Jeremiah (Jerry) Farrell (December 12, 1937, in Hastings, Nebraska—July 4, 2022, in Indianapolis, Indiana)
, Hastings Tribune, Jul 7, 2022 was an American professor emeritus of mathematics at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He was well known for having constructed

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 ...

's favorite puzzle, the 1996 "Election Day" crossword 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 d ...

''. He also wrote puzzles for many other books and newspapers, such as

Scott Kim Scott Kim is an American puzzle and video game designer, artist, and author of Korean descent. He started writing an occasional "Boggler" column for ''Discover'' magazine in 1990, and became an exclusive columnist in 1999, and created hundreds of ...

's puzzle column for ''

Discover Discover may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album * ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine Businesses and brands * DISCover, the ''Digital Interactive Systems Corporation'' * D ...

'' magazine.

Biography

Farrell was born in

Hastings, Nebraska Hastings is a city and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 25,152 at the 2020 census. It is known as the town where Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in 1927, and celebrates that event with the Ko ...

, the oldest of three children to Belle Einsphar and Paul Farrell, a third-generation railroad man. Farrell himself worked for one summer on the railroad, as a "grinder", one who planes down the railroad tracks so they stay smooth. He attended Hastings High School, graduating in 1955, and then the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

, graduating in 1963 with degrees in mathematics, chemistry, and physics. He later obtained a master's degree in mathematics, and in 1966 was hired by Butler University, where he worked for the next 40 years, teaching nearly every subject in the mathematics department. He officially retired in 1994, but continued to teach. He was best known for constructing many crossword puzzles for ''

'', starting in the 1970s for editor

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 ...

, and then continuing to design new puzzles after Shortz took over. In 1996, he designed his most famous puzzle, the "Election Day" crossword. One of the words had the clue "lead story tomorrow", with a 14-letter answer. The puzzle had two correct solutions: "Bob Dole elected" and "Clinton elected", and all the crossing words were designed such that they could be one of two different words, to make either answer work. Shortz called it an "amazing" feat and his favorite puzzle. With his wife Karen, Farrell helped organize the biannual Gathering for Gardner conferences, which started in 1993 as an invitation-only event for people connected with

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lew ...

. In 2006 Farrell and his wife took over from

A. Ross Eckler, Jr. Albert Ross Eckler Jr. (August 29, 1927 – December 9, 2016) was an American logologist, statistician, and author, the son of statistician A. Ross Eckler. He served in the US Army from 1946 – 1947. He received a BA from Swarthmore College wit ...

as editors and publishers of the quarterly publication '' Word Ways: the Journal of Recreational Linguistics'', established in 1968.

Contributed works

* ''Zen and the Art of Magic Squares'' * A.K. Peters publications (where he is called a "mathemagician") * ''Discover'' magazine

References

NYT "Election Day" crossword
* ''New York Sun'', "A Washington Square Park Puzzle Is Solved", May 19–21, 2006 * ''Indianapolis Star'', May 25, 2006, "Butler Prof Figures It Out" {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, Jeremiah Butler University faculty 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Crossword compilers Puzzle designers People from Hastings, Nebraska Word Ways people Hastings Senior High School (Nebraska) alumni 1937 births 2022 deaths