Francis Heaney is a professional puzzle writer and editor (and a former editor-at-large) for ''

GAMES Magazine ''GAMES World of Puzzles'' is a puzzle magazine formed from the merger of Games and World of Puzzles in October 2014. The entire magazine interior is now newsprint (as opposed to the part-glossy/part-newsprint format of the original ''Games'') an ...

'', as well as a former editor of ''Enigma,'' the official publication of the

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 c ...

, the composer and co-lyricist (with playwright James Evans) of the

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the prof ...

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 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 ...

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 appeared in '' Modern Humorist''.

References

Crossword compilers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-writer-stub