She says there’s a woman-focused crossword publication, The Inkubator, publishes twice-monthly crossword puzzles by women - “cis women, trans women, and woman-aligned constructors.” The pandemic spawned new crossword constructors Pay attention to the language around you. Her advice to those wanting to get into the field? Solve a lot of puzzles from different sources, not just in the Times. “The puzzles seem to find a way to seep into everything I do,” she said.

Lucido’s third book, as yet untitled, will be her first to include puzzles. She has often collaborated with longtime friend Ella Dershowitz, coming up with puzzles “that are so much cooler than either of us could do on our own.” Lucido was recently able to quit her day job, and focus on puzzles and authoring books for middle-schoolers. She was offered opportunities, as well as mentors to guide her. When Lucido came onto the crossword scene, there was a growing movement to include more women in a field that had, until then, been dominated by older white men. Willie Davis of Lincoln Rec Center honored as ‘Black Hero of Chinatown’ Lucido’s puzzles have been published not only in the daily New York Times, but also in The New Yorker, Zynga’s Crosswords With Friends and American Values Crossword Puzzles, an offshoot of The Onion. She estimates she’s constructed between 150-200 puzzles over the years, averaging about 30 a year. Lucido has been building crossword puzzles for 11 years, since her sophomore year of college. New Berkeley resident and veteran constructor Aimee Lucido had a Sunday grid accepted in October last year, but it has not yet been scheduled.

Wagner is not the only crossword constructor living in the East Bay to have had a crossword puzzle accepted for the Sunday New York Times. She’s seen here with other constructors (l tor) Adam Wagner, Rich Proulx and Kate Hawkins. Berkeley crossword maven has advice for budding constructors Aimee Lucido, far right, says she constructs about 30 crosswords a year. Exhibiting the sort of wordplay humor that often defines crossword creators, Adam says he delivered one baby - and 20,000 Bay bees. Wagner is also a member of the Oakland Beekeepers Club, and his hive and bees were delivered around the same time as the baby was born and the Sunday puzzle was published. Baby debuted first, and Wagner has been solving daily puzzles aloud with son Miko every night since. “For nine months, I wondered which would arrive into the world first,” he said. Wagner found out his Sunday puzzle was accepted the same week his wife and he discovered they were expecting their first baby.

Wagner and his wife moved to Oakland from Los Angeles at the beginning of the pandemic to be closer to family in the Bay Area. His hive was delivered around the same time he published his first crossword in the Sunday New York Times, and his first baby was born. He is now a senior copywriter for a San Francisco ad agency, which also allows him to use both sides of his brain, including his “mathiness,” which he appreciates.Īs well as being a crossword constructor, Adam Wagner is a beekeeper. In addition to his crossword pursuits, Wagner has worked on comedy YouTube videos and been a writer for the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show.

The Sunday puzzle is different, he said - an experience that Wagner likens to “playing a sports game under the lights.” Wagner has had a total of three puzzles published in the Times over a brief period of two months, but only one on Sunday. New York Times Sunday crossword constructors are paid $1,500 for their first or second puzzles $2,250 for their third or more dailies pay $500/$750, following the formula. The paper receives more than 200 puzzle submissions each week, according to Ezersky. The Sunday crossword is typically intended to be as difficult as a Thursday puzzle. The Sunday puzzle is larger than the others - the standard daily crossword is 15 squares × 15 squares, while the Sunday crossword measures 21 squares × 21 squares. There is a myth that the Sunday puzzle is the most difficult of the week, but in fact the game becomes increasingly difficult throughout the week, with the easiest puzzle on Monday and the most difficult puzzle on Saturday.

New york times crosswords