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Crossword Innovators

Shortz Era constructor debut word counts sorted by count

Patrick Berry Manny Nosowsky Elizabeth C. Gorski Byron Walden David J. Kahn Joe DiPietro Brendan Emmett Quigley Rich Norris Randolph Ross Nancy Salomon Jeff Chen Frank Longo Cathy Allis David Steinberg Alan Arbesfeld Mark Diehl Peter A. Collins Erik Agard Matt Gaffney Harvey Estes Jim Page Paula Gamache Peter Gordon Fred Piscop Joe Krozel Patrick Merrell Bob Klahn Martin Ashwood-Smith Joel Fagliano Robert H. Wolfe Richard Silvestri Barry C. Silk Kevin G. Der

This table shows the number of new answer words introduced by each constructor.

Only Shortz Era constructors with at least 30 debut words are shown here.

Click any constructor name for the complete list of still-unique and since-reused words.

RankConstructorDebutsPuzzles
1.Patrick Berry1842227
2.Manny Nosowsky1613246
3.Elizabeth C. Gorski1514219
4.Byron Walden124698
5.David J. Kahn1232187
6.Joe DiPietro1221136
7.Brendan Emmett Quigley1152175
8.Rich Norris1104187
9.Randolph Ross1050115
10.Nancy Salomon908185
11.Jeff Chen814141
12.Frank Longo68669
13.Cathy Allis65784
14.David Steinberg635106
15.Alan Arbesfeld615122
16.Mark Diehl59266
17.Peter A. Collins572117
18.Erik Agard52774
19.Matt Gaffney52458
20.Harvey Estes522116
21.Jim Page50570
22.Paula Gamache50489
Peter Gordon504104
24.Fred Piscop502106
25.Joe Krozel49787
26.Patrick Merrell49391
27.Bob Klahn46560
28.Martin Ashwood-Smith45680
29.Joel Fagliano45463
30.Robert H. Wolfe43660
31.Richard Silvestri43084
32.Barry C. Silk40292
33.Kevin G. Der38242
34.Sam Ezersky38139
35.Nancy Nicholson Joline37948
36.Will Nediger36546
37.Brad Wilber35460
38.Zhouqin Burnikel34276
39.A. J. Santora33968
40.Trip Payne33843
41.Mike Nothnagel33350
42.Jeremy Newton32924
43.Lynn Lempel32798
44.Ross Trudeau31454
45.Matt Ginsberg31246
46.Patrick Blindauer30259
47.Bob Peoples29739
48.Ian Livengood29455
49.Peter Wentz29340
50.Bruce Haight29262
51.Sam Trabucco29126
52.David Quarfoot29041
53.Andrea Carla Michaels28880
54.Timothy Polin26355
55.Natan Last26036
56.Tom McCoy25335
57.Charles M. Deber25220
Michael Shteyman25251
59.Doug Peterson24451
60.Chuck Deodene24242
61.Eric Berlin23942
62.Samuel A. Donaldson23537
63.Tony Orbach23127
64.Gregory E. Paul230116
65.Randall J. Hartman22974
66.Alex Eaton-Salners22445
67.Victor Fleming22347
68.Robyn Weintraub22044
69.Caleb Madison21835
70.Sherry O. Blackard21653
71.Ryan McCarty21524
72.Henry Hook21125
Bryant White21129
74.John Guzzetta20338
75.Tim Croce20033
76.Ed Early19553
Frances Hansen19540
78.Finn Vigeland18721
79.David Levinson Wilk18226
80.Edward Sessa17944
81.Andy Kravis17825
82.John Farmer17633
Tracy Gray17634
Karen M. Tracey17632
85.Damon J. Gulczynski17545
86.Paolo Pasco17323
87.Dan Schoenholz17028
88.Gary Cee16340
89.Kameron Austin Collins16222
Julian Lim16226
Wayne Robert Williams16238
92.Sarah Keller15653
93.Trenton Charlson15237
94.Raymond Hamel15127
95.James Mulhern15025
96.Mary Lou Guizzo14929
97.Dana Motley14831
98.Michael Hawkins14724
Jacob Stulberg14734
100.joon pahk14525
101.Andrew Ries14326
102.Andrew Zhou14218
103.Ned White14125
104.Victor Barocas14018
105.Dean Niles13715
Lou Sabin13729
Matthew Stock13720
108.Richard Hughes13635
Ashish Vengsarkar13619
110.Lee Glickstein13425
111.Pete Muller13318
112.Tyler Hinman13122
Josh Knapp13124
114.Martin Schneider12712
115.Stephanie Spadaccini12636
116.Myles Callum12522
117.Brooke Husic12017
Fran Sabin12025
119.Richard Chisholm11932
120.David Woolf11817
121.Michael Ashley11511
Daniel A. Finan11515
123.Rand H. Burns11321
124.Jonathan Schmalzbach11231
125.Gerald R. Ferguson11022
Michael Torch11019
Dave Tuller11014
128.David Phillips10820
129.Christina Iverson10716
Craig Kasper10715
Lois Sidway10718
Jeffrey Wechsler10719
133.Kristian House10622
Evan Kalish10617
135.Alex K. Justin10314
Derrick Niederman1039
Allan E. Parrish10339
Bill Zais10315
139.David Kwong10222
Greg Staples10225
141.Nelson Hardy10011
Bruce Venzke10019
143.Gilbert H. Ludwig9818
144.Charles E. Gersch9717
Grant Thackray9713
146.Adam Aaronson9612
John Lieb9619
Sid Sivakumar9613
149.Kyle T. Dolan9517
150.Daniel C. Bryant949
Joe Deeney9416
152.Mel Rosen9314
Adam Wagner9314
154.Janet R. Bender9227
Con Pederson928
Adam G. Perl9230
157.Stella Zawistowski9020
158.Sidney L. Robbins8950
Carolyn W. Stewart8921
160.Oliver Hill8816
Caitlin Reid8815
162.Nancy Kavanaugh8726
Ruth B. Margolin8714
Stanley Newman8723
165.Ethan Cooper8615
Todd Gross8617
Nancy S. Ross8622
168.Kyle Mahowald8518
169.Kevan Choset8427
170.Adam Cohen8219
Francis Heaney8210
172.Jim Hyres8021
173.Tom Pepper7914
Thomas W. Schier7917
175.Adam Fromm788
Jules P. Markey7822
Todd McClary7812
Michael Vuolo7814
179.Ashton Anderson7714
Andrew Kingsley7719
181.Alex Vratsanos7618
Raymond C. Young768
183.Seth A. Abel7514
Emily Carroll7518
Merl Reagle757
Matthew Sewell7512
187.Karen Young Bonin7411
188.Christopher Hurt7311
189.Aimee Lucido7213
190.Kevin Christian7116
Ernie Furtado7112
192.Derek Bowman7010
Mark Feldman7011
Jason Flinn7014
Brandon Koppy7011
Ben Tausig709
197.Milo Beckman6910
Roy Leban6913
199.Kelsey Blakley688
Michael S. Maurer6819
201.Amanda Chung6713
Jake Halperin679
Karl Ni6713
204.Gareth Bain6615
Michael Lieberman6611
206.Kelly Clark6515
207.Freddie Cheng6413
John R. Conrad6411
209.Norman S. Wizer6314
210.Peter Abide618
Bernice Gordon6121
David Liben-Nowell6112
Wyna Liu617
Daniel Raymon6115
215.Howard Barkin6012
Michael Blake6014
217.Levi Denham5910
Laura Taylor Kinnel596
Corey Rubin598
220.Daniel Larsen5811
Xan Vongsathorn589
John Wolting5814
Yacob Yonas5811
224.George Barany5710
Gene Newman5715
226.Don Gagliardo5612
Alan Olschwang5610
228.William I. Johnston5515
Patrick Jordan5516
Pamela Amick Klawitter557
Mike Shenk557
Susan Harrington Smith5510
Brian Thomas5513
234.Alex Bajcz547
Yaakov Bendavid546
Robert Dillman5416
John Lampkin5411
238.Mike Buckley5313
Shannon Burns5310
Jim Hilger5315
241.Holden Baker5216
Randy Sowell5222
243.Christopher Adams518
Kate Hawkins5111
Robert Malinow519
Sophia Maymudes519
Kurt Mueller517
Stu Ockman5113
249.Sam Buchbinder5010
Susan Gelfand5017
251.Mark Danna486
Chris A. McGlothlin487
Amanda Rafkin4810
254.Evan Birnholz478
Jim Peredo479
Michael Sharp477
Norma Steinberg4717
258.Katie Hale466
Robert W. Harris467
Roland Huget4612
Rich Proulx468
Mark Elliot Skolsky4613
Nam Jin Yoon469
264.Dan Feyer454
Lewis Rothlein458
266.Olivia Mitra Framke4411
James R. Leeds448
Bob Sefick448
269.Neville Fogarty4312
John Greenman4312
Paul Hunsberger438
Mel Taub4310
John Westwig436
274.William S. Cotter427
Joseph Greenbaum425
Elizabeth A. Long4213
Nancy Stark427
278.Andrew Chaikin414
Evan Mahnken4111
280.Barbara Lin409
Daniel Mauer406
Lloyd E. Pollet403
283.Daniel Kantor3913
Alfio Micci3911
Arthur S. Verdesca3914
Leonard Williams398
287.Ella Dershowitz387
Trent H. Evans389
Jonah Kagan386
Sharon Klahn383
Gary J. Whitehead3815
292.Diane C. Baldwin378
Alex Boisvert3711
294.Bill Ballard3610
Caleb Emmons366
Steve Kahn367
Kevin McCann367
Stephen McCarthy364
Hal Moore369
Jean O'Conor367
David Poole369
Simeon Seigel365
Daniel R. Stark3616
Bill Thompson369
Alan Jay Weiss367
306.David Distenfeld355
Chase Dittrich357
Jeremy Horwitz357
Ellen Leuschner359
310.Peter Broda343
James E. Buell346
Gail Grabowski3413
Herre Schouwerwou348
Zoe Wheeler346
Michael Wiesenberg345
Leslie Young346
317.Marjorie Berg339
Scott Earl334
Nick Grivas339
Hemant Mehta333
David Pringle339
Margaret Seikel337
Kathy Wienberg338
324.Michael J. Doran327
Maxwell H. D. Johnson Jr.323
David Ainslie Macleod327
John Scott Marrone327
Kurt Mengel3210
Claire Rimkus327
Gary Steinmehl329
331.Ricky Cruz316
Alan DerKazarian315
John Dunn318
Pawel Fludzinski317
R. Max Hopkins313
Norma Johnson317
Jay Kaskel3112
338.Rebecca Goldstein307
Jessie Trudeau305
Luke Vaughn304