the unknown constructor category. In an interview in the 1980s, he noted he had been published in the Times on several occasions, recalling that he had been paid $10 for his first puzzle.
A lover of words, he had a vast collection of over 700 dictionaries, including a German one dating back to 1525. He said his collection helped him as a constructor.
Jeremiah Paul Farrell was born in Hastings, Nebraska in 1937. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1963 with degrees in math, chemistry, and physics. In 1966, after obtaining a masters in math, he joined the faculty of Butler University in Indiana. At Butler, he taught math and astronomy for decades, retiring in 1994 and continuing to teach in retirement. With his wife, Karen, he also published a linguistics journal for several years.
He passed away in 2022 at age 84.
Additional note from David Steinberg: I had the pleasure of corresponding with Jeremiah a few years ago, and I have a feeling you'd appreciate this anecdote: He actually constructed an earlier Schrödinger puzzle with REAGAN/CARTER for the 1980 election. Then-editor Eugene T. Maleska rejected the puzzle on the grounds that a third-party candidate might win (!), so Jeremiah sent it off to a certain Will Shortz at Games magazine. Will loved the puzzle, but it came in too late for him to run in Games before the election ... though Jeremiah didn't forget Will's enthusiasm, and everything finally fell into place in 1996!
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This amazing puzzle appeared the morning of the 1996 U.S. presidential election. The answer word at 39 Across can be filled in with either CLINTON or BOBDOLE and all the crossing Down clues work either way. In a since-deleted audio interview for Slate, WIll Shortz called this his favorite crossword ever.
This is the only puzzle in our database known to be constructed by Mr. Farrell so it shows up here as a debut. About half the pre-Shortz puzzles are uncredited and, according to this Wikipedia article, he constructed NYT puzzles back as far as the Margaret Farrar era.