Note: this is not what constructors have been paid. It's what they would have been paid if today's prices had been offered throughout their career.
There are several problems with this calculation: only puzzles from the Shortz Era are considered here (back to 1993), Variety contributions (acrostic, diagramless, cryptic, etc.) are not included, and the payment amounts have varied over time. For example, the payment for daily puzzles increased from $200 to $300 on January 20, 2014, but the calculations here assume each daily is worth $500.
Payments for collaboration puzzles are assumed to be split evenly among the listed constructors.
Only constructors valued at least $4,000 are displayed here.
Daily: | $500 |
Sunday: | $1,500 |
As of January 1, 2017, the New York Times started paying higher rates for constructors who had ten or more previously published NYT puzzles. Daily pay went from $300 to $360, and Sunday from $1,000 to $1,200. These changes are not reflected in the calculations below.
Rank | Name | Count | Solo | Collab | Sun. | Value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Patrick Berry | 227 | 225 | 2 | 74 | $187,000 |
2. | Elizabeth C. Gorski | 219 | 219 | 0 | 67 | $176,500 |
3. | Manny Nosowsky | 246 | 244 | 2 | 29 | $151,000 |
4. | David J. Kahn | 187 | 182 | 5 | 44 | $134,250 |
5. | Brendan Emmett Quigley | 172 | 155 | 17 | 38 | $118,750 |
6. | Rich Norris | 186 | 186 | 0 | 18 | $111,000 |
7. | Randolph Ross | 114 | 114 | 0 | 50 | $107,000 |
8. | Joe DiPietro | 132 | 131 | 1 | 29 | $94,750 |
9. | Nancy Salomon | 185 | 69 | 116 | 36 | $85,750 |
10. | Alan Arbesfeld | 120 | 120 | 0 | 23 | $83,000 |
11. | Cathy Allis | 84 | 84 | 0 | 40 | $82,000 |
12. | Richard Silvestri | 84 | 84 | 0 | 26 | $68,000 |
13. | Patrick Merrell | 91 | 89 | 2 | 22 | $67,000 |
Fred Piscop | 106 | 106 | 0 | 14 | $67,000 | |
15. | Jeff Chen | 121 | 43 | 78 | 30 | $61,000 |
16. | Peter A. Collins | 114 | 101 | 13 | 7 | $60,250 |
Harvey Estes | 116 | 71 | 45 | 20 | $60,250 | |
18. | Peter Gordon | 100 | 100 | 0 | 8 | $58,000 |
Gregory E. Paul | 116 | 116 | 0 | 0 | $58,000 | |
20. | Nancy Nicholson Joline | 48 | 47 | 1 | 34 | $57,250 |
21. | Byron Walden | 93 | 78 | 15 | 13 | $53,250 |
22. | Paula Gamache | 89 | 85 | 4 | 8 | $51,000 |
23. | David Steinberg | 98 | 78 | 20 | 8 | $50,500 |
24. | Lynn Lempel | 93 | 91 | 2 | 4 | $50,000 |
25. | Frank Longo | 69 | 67 | 2 | 15 | $49,000 |
26. | Barry C. Silk | 92 | 86 | 6 | 3 | $47,000 |
27. | Joel Fagliano | 63 | 57 | 6 | 17 | $46,000 |
28. | Jim Page | 70 | 70 | 0 | 10 | $45,000 |
29. | Joe Krozel | 87 | 72 | 15 | 4 | $43,250 |
30. | Matt Gaffney | 58 | 57 | 1 | 14 | $42,750 |
31. | Robert H. Wolfe | 60 | 60 | 0 | 11 | $41,000 |
32. | A. J. Santora | 68 | 68 | 0 | 5 | $39,000 |
33. | Bob Klahn | 60 | 50 | 10 | 13 | $38,500 |
34. | Martin Ashwood-Smith | 79 | 69 | 10 | 0 | $37,000 |
Frances Hansen | 40 | 40 | 0 | 17 | $37,000 | |
Randall J. Hartman | 74 | 74 | 0 | 0 | $37,000 | |
37. | Matt Ginsberg | 46 | 39 | 7 | 17 | $35,750 |
38. | Zhouqin Burnikel | 70 | 50 | 20 | 6 | $34,500 |
Tom McCoy | 33 | 33 | 0 | 18 | $34,500 | |
40. | Eric Berlin | 42 | 39 | 3 | 14 | $33,750 |
41. | Patrick Blindauer | 59 | 37 | 22 | 14 | $33,500 |
42. | Timothy Polin | 53 | 51 | 2 | 7 | $33,000 |
43. | Mark Diehl | 66 | 63 | 3 | 1 | $32,750 |
44. | Erik Agard | 68 | 32 | 36 | 11 | $32,583 |
45. | Ian Livengood | 55 | 51 | 4 | 6 | $32,500 |
46. | Kevin G. Der | 41 | 38 | 3 | 12 | $31,250 |
47. | Will Nediger | 35 | 31 | 4 | 15 | $31,000 |
48. | Trip Payne | 42 | 41 | 1 | 10 | $30,750 |
49. | Andrea Carla Michaels | 73 | 30 | 43 | 7 | $29,250 |
50. | Charles M. Deber | 20 | 20 | 0 | 19 | $29,000 |
51. | Bruce Haight | 54 | 48 | 6 | 3 | $28,500 |
52. | Ed Early | 53 | 52 | 1 | 1 | $26,750 |
Mike Nothnagel | 50 | 45 | 5 | 4 | $26,750 | |
54. | Sherry O. Blackard | 53 | 48 | 5 | 1 | $26,250 |
55. | Michael Shteyman | 51 | 45 | 6 | 3 | $26,000 |
56. | Sarah Keller | 53 | 50 | 3 | 0 | $25,750 |
57. | Edward Sessa | 43 | 43 | 0 | 4 | $25,500 |
58. | Caleb Madison | 35 | 32 | 3 | 9 | $25,250 |
59. | Sidney L. Robbins | 50 | 50 | 0 | 0 | $25,000 |
60. | Wayne Robert Williams | 38 | 38 | 0 | 4 | $23,000 |
61. | Alex Eaton-Salners | 40 | 37 | 3 | 3 | $22,250 |
62. | Dan Schoenholz | 24 | 24 | 0 | 10 | $22,000 |
Ross Trudeau | 38 | 28 | 10 | 6 | $22,000 | |
64. | Samuel A. Donaldson | 34 | 25 | 9 | 8 | $21,750 |
Natan Last | 33 | 24 | 9 | 8 | $21,750 | |
66. | Victor Fleming | 46 | 22 | 24 | 7 | $21,500 |
Damon J. Gulczynski | 41 | 41 | 0 | 1 | $21,500 | |
Jeremy Newton | 20 | 18 | 2 | 13 | $21,500 | |
69. | Gary Cee | 40 | 40 | 0 | 1 | $21,000 |
Chuck Deodene | 42 | 42 | 0 | 0 | $21,000 | |
71. | Brad Wilber | 56 | 27 | 29 | 0 | $20,750 |
72. | Peter Wentz | 37 | 37 | 0 | 2 | $20,500 |
73. | Tony Orbach | 27 | 12 | 15 | 17 | $20,250 |
74. | David Levinson Wilk | 26 | 26 | 0 | 7 | $20,000 |
75. | Tracy Gray | 31 | 23 | 8 | 8 | $19,500 |
Richard Hughes | 35 | 35 | 0 | 2 | $19,500 | |
Allan E. Parrish | 39 | 39 | 0 | 0 | $19,500 | |
Bob Peoples | 39 | 33 | 6 | 3 | $19,500 | |
Bryant White | 29 | 29 | 0 | 5 | $19,500 | |
80. | David Quarfoot | 41 | 34 | 7 | 1 | $19,250 |
81. | Jacob Stulberg | 32 | 32 | 0 | 3 | $19,000 |
82. | Sam Ezersky | 33 | 24 | 9 | 5 | $18,750 |
83. | John Farmer | 33 | 33 | 0 | 2 | $18,500 |
Henry Hook | 25 | 25 | 0 | 6 | $18,500 | |
85. | Doug Peterson | 47 | 19 | 28 | 3 | $18,000 |
Stephanie Spadaccini | 36 | 36 | 0 | 0 | $18,000 | |
87. | Dana Motley | 31 | 31 | 0 | 2 | $17,500 |
Sam Trabucco | 25 | 25 | 0 | 5 | $17,500 | |
89. | Richard Chisholm | 32 | 32 | 0 | 1 | $17,000 |
90. | Daniel A. Finan | 15 | 15 | 0 | 9 | $16,500 |
Greg Staples | 25 | 25 | 0 | 4 | $16,500 | |
Finn Vigeland | 18 | 14 | 4 | 9 | $16,500 | |
Robyn Weintraub | 33 | 33 | 0 | 0 | $16,500 | |
94. | Tim Croce | 33 | 32 | 1 | 0 | $16,250 |
Raymond Hamel | 27 | 26 | 1 | 3 | $16,250 | |
Jonathan Schmalzbach | 31 | 30 | 1 | 1 | $16,250 | |
97. | Adam G. Perl | 30 | 30 | 0 | 1 | $16,000 |
Karen M. Tracey | 32 | 32 | 0 | 0 | $16,000 | |
99. | John Guzzetta | 34 | 26 | 8 | 1 | $15,500 |
Dean Niles | 15 | 15 | 0 | 8 | $15,500 | |
101. | Trenton Charlson | 26 | 25 | 1 | 2 | $14,750 |
Andrew Ries | 24 | 23 | 1 | 3 | $14,750 | |
Bill Zais | 15 | 10 | 5 | 10 | $14,750 | |
104. | Janet R. Bender | 27 | 27 | 0 | 1 | $14,500 |
105. | Josh Knapp | 24 | 24 | 0 | 2 | $14,000 |
Julian Lim | 24 | 24 | 0 | 2 | $14,000 | |
107. | Kevan Choset | 27 | 24 | 3 | 2 | $13,750 |
joon pahk | 25 | 18 | 7 | 4 | $13,750 | |
109. | Nancy Kavanaugh | 26 | 26 | 0 | 0 | $13,000 |
Nancy S. Ross | 22 | 22 | 0 | 2 | $13,000 | |
111. | Ned White | 25 | 24 | 1 | 1 | $12,750 |
112. | Seth A. Abel | 13 | 13 | 0 | 6 | $12,500 |
Michael Ashley | 11 | 11 | 0 | 7 | $12,500 | |
Stanley Newman | 23 | 23 | 0 | 1 | $12,500 | |
Lou Sabin | 29 | 3 | 26 | 7 | $12,500 | |
Michael Torch | 19 | 19 | 0 | 3 | $12,500 | |
Ashish Vengsarkar | 15 | 11 | 4 | 7 | $12,500 | |
118. | Nelson Hardy | 11 | 10 | 1 | 7 | $12,250 |
David Kwong | 21 | 16 | 5 | 4 | $12,250 | |
120. | Myles Callum | 22 | 22 | 0 | 1 | $12,000 |
Con Pederson | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8 | $12,000 | |
Andrew Zhou | 18 | 18 | 0 | 3 | $12,000 | |
123. | Tyler Hinman | 22 | 17 | 5 | 2 | $11,750 |
Michael S. Maurer | 19 | 16 | 3 | 3 | $11,750 | |
Mel Rosen | 14 | 13 | 1 | 5 | $11,750 | |
126. | Mary Lou Guizzo | 25 | 11 | 14 | 3 | $11,500 |
127. | Carolyn W. Stewart | 21 | 20 | 1 | 1 | $11,250 |
128. | Victor Barocas | 16 | 6 | 10 | 8 | $11,000 |
Gerald R. Ferguson | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | $11,000 | |
Kristian House | 20 | 20 | 0 | 1 | $11,000 | |
Alex K. Justin | 14 | 14 | 0 | 4 | $11,000 | |
Ruth B. Margolin | 12 | 12 | 0 | 5 | $11,000 | |
Martin Schneider | 12 | 12 | 0 | 5 | $11,000 | |
Randy Sowell | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | $11,000 | |
135. | Todd Gross | 17 | 12 | 5 | 4 | $10,750 |
Jim Hyres | 21 | 20 | 1 | 1 | $10,750 | |
Andy Kravis | 22 | 7 | 15 | 5 | $10,750 | |
Kyle Mahowald | 18 | 17 | 1 | 2 | $10,750 | |
Pete Muller | 18 | 11 | 7 | 6 | $10,750 | |
David Phillips | 20 | 19 | 1 | 1 | $10,750 | |
141. | Daniel C. Bryant | 9 | 9 | 0 | 6 | $10,500 |
Rand H. Burns | 21 | 21 | 0 | 0 | $10,500 | |
Jules P. Markey | 21 | 21 | 0 | 0 | $10,500 | |
James Mulhern | 24 | 18 | 6 | 0 | $10,500 | |
Derrick Niederman | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | $10,500 | |
David Woolf | 17 | 17 | 0 | 2 | $10,500 | |
147. | Paolo Pasco | 20 | 13 | 7 | 2 | $10,250 |
Alex Vratsanos | 17 | 14 | 3 | 3 | $10,250 | |
149. | Lee Glickstein | 25 | 3 | 22 | 6 | $10,000 |
Bernice Gordon | 21 | 19 | 2 | 0 | $10,000 | |
Oliver Hill | 16 | 14 | 2 | 3 | $10,000 | |
152. | Adam Cohen | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | $9,500 |
Andrew Kingsley | 19 | 15 | 4 | 1 | $9,500 | |
Norma Steinberg | 17 | 17 | 0 | 1 | $9,500 | |
Jeffrey Wechsler | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | $9,500 | |
156. | Craig Kasper | 15 | 10 | 5 | 4 | $9,250 |
Dave Tuller | 14 | 11 | 3 | 3 | $9,250 | |
158. | Yaakov Bendavid | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 | $9,000 |
Kelsey Blakley | 8 | 8 | 0 | 5 | $9,000 | |
Ernie Furtado | 12 | 12 | 0 | 3 | $9,000 | |
Gilbert H. Ludwig | 18 | 18 | 0 | 0 | $9,000 | |
Lois Sidway | 18 | 18 | 0 | 0 | $9,000 | |
Norman S. Wizer | 14 | 14 | 0 | 2 | $9,000 | |
164. | Michael Hawkins | 20 | 13 | 7 | 1 | $8,750 |
Fran Sabin | 25 | 0 | 25 | 5 | $8,750 | |
166. | Karen Young Bonin | 11 | 11 | 0 | 3 | $8,500 |
Mark Feldman | 11 | 11 | 0 | 3 | $8,500 | |
Susan Gelfand | 17 | 17 | 0 | 0 | $8,500 | |
Charles E. Gersch | 17 | 17 | 0 | 0 | $8,500 | |
Jim Hilger | 15 | 15 | 0 | 1 | $8,500 | |
Roy Leban | 13 | 13 | 0 | 2 | $8,500 | |
Robert Malinow | 9 | 9 | 0 | 4 | $8,500 | |
Thomas W. Schier | 17 | 17 | 0 | 0 | $8,500 | |
174. | Emily Carroll | 13 | 12 | 1 | 2 | $8,250 |
Ryan McCarty | 17 | 16 | 1 | 0 | $8,250 | |
176. | Robert Dillman | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | $8,000 |
Adam Fromm | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4 | $8,000 | |
Patrick Jordan | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | $8,000 | |
Daniel Raymon | 14 | 14 | 0 | 1 | $8,000 | |
Daniel R. Stark | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | $8,000 | |
Ben Tausig | 9 | 7 | 2 | 5 | $8,000 | |
Arthur S. Verdesca | 14 | 14 | 0 | 1 | $8,000 | |
John Wolting | 14 | 14 | 0 | 1 | $8,000 | |
184. | Holden Baker | 16 | 14 | 2 | 0 | $7,500 |
Kelly Clark | 15 | 14 | 1 | 1 | $7,500 | |
Ethan Cooper | 15 | 13 | 2 | 1 | $7,500 | |
Kyle T. Dolan | 13 | 13 | 0 | 1 | $7,500 | |
Robert W. Harris | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | $7,500 | |
William I. Johnston | 15 | 15 | 0 | 0 | $7,500 | |
Evan Kalish | 15 | 13 | 2 | 1 | $7,500 | |
Pamela Amick Klawitter | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | $7,500 | |
Elizabeth A. Long | 13 | 13 | 0 | 1 | $7,500 | |
Gene Newman | 15 | 15 | 0 | 0 | $7,500 | |
Merl Reagle | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | $7,500 | |
Matthew Sewell | 12 | 10 | 2 | 2 | $7,500 | |
Gary J. Whitehead | 15 | 15 | 0 | 0 | $7,500 | |
197. | Caitlin Reid | 11 | 8 | 3 | 3 | $7,250 |
198. | Gareth Bain | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | $7,000 |
Kameron Austin Collins | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | $7,000 | |
Jason Flinn | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | $7,000 | |
Olivia Mitra Framke | 8 | 8 | 0 | 3 | $7,000 | |
John Greenman | 12 | 12 | 0 | 1 | $7,000 | |
Frederick J. Healy | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | $7,000 | |
John Lampkin | 10 | 10 | 0 | 2 | $7,000 | |
John Lieb | 17 | 11 | 6 | 0 | $7,000 | |
John Underwood | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | $7,000 | |
Michael Vuolo | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | $7,000 | |
208. | Francis Heaney | 10 | 7 | 3 | 3 | $6,750 |
Christopher Hurt | 11 | 10 | 1 | 2 | $6,750 | |
Todd McClary | 12 | 11 | 1 | 1 | $6,750 | |
211. | Mike Buckley | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | $6,500 |
Alfio Micci | 11 | 11 | 0 | 1 | $6,500 | |
Stu Ockman | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | $6,500 | |
Jim Peredo | 9 | 9 | 0 | 2 | $6,500 | |
Mark Elliot Skolsky | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | $6,500 | |
Xan Vongsathorn | 9 | 9 | 0 | 2 | $6,500 | |
217. | Howard Barkin | 10 | 8 | 2 | 2 | $6,000 |
Andrew Chaikin | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | $6,000 | |
Freddie Cheng | 10 | 10 | 0 | 1 | $6,000 | |
Roland Huget | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | $6,000 | |
Alan Olschwang | 10 | 10 | 0 | 1 | $6,000 | |
Grant Thackray | 8 | 8 | 0 | 2 | $6,000 | |
Bruce Venzke | 19 | 1 | 18 | 2 | $6,000 | |
Stella Zawistowski | 18 | 4 | 14 | 1 | $6,000 | |
Robert Zimmerman | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | $6,000 | |
226. | Neville Fogarty | 12 | 9 | 3 | 1 | $5,750 |
227. | Sheldon Benardo | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | $5,500 |
John R. Conrad | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | $5,500 | |
Gail Grabowski | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | $5,500 | |
David Liben-Nowell | 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 | $5,500 | |
Kurt Mueller | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | $5,500 | |
Mike Shenk | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | $5,500 | |
233. | Peter Abide | 8 | 7 | 1 | 2 | $5,250 |
234. | Alex Bajcz | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | $5,000 |
Diane C. Baldwin | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | |
Bill Ballard | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | $5,000 | |
Alex Boisvert | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | $5,000 | |
Derek Bowman | 10 | 6 | 4 | 1 | $5,000 | |
Shannon Burns | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | $5,000 | |
Mark Danna | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | $5,000 | |
Joe Deeney | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | $5,000 | |
Paul Hunsberger | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | |
Laura Taylor Kinnel | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | $5,000 | |
James R. Leeds | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | |
Eileen Lexau | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | $5,000 | |
Susan Harrington Smith | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | $5,000 | |
Mel Taub | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | $5,000 | |
Brian Thomas | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | $5,000 | |
Leonard Williams | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | $5,000 | |
250. | Milo Beckman | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | $4,750 |
Kevin Christian | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | $4,750 | |
Evan Mahnken | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | $4,750 | |
Tom Pepper | 11 | 6 | 5 | 1 | $4,750 | |
254. | Michael Blake | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | $4,500 |
Joel Davajan | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | $4,500 | |
Levi Denham | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | $4,500 | |
Alan DerKazarian | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | $4,500 | |
Michael J. Doran | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | $4,500 | |
Don Gagliardo | 12 | 0 | 12 | 3 | $4,500 | |
R. Max Hopkins | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | $4,500 | |
Christina Houlihan Kelly | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | $4,500 | |
Chris A. McGlothlin | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | $4,500 | |
Jean O'Conor | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | $4,500 | |
Lloyd E. Pollet | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | $4,500 | |
David Pringle | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | $4,500 | |
Gary Steinmehl | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | $4,500 | |
Bill Thompson | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | $4,500 | |
Stanley B. Whitten | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | $4,500 | |
Kathy Wienberg | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | $4,500 | |
Joy L. Wouk | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | $4,500 | |
271. | Ashton Anderson | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | $4,250 |
John Dunn | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | $4,250 | |
Pawel Fludzinski | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | $4,250 | |
Nick Grivas | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | $4,250 | |
Daniel Kantor | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | $4,250 | |
David Poole | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | $4,250 | |
277. | Evan Birnholz | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 |
Lisa Bunker | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | $4,000 | |
Bette Sue Cohen | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | $4,000 | |
Caleb Emmons | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | $4,000 | |
Greg Johnson | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Betty Jorgensen | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Steve Kahn | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | $4,000 | |
Daniel Larsen | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Hal Moore | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | $4,000 | |
Christopher Page | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Glenton Petgrave | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Janice M. Putney | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Corey Rubin | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Herre Schouwerwou | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Bob Sefick | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 | |
Lee Taylor | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | $4,000 | |
Raymond C. Young | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | $4,000 |