Tyler Hinman (born November 5, 1984) 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 ans ...
solver and constructor and a seven-time winner of 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 ...
(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
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 ...
''.
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
''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 ...
'' crossword puzzle and became immediately interested.
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He first entered the ACPT as a 16-year-old in 2001, finishing 101st out of the 322 entered contestants.
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Education and career
After graduating from TASIS The American School in England in 2002, Hinman returned to the United States to attend
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he earned a bachelor's degree in Information Technology in 2006 and joined the
Phi Mu Delta
Phi Mu Delta () is a small, national fraternity founded on March 1, 1918 at the Universities of Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The fraternity is focused on the ideals of democracy, service, and brotherhood.
History
Phi Mu Delta was o ...
fraternity.
[
] After graduating, he accepted a job in Chicago, Illinois as a
bond trader at
Darwin Capital Trading through a connection from the producer of the film ''
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 ...
''. After a little more than a year, Hinman left the industry, and he moved to San Francisco in 2008 to work in software development.
[http://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhinman
]
Puzzle career
Hinman first entered the ACPT as a sixteen-year-old in 2001, finishing 101st in a field of 322 competitors.
He continued to enter each year, capturing the tournament title for the first time in 2005 as a 20-year-old, making him the youngest-ever winner of the tournament. He won the next four tournaments even as they were growing in both size and competitiveness. In 2009 there were nearly 700 competitors, and with his fifth win Hinman had solved forty consecutive tournament puzzles without making a single error. His winning streak came to an end in 2010 when he finished fourth overall in the tournament. For the years 2011-2015 he finished second four times. He won his sixth title in the online-only tournament in 2021, and his seventh ACPT in person in April 2022.
Hinman is also a crossword puzzle constructor, creating original puzzles for publications including ''
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 ...
'' and ''
The Onion
''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satire, satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on ...
.'' He was also a contributor to the CrosSynergy Syndicate, and to the American Values Club Xword, edited by
Ben Tausig. Hinman, along with fellow puzzlemaker Jeremy Horwitz, received national attention when they fulfilled a wish of
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
pitcher
Brian Wilson by including his name in a puzzle for the ''Times''. The theme consisted of
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
-winning pitchers who share a name with vocalists on No. 1 hits.
In 2017, Hinman appeared in the FOX game show ''
Superhuman'' and competed in a race against time to complete five-word puzzles.
References
External links
Official site*
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament official siteThe American Values Club crosswords
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinman, Tyler
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
Computer programmers
1984 births
Living people
People from Hartford, Connecticut
Crossword compilers
Google employees
People educated at the American School in England