Helene Hovanec is a former elementary school teacher who has authored 66

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 th ...

books, 59 of which are for children. Hovanec earned a B.S. in Child Development from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and an M.S. in Early Childhood Education from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

. 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 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 ...

. With Shortz she: * Met

Margaret Farrar Margaret Petherbridge Farrar (March 23, 1897 – June 11, 1984) was an American journalist and the first crossword puzzle editor for ''The New York Times'' (1942–1968). Creator of many of the rules of modern crossword design, she compiled and ed ...

, the pioneering crossword editor, and wrote about her contribution to the world of

crossword puzzles 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 ans ...

. * Helped reinstitute the annual conventions 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 ...

. * Helped form the

World Puzzle Championship The World Puzzle Championship (commonly abbreviated as WPC) is an annual international puzzle competition run by the World Puzzle Federation. All the puzzles in the competition are pure-logic problems based on simple principles, designed to be play ...

. 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 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 world's oldest and largest event of its kind. An interview with Hovanec was published on Jim Horne's

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 d ...

Wordplay blog on August 30, 2009.Horne, Jim
"Fred Piscop and Helene Hovanec"
''

''. August 30, 2009.

References

External links

Official Helene Hovanec: Puzzles For Kids website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hovanec, Helene Puzzle designers Cornell University alumni Hunter College alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)