New York Times, Thursday, June 8, 2023

Crosswords and code-breaking have a long history. The British government famously conducted a crossword contest to secretly screen for Bletchley Park recruits (they picked the top six solvers). U.S. intelligence similarly recruited William Lutwiniak — who would go on to become one of the most prolific crossword constructors of all time — based on his standing as one of the best cryptogram solvers in the country. He served as a cryptanalyst during World War II and for decades thereafter at the NSA.

Other constructors also worked in code-breaking and intelligence. Jay Spry, a constructor in the 1960s and 70s, translated Japanese codes during the war. Roberta Morse, who constructed the first rebus puzzle in the Times, served as a translator for the OSS in World War II. Among more recent constructors, Ed Salners had a career as a U.S. Navy Cryptologic Officer, and constructor Verna Suit worked at the NSA, where Lutwiniak, by then semi-retired, gave her advice on constructing. Verna's name anagrams to NSA VIRTUE, but she assured me that was just a coincidence.

With the encouragement of Jim Horne and David Steinberg, I've been researching scores of historic constructors by using genealogy techniques to locate photos and draft short bios. We've now got photos of nearly all 71 constructors in Jim's Most Prolific Authors page on XWord Info. Besides those constructors, I've also enjoyed researching other notables, like Charles Erlenkotter, the constructor of the first Times crossword; Mable Daggett, the first female Times constructor; and Jeremiah Farrell, constructor of the famed Clinton-Dole puzzle.

In addition to the legends, it's been enriching to research the everyday constructors from the past. Invariably, you learn something truly interesting. Archie Kreiling and Willard Jordan, for example, were constructors in the Farrar era who were inmates at the same prison. Martha DeWitt, a constructor from the 1960s to 90s, was a nurse who attended to servicemen injured in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The aforementioned Jay Spry was a cigar-chomping fixture in the Baltimore Sun newsroom whom David Simon included as a character in the HBO series "The Wire." And on and on.

If this sort of research interests you and you'd like to team up or compare notes, shoot me an email at flipkoski@comcast.net.

There's a lot going on here:

Four short entries hint at cryptogram letter substitutions.

I to O, A is E, D is T and S to R indicate that you should replace any circled Is with Os, As with Es, etc.

The four entries change from SACREDLY / DECIDE / GASMAN / MASSAGES to SECRETLY / DECODE / GERMAN / MESSAGES.

Those four new words hint at the inner workings of BLETCHLEY PARK, where WWII code-breakers worked furiously to decipher the German Enigma Machines.

Reminds me of a brilliant cryptogram puzzle that transformed ALAN TURING to HR HALDEMAN. I didn't connect today's concept as strongly, but I was fascinated by Flip's commentary. I'm so curious to figure out who the CIA is scouting out in the crossworld!

Flip Koski is one of the unsung heroes here at XWord Info.

We've been collecting biographical information about NYT constructors, and the vast majority of pre-Shortz bios and photos come from Flip's diligent research. He has dug through obits, contacted surviving relatives and colleagues, and scoured old newspaper articles and yearbooks.

Besides the constructors in Flip's notes above, he has uncovered:

• a 677-clue crossword constructor
• the first Schrödinger constructor
• a WWII Marine office wounded at Iwo Jima
• Maleska's "most appreciated constructor of them all"
• the president of the New Jersey League of Women Voters in the 1920s
• a talk-show host
• an Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist
• A minister who became a Times employee and $64,000 Question contestant
• a constructor inspired by alternate-side parking in NYC

Jeff Chen, David Steinberg, and I are very grateful for his amazing sleuthing.