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National Puzzlers' League
The National Puzzlers' League (NPL) is a nonprofit organization focused on puzzle, puzzling, primarily in the realm of word play and word games. Founded in 1883, it is the oldest puzzlers' organization in the world. It originally hosted semiannual conventions in February and September of each year, but conventions are now held annually, in July. History On July 4, 1883, twenty-eight word puzzlers, mostly young men, met at Pythagoras Hall in New York City and founded the Eastern Puzzlers' League; they then celebrated the event by paying a penny each to walk across the newly dedicated Brooklyn Bridge. Renamed the National Puzzlers' League in 1920, the organization has been in continuous existence ever since that first meeting and is the oldest puzzlers' organization in the world. The league's official publication began as ''The Eastern Enigma''. It originally contained few, if any, puzzles, and instead reported on business transacted at puzzlers' conventions, presented verses and skit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puzzle
A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle. There are different genres of puzzles, such as crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, number puzzles, relational puzzles, and logic puzzles. The academic study of puzzles is called enigmatology. Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious Mathematical problem, mathematical or logical problems. In such cases, their solution may be a significant contribution to mathematical research. Etymology The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' dates the word ''puzzle'' (as a verb) to the end of the 16th century. Its earliest use documented in the ''OED'' was in a book titled ''The Voyage of Robert Dudley (explorer), Robert Dudley...to the West Indies, 1594–95, narra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptic Crosswords
A cryptic crossword is a crossword, crossword puzzle in which each clue is a word puzzle. Cryptic crosswords are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where they originated, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, and in several Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations, including Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malta, New Zealand, and South Africa. Compilers of cryptic crosswords are commonly called "setters" in the UK and "constructors" in the US. Cryptic crossword puzzles come in two main types: the basic cryptic in which each clue answer is entered into the diagram normally, and "themed" or "variety" cryptics, in which some or all of the answers must be altered before entering, usually in accordance with a hidden pattern or rule which must be discovered by the solver. History and development Cryptic crosswords originated in the UK. The first British crossword puzzles appeared around 1923 and were purely definitional, but from the mid-1920s they began to include crypti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Selinker
Mike Selinker is an American game designer, puzzle maker, and the founder and president of Lone Shark Games. Credits Selinker's design credits include ''Pirates of the Spanish Main'' and ''Fightball'' with James Ernest, ''Axis & Allies Revised Edition'' with Larry Harris, the ''Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game'', ''Risk Godstorm'', ''Gloria Mundi'', ''Key Largo'', ''Stonehenge'', ''Thornwatch'', and '' Pathfinder Adventure Card Game''. He was a creative director for the 3rd edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and the ''Harry Potter Trading Card Game''. As a puzzle maker, he created the fictional police officer Lt. Nodumbo for ''GAMES World of Puzzles''. Selinker founded ''LIVE/WIRE'' with Tim Beach and the '' Maze of Games'' with Teeuwynn Woodruff. He also has written poker books such as ''Dealer's Choice: The Complete Handbook of Saturday Night Poker'', with James Ernest and Phil Foglio. He has also written puzzles for the ''Chicago Tribune'', the ''New York Times'', and ''Ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Rathvon
Henry Rathvon is a puzzle writer. He and his partner, Emily Cox, wrote The Atlantic Puzzler, a cryptic crossword featured each month in the magazine ''The Atlantic Monthly'' from September 1977 to October 2009. (After March 2006, the Puzzler was published solely online at The Atlantic's website.) They also create acrostic puzzles for the ''New York Times'', cryptic crosswords for Canada's ''National Post'', puzzles for the US Airways in-flight magazine, and (with Henry Hook) Sunday crosswords for the ''Boston Globe''. In 2005, Rathvon's play '' Trapezium'', a comedy in iambic pentameter, was produced by the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ... Festival. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Rathvon, Henry Puzzle designers The Atlantic (magazine) people ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Propp
James Gary Propp is a professor of mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Education and career In high school, Propp was one of the national winners of the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO), and an alumnus of the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics. Propp obtained his AB in mathematics in 1982 at Harvard. After advanced study at Cambridge, he obtained his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. He has held professorships at seven universities, including Harvard, MIT, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Mathematical research Propp is the co-editor of the book ''Microsurveys in Discrete Probability'' (1998) and has written more than fifty journal articles on game theory, combinatorics and probability, and recreational mathematics. He lectures extensively and has served on the Mathematical Olympiad Committee of the Mathematical Association of America, which sponsors the USAMO. In the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trip Payne
Norman "Trip" Payne''The Crossword Obsession: The History and Lore of the World's Most Popular Pastime'', by Coral Amende, published 2001 by Berkley Books, p 91, " 'Penny A. Roman', which is an anagram of my real name, 'Norman Payne'" is an American professional puzzle maker. He is known by many as a three-time champion of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT). With his first victory in 1993, at the age of 24, Payne became the youngest champion ever in the tournament's history, a record he held until 2005. Early life and education Payne was born in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He grew up in nearby Spartanburg, attending Spartanburg High School, and has been making puzzles professionally since publication in ''Games'' in November 1983. He attended Emory University in Atlanta, graduating with a degree in English in 1990. Career Payne interned at ''Games'' during his college summer vacations, where one of his pseudonyms was the anagram "Art Pipeny"; he was expected to go on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley Newman (puzzle Creator)
Stanley Newman (born July 19, 1952) is an American puzzle creator, editor, and publisher. Newman has been the editor of the ''Newsday'' Sunday crossword puzzle since 1988 and the editor of the ''Newsday'' daily crossword puzzle since 1992. He is also a trivia buff and the co-author of a trivia encyclopedia, ''15,003 Answers''. Newman is a native of Brooklyn, New York, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brooklyn College, where he majored in mathematics. He went on to earn a master’s degree in statistics from Rutgers University. Newman's puzzle career started after he won the inaugural U.S. Open Crossword Championship in 1982. He also won the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament that year. Newman started a crossword newsletter in 1983 and began creating his own crosswords soon thereafter. He is the author or editor of over 100 books and is the current world record holder for the fastest solving of a New York Times crossword In 1990, Newman appeared as a contestant on '' T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Lutwiniak
William Lutwiniak (November 24, 1919 – January 24, 1992) was an American crossword constructor who was also known for his work as a cryptologist with the National Security Agency.Puzzle Makers Exchange Cross Words by Randall Rothenberg, in ''''; published August 10, 1988; retrieved February 26, 2017 He composed a total of 8,413 puzzles; his first five thousand were composed between 1965 and 1985, as a hobby. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Kahn (writer)
David Kahn (b. February 7, 1930* ) is an American historian, journalist, and writer. He has written extensively on the history of cryptography and military intelligence. Kahn's first published book, '' The Codebreakers - The Story of Secret Writing'' (1967), has been widely considered to be a definitive account of the history of cryptography. Biography David Kahn was born in New York City to Florence Abraham Kahn, a glass manufacturer, and Jesse Kahn, a lawyer. Kahn has said he traces his interest in cryptography to reading Fletcher Pratt's ''Secret and Urgent'' as a boy. Kahn is a founding editor of the '' Cryptologia'' journal. In 1969, Kahn married Susanne Fiedler; they are now divorced. They have two sons, Oliver and Michael. He attended Bucknell University. After graduation, he worked as a reporter at ''Newsday''. He also served as an editor at the ''International Herald Tribune'' in Paris in the 1960s. It was during this period that he wrote an article for the ''New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helene Hovanec
Helene Hovanec is a former elementary school teacher who has authored 66 puzzle books, 59 of which are for children. Hovanec earned a B.S. in Child Development from Cornell University and an M.S. in Early Childhood Education from Hunter College. She taught elementary school in New York and New Jersey. Her children's puzzle books, which are geared for kids between the ages of three and 12, have sold over two million copies worldwide. In addition to her books Hovanec is involved in the grown-up puzzle world, mainly through her connection to Will Shortz. With Shortz she: * Met Margaret Farrar, the pioneering crossword editor, and wrote about her contribution to the world of crossword puzzles. * Helped reinstitute the annual conventions of The National Puzzlers' League. * Helped form the World Puzzle Championship. She was the coordinator for the first and ninth WPCs and was the chairwoman of the captains' committee for several years. * Is the coordinator for The American Crossword P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyler Hinman
Tyler Hinman (born November 5, 1984) is an American crossword solver and constructor and a seven-time winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT). He holds the tournament record for youngest champion ever, winning as a 20-year-old in 2005, and he formerly held the record for consecutive titles with five, a feat matched and bested by six-time champion Dan Feyer. He was one of the featured players in the award-winning 2006 documentary film ''Wordplay''. Early life Hinman was born in Hartford, Connecticut and raised in Connecticut and in England. While a 9th grade student at The American School in England (TASIS), Hinman was introduced to ''The New York Times'' crossword puzzle and became immediately interested. He first entered the ACPT as a 16-year-old in 2001, finishing 101st out of the 322 entered contestants. Education and career After graduating from TASIS The American School in England in 2002, Hinman returned to the United States to attend Rensselaer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Heaney
Francis Heaney is a professional puzzle writer and editor (and a former editor-at-large) for ''GAMES Magazine'', as well as a former editor of ''Enigma,'' the official publication of the National Puzzlers' League, the composer and co-lyricist (with playwright James Evans) of the Off-Off-Broadway musical ''We're All Dead'', and the author of the webcomic ''Six Things''. Heaney finished in third place in the 2007 and 2009 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament out of approximately 700 participants. He won Lollapuzzoola Lollapuzzoola is a crossword-solving tournament held annually on a Saturday in August. Founded in 2008 by Brian Cimmet and Ryan Hecht, it is the second-largest crossword tournament in the United States, and the only major tournament in New York Ci ... 8 in 2015, after making the finals (but not winning) four previous times (2009, 2012, 2013, and 2014). In 2004, he published '' Holy Tango of Literature'', a collection of his literary parodies which had previously appeare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
