Will Shortz
NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz has appeared on Weekend Edition Sunday since the program's start in 1987. He's also the crossword editor of The New York Times, the former editor of Games magazine, and the founder and director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (since 1978).
Will sold his first puzzle professionally when he was 14 — to Venture, a denominational youth magazine. At 16 he became a regular contributor to Dell puzzle publications. He is the only person in the world to hold a college degree in Enigmatology, the study of puzzles, which he earned from Indiana University in 1974.
Born in 1952 and raised on an Arabian horse farm in Indiana, Will now lives near New York City in a Tudor-style house filled with books and Arts and Crafts furniture. When he's not at work, he enjoys bicycling, movies, reading, travel, and collecting antique puzzle books and magazines.
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NPR's Eyder Peralta plays the puzzle with puzzlemaster Will Shortz and WUNC listener Aaron Jones of Cary, North Carolina. -
Listener Debbi Samuels of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., plays the puzzle with Weekend Edition puzzlemaster Will Shortz and NPR's Scott Detrow. -
Tom Zmozynski plays the puzzle with puzzlemaster Will Shortz and NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro. -
Dick Ehrman of Lincoln, Neb. plays the puzzle with puzzlemaster Will Shortz and NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro. -
Weekend Edition'sLulu Garcia-Navarro and New York Times Puzzlemaster Will Shortz play a word game with WWNO listener Eric Bogren of New Orleans, La. -
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Puzzlemaster Will Shortz of The New York Times play the Sunday Puzzle with Shari Meyer of Sommerville, Mass. -
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NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro and this week's puzzle winner Karen Marshall of Shoreline, Wash., work through a tough word game, crafted by puzzle master Will Shortz. -
Every five-letter answer in this week's puzzle must complete a compound word or a familiar two-word phrase. -
In this week's puzzle, we'll give you a category. Every answer must start with each of the letters C-O-M-B-S.
