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Least fresh constructors in the Modern Era

Freshness Factor™ rewards grids with unique or unusual words, and downgrades grids with many common entries. Constructors here are listed by their average freshness. Sunday and Rebus puzzles are excluded from these calculations. Constructors need at least 10 qualifying crosswords.

This is not a measurement of crossword quality. Many of the most memorable NYT puzzles have low Freshness scores.

Sidney L. Robbins
Sidney L. Robbins
Kurt Mengel
Kurt Mengel
Gregory E. Paul
Gregory E. Paul
Randall J. Hartman
Randall J. Hartman
Robert Dillman
Robert Dillman
Adam G. Perl
Adam G. Perl
John Greenman
John Greenman
RankNameAvg. FreshnessStalest grid
1.Sidney L. Robbins4.3Monday, November 29, 1993
2.Kurt Mengel5.2Monday, January 12, 2004
3.Gregory E. Paul5.2Tuesday, September 13, 1994
4.Randall J. Hartman5.4Monday, November 7, 1994
5.Robert Dillman8.8Monday, February 9, 1998
6.Adam G. Perl9.5Monday, December 28, 1998
7.John Greenman9.7Wednesday, February 16, 1994
8.Gail Grabowski10.1Monday, November 18, 2002
9.Norma Steinberg10.3Wednesday, December 8, 1993
10.Nancy Kavanaugh11.6Monday, May 3, 1999
11.Stephanie Spadaccini13.2Tuesday, March 22, 1994
12.Janet R. Bender13.4Monday, January 31, 1994
13.Sheldon Benardo13.8Monday, July 6, 1998
14.Robert Zimmerman14.0Tuesday, February 1, 1994
15.Sarah Keller14.8Monday, October 2, 2000
16.Daniel Kantor15.2Tuesday, August 7, 2007
17.Randy Sowell15.8Thursday, April 28, 1994
18.Carolyn W. Stewart16.1Tuesday, December 26, 2006
19.Jonathan Schmalzbach16.3Tuesday, February 15, 1994
20.Andrea Carla Michaels16.5Monday, June 12, 2000
21.Lynn Lempel17.9Monday, August 19, 2002
22.Richard Silvestri18.0Thursday, December 2, 1993
23.Arthur S. Verdesca18.2Wednesday, June 22, 1994
24.Nancy S. Ross18.8Wednesday, November 24, 1993
25.Bill Ballard18.8Tuesday, February 24, 1998
26.Tom McCoy19.3Thursday, November 14, 2013
27.Richard Hughes20.3Tuesday, November 8, 1994
28.Peter Gordon20.6Monday, December 6, 1993
29.Greg Staples21.2Wednesday, November 3, 1999
30.Michael Blake21.8Monday, January 28, 2008
31.Patrick Jordan22.0Tuesday, March 19, 1996
32.Jay Kaskel22.8Wednesday, April 9, 2008
33.Nancy Salomon23.4Tuesday, September 23, 1997
34.Richard Chisholm24.2Monday, October 12, 1998
35.Holden Baker24.3Monday, November 17, 1997
36.Stanley Newman25.3Wednesday, January 19, 1994
37.Roy Leban25.9Monday, September 16, 2002
38.Mel Taub26.3Thursday, May 5, 1994
39.Jules P. Markey26.5Thursday, May 10, 2012
40.Fred Piscop27.0Monday, November 22, 1993
41.Mark Elliot Skolsky27.4Tuesday, January 30, 1996
42.Lee Glickstein28.1Thursday, March 18, 2004
43.Oliver Hill28.6Tuesday, October 2, 2007
44.Kelly Clark28.7Wednesday, October 29, 1997
45.Kevin Christian29.3Wednesday, May 22, 2013
46.Bernice Gordon29.3Monday, April 25, 1994
47.Freddie Cheng29.8Monday, July 12, 2010
48.Kevan Choset30.1Thursday, May 6, 2004
49.Gene Newman30.3Wednesday, March 20, 1996
50.Ethan Cooper30.5Monday, May 17, 1999
51.Michael S. Maurer30.5Friday, May 19, 1995
52.Eric Bornstein30.6Monday, August 3, 2020
53.Ed Early30.9Thursday, July 7, 1994
54.Elizabeth A. Long31.1Monday, July 16, 2007
55.Cathy Allis31.2Wednesday, March 23, 1994
56.Dan Schoenholz31.4Tuesday, February 12, 2013
57.Trent H. Evans31.7Monday, September 3, 2018
58.Norman S. Wizer32.0Friday, December 31, 1993
59.Susan Gelfand32.3Monday, November 3, 2008
60.Alan Arbesfeld32.5Monday, September 18, 1995
61.Victor Barocas32.7Wednesday, February 9, 2011
62.Neville Fogarty33.0Thursday, May 3, 2012
63.Michael Torch33.1Tuesday, December 23, 2003
64.Lou Sabin33.1Wednesday, May 4, 1994
65.Gary Cee33.3Thursday, May 28, 2009
66.Gareth Bain34.2Wednesday, April 6, 2011
67.Zhouqin Burnikel34.5Tuesday, November 13, 2012
68.Patrick Blindauer34.6Thursday, July 21, 2005
69.Amanda Chung34.8Tuesday, July 17, 2018
70.Karl Ni34.8Tuesday, July 17, 2018
71.Frances Hansen35.4Wednesday, March 15, 1995
72.Jacob Stulberg36.6Wednesday, December 25, 2013
73.Fran Sabin36.7Wednesday, October 5, 1994
74.Wayne Robert Williams37.2Saturday, April 30, 1994
75.John Underwood37.3Thursday, May 23, 2002
76.Allan E. Parrish37.8Monday, July 1, 2002
77.Michael Vuolo37.9Thursday, July 8, 1999
78.Lois Sidway38.5Tuesday, November 23, 1993
79.David Kwong38.7Saturday, April 1, 2006
80.Evan Kalish38.9Monday, July 2, 2018
81.Tracy Gray38.9Wednesday, November 3, 2010
82.Bruce Venzke39.8Thursday, August 26, 2004
83.Bruce Haight41.0Thursday, January 3, 2013
84.Emily Carroll41.5Monday, August 22, 2016
85.Raymond Hamel41.6Saturday, January 22, 1994
86.Jeffrey Wechsler41.6Tuesday, March 3, 2009
87.Michael Lieberman41.7Monday, March 1, 2021
88.Rebecca Goldstein41.7Monday, February 7, 2022
89.Mike Buckley42.2Monday, August 17, 2009
90.Ross Trudeau42.2Thursday, February 9, 2017
91.Jim Hilger42.5Thursday, May 20, 2010
92.Patrick Merrell42.9Tuesday, July 10, 2001
93.Edward Sessa43.0Monday, September 10, 2007
94.Harvey Estes43.1Wednesday, December 29, 1993
95.Daniel Raymon43.2Monday, October 20, 2008
96.Elizabeth C. Gorski43.4Monday, July 31, 1995
97.Kyle Mahowald44.1Monday, March 22, 2004
98.Stella Zawistowski44.4Thursday, August 26, 2004
99.Ian Livengood44.7Monday, April 12, 2010
100.Eileen Lexau44.9Wednesday, March 30, 1994
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