#FIRST CROSSWORD EDITOR NY TIMES PROFESSIONAL#
#FIRST CROSSWORD EDITOR NY TIMES FREE#

“To the extent that people not from underrepresented groups are coming and using the resources of the group to further their constructing careers, it’s not really addressing gaps,” Agard says.

#FIRST CROSSWORD EDITOR NY TIMES FREE#

The trend has been especially clear since Covid-19 handed those groups lots of free time and few ways to spend it. Even a directory thread about a diverse crossword fellowship was dominated by white people, Agard added. Yet what gains there have been in diversity are largely contained to white women and white gay men, Agard says. Around 30 percent of puzzles over the past two years had a woman constructor. Other XWord Info data shows that women only accounted for 13 to 19 percent of Times puzzles in the 2010s, though interestingly that rate was often better for the prestigious (and better paid) Sunday puzzle than the year as a whole. The remarkably extensive data tracked by XWord Info, a website for crossword enthusiasts, outlines much of it: The number of Times debutants nearly tripled from 32 in 2019 to 92 last year. I personally have made connections to great newer constructors through there.” On the one hand, he says, “I’ve seen a lot of people who have participated in it go on to have puzzles in a variety of places and shout it out, which is exciting and gratifying. Such stories are indicative of the Facebook group’s ambivalent impact, says Erik Agard, the crossword editor of USA Today and one of the directory’s co-founders. Okulitch has now published three Times puzzles, including two with solo bylines. A fan of Okulitch’s singing, Wilber offered his services as a mentor. In response to a question he posted, Okulitch was contacted by Brad Wilber, a longtime constructor (60 Times puzzles since 2005) and an opera fanatic.

#FIRST CROSSWORD EDITOR NY TIMES PROFESSIONAL#

When professional opera singer Daniel Okulitch, a white man, was inspired to try his hand at crossword construction after he first started regularly solving them during the pandemic, he found his way to the group. The explicit intentions aren’t enough, though, and in fact at times the group has served the opposite purpose. Because our mentors’ time is finite, if you’re not a member of any such group, we ask that you refrain from using the form.” It has always been explicit about its aims to provide resources to underrepresented groups: “This matching form is intended specifically for as a tool for addressing structural inequities in the crossword industry. The Facebook group launched in 2018 with an associated Google form that pairs newcomers with mentors.

“Forced, professional relationships just don’t last, whereas Ella is a friend of mine, and serves multiple purposes,” Lucido said, while noting that she would still answer emails from her lapsed mentees to offer advice.įor would-be constructors without such personal connections, there’s the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory. Lucido and Dershowitz have been collaborating since early in the pandemic, publishing four Times puzzles together in the past two years, including Lucido’s last Sunday puzzle. They met through a high school friend of the actress-and, yes, daughter of infamous lawyer Alan-who attended Brown with Lucido. One of those happenstance mentorships was with Ella Dershowitz. “The less formal, more happenstance things tend to be more natural and last longer and work better, I guess, for me,” Lucido said. Her mentees all dropped off, saying they didn’t have time for puzzles. With the George Floyd protests front of mind, she specifically sought out mentees from underrepresented backgrounds, eventually selecting three Black constructors, two of whom were women. Hoping to pay the help she received forward to a new generation, Lucido decided to mentor new constructors at the beginning of the pandemic.

First crossword editor ny times