Brendan Emmett Quigley (born 1974) is an American

crossword A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answ ...

constructor. He has been described as a "crossword wunderkind". His work has been published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', by the

Los Angeles Times Syndicate The ''Los Angeles Times'' Syndicate was a print syndication service that operated from 1949 to 2000. Owned by the Times Mirror Company, it also operated the ''Los Angeles Times'' Syndicate International; together the two divisions sold more than ...

, and ''

The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 2 ...

''. He appeared in the documentary ''

Wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phon ...

'' and the book ''Crossworld: One Man's Journey into America's Crossword Obsession''. In a 2007 interview, ''

Magazine'' credited Quigley with "making the New York ''Times'' crossword hip."

Career

Quigley was born in

Norwood, Massachusetts Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Norwood is part of the Greater Boston area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,611. The town was named after Norwood, England. Norwood is ...

. He became interested in crosswords while studying at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

Will Shortz William F. Shortz (born August 26, 1952) is an American puzzle creator and editor and crossword puzzle editor for ''The New York Times''. Early life and education Will Shortz was born and raised on an Arabian horse farm in Crawfordsville, Indi ...

brought his first submission to the New York ''Times''. He lists Merl Reagle, Frank Longo,

Elizabeth Gorski Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS Elizabeth, HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * Elisa ...

and Patrick Berry among his influences. He has constructed puzzles for the

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is a crossword-solving tournament held annually in February, March, or April. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 tournament was canceled. In April 2021, the 43rd tournament was held virtually. Founded ...

, the Boston Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and Lollapuzzoola. As a tournament competitor, Brendan finished second in the E Division at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 2001, and second in the Local Division at Lollapuzzoola 5 in 2012. Quigley is also a musician, playing in such Boston-area bands as The Campaign For Real-Time and Hip Tanaka. He is currently a member of the

Boston Typewriter Orchestra The Boston Typewriter Orchestra (BTO) is an American collective percussion ensemble for typewriter and voice based in the Boston area. It was founded in 2004. Formation One night in 2004, Boston-area artist Tim Devin was presented with the g ...

. Quigley maintains a blog, entitled "Crossword Puzzles by Brendan Emmett Quigley."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Quigley, Brendan Emmett 1974 births Living people Crossword compilers People from Norwood, Massachusetts University of New Hampshire alumni Musicians from Massachusetts