Gridlock: Crossword Puzzles and the Mad Geniuses Who Create Them

by Matt Gaffney and Tiffany Clarke Harrison

In the spirit of Word Freak and Searching for Bobby Fischer, Gridlock is a chronicle of the quirky subculture of America's crossword puzzles. Tens of millions of Americans solve crossword puzzles... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156025890X
• ISBN13: 9781560258902
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Stories and tales from the world of Crosswords

A delightful ramble through the world of the big time crossword people. It's not exactly a coordinated story. It's just a bunch of random thoughts, stories, memories that he comes up with that are related to crossword puzzles. He tells of the big names in the crossword arena, of the annual meeting, about the impact of computers, and the strange new game of Sudoku. All in all, you won't learn a great deal from this book. You will not learn how to create or solve a crossword. But you'll have a delightful time roaming around the countryside. You do come away with the feeling that the world of the avid crossworder is a rather lonely one. It's a solitary thing.

More 411 on Across and Down

Gridlock, along with its recent predecessors in various media (Marc Romano's book, Crossworld, and the film Wordplay) opens up a world at once familiar and arcane. The familiar is the crossword puzzle, pastime of tens of millions (or maybe now fives of millions, what with sudoku's encroachments). The arcane is the world of top solvers and constructors who congregate every March at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, CT. I am a part of this world, having been in the Class B playoffs one year, and having done crosswords and other word and non-word puzzles for 50 years. Puzzle mavens will find much that is new here--and much that is familiar. The new includes: (1) an attempt to determine how badly sudoku and other logic puzzles are undermining the more literate and humanistic discipline of word puzzles; (2) a peek at the judges' room at Stamford; (3) a visit to Penny Press publications; (4) a sad/funny description of his attempt, with Matt Jones, to market hip, alternative crossword puzzles; (5) in-depth discussion of grid construction. Not so new are the obligatory Will Shortz bio and house tour, and the run-through of the Stamford tournament (though not the same one covered in Crossworld and Wordplay). There are many new insights, some quite funny. I agree with him that it is counterintuitive that so many crossword constructors are math-based, and that it would be difficult to imagine witty solving stories involving sudoku conquests. I can also personally vouch for the fact that solving giga-sized crosswords can produce lower back pain! However, the big problem with the book is that he misses many opportunities for making his chosen topics more interesting and useful. His treatment of cryptic crosswords is cursory and not likely to gain many new converts. One could consume a thousand pages without exhausting this mega-faceted, international subject. A few well-crafted pages showing: some masterful clues by, say, Trip Payne; the difference between British and American cryptics; and the many types of variety cryptics would have been better. He unveils the news--astounding, if true--that Kappa Publications produces a magazine with crosswords more difficult than the New York Times',and then does not name it! Another extremely valuable bit of information overlooked is the link to other puzzling sites on the Stamford tournament's website, www.crosswordtournament.com. His description of a visit to grandmaster Henry Hook makes no real attempt to describe the brilliance of his achievements, which would have necessitated delving into one or more of his many great books. Also, since at least 80% of the book is about members of the National Puzzlers' League, it would have been helpful to mention its existence, and that of the Enigma (its puzzle journal) and its annual convention. Finally, he does not do the in-depth analysis necessary to convince us that the New York Sun's crosswords are equal or superior to those in the

Crossword Puzzling for Fun and Profit

Matt Gaffney is one of only a dozen or so people in the U.S. who makes a living as a freelance crossword puzzle constructor. It's not easy and there's a lot of competition. The pay per puzzle is low and it takes hours to construct a quality puzzle. How does he do it? The same way any freelancer does it. He works his butt off. After creating some of the best puzzles around, he finds new markets, cultivates old markets, networks, looks for new angles, and acts as his own bill collector. His latest angle is Gridlock, an entertaining book about the crossword puzzle business and the eccentric people who populate it. Gridlock is a somewhat unstructured, but fun look at the crossword world from the viewpoint of a constructor. Previous crossword books have profiled constructors (The Crossword Obsession), told how to construct crosswords (The Puzzlemaker's Handbook), or told of life as a crossword solver (Crossworld). As far as I know, this is the first look from the constructor's point of view. Gaffney takes us behind the scenes at the Annual Crossword Puzzle Tournament. He tells us how he came to be a crossword constructor, how he nearly had to give up freelancing and get a real job, and what saved him from that awful fate. He describes what goes into the construction of a puzzle (it's more interesting than you might imagine), and tackles the computer vs. human constructor debate. He finishes up with a profile of puzzlemaker and noted recluse Henry Hook. With that final chapter, it's apparent that if Gaffney ever runs out of work as a crossword constructor (is sudoku a passing fad or something more sinister?), he'll be able to make a career as a more traditional freelance writer.

Great book! A humorous, insider's perspective.

This book was a fun read. I think the major difference between this book, and many other crossword books I've read, is that Matt Gaffney is an insider, and has unparalleled access to more interesting circles and events than past journalist/ authors. For example, in addition to giving us insight to a step by step process of constructing a crossword puzzle, he shares stories from behind the judges door during the Stamford Crossword competition. One of the most enjoyable passages I found involved what crossword editors do when they're drunk. You'd expect a discussion on the historical passage of crossword puzzles, but this book packs in a lot more interesting information. The structure of the book is highly episodic, and while the chapters don't connect too much, they do take you to interesting places in the crosswords community. For example, there are discussions about crosswords vs. sudoku, man vs. machine in construction, and also one on the NY Times vs. NY Sun that was interesting. Gaffney takes a Supersize-Me approach and tries to test these various perspectives himself. As a solver and a constructor myself, I thought this book was highly unusual in that it is more than an introduction to the world, but really interviewed key players, from editors to constructors, that usual cursory glances elide over. For example, I knew a lot about the NY Sun and their editor, Peter Gordon, and this book really gave him the proper credit for he's done in the crossword world. The book also has bouts of autobiographical narrative, where it is through Gaffney's own trials and tribulation through the crossword world that we see the inner mechanism of the industry. All in all, it's a fascinating and in-depth look, especially for those who are interested in the industry of making these grids.

Puzzled about crosswords?

Although a great many people work the crosswords in their local newspaper, buy puzzle books and magazines, and spend hours scratching their heads over devilish clues and fiendish themes, almost no one gives much thought to the people who construct, edit, or publish crossword puzzles. In "Gridlock," Matt Gaffney, one of the fifteen or so people in the U.S. who can claim the designation of professional cruciverbalist (someone who actually earns a living creating crossword puzzles), presents a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the crossword puzzle business. This book is a veritable potpourri of facts, interviews, and anecdotes about crosswords. Gaffney interviews New York Times puzzle superstar Will Shortz, of course, but he also talks to New York Sun puzzle editor Peter Gordon and provides a humorous look at the Times/Sun crossword wars. He draws an interesting and touching portrait of reclusive constructor Henry Hook. He visits the offices of Penny Press, a large publisher of puzzle magazines. He discusses the marketing of original and reprint crossword collections, and describes the mind set needed to create and clue a specialty crossword for a niche market. He even takes the book to a personal level as he offers frank details about his own struggles, frustrations, and triumphs in getting his puzzles marketed. There is ample information about the cardinal rules of crossword construction and about what makes a puzzle good enough to beat out the competition for publication in the New York Times. Although the reader gets to look over Gaffney's shoulder as he creates a puzzle, there is not enough information about the mysterious mechanics of filling a grid so that I would be able to successfully construct a puzzle myself. A chapter I find especially interesting is about the use of computers in crossword puzzle construction. Gaffney organizes a contest between man and machine. I think I will easily be able to tell the difference between a computer-generated grid and a human-generated one, but there are a few surprises in store. Thanks to books like Gaffney's and to the documentary film "Wordplay," the crossword puzzle has finally been given a chance to bask in the limelight. "Gridlock" would be a welcome addition to every crossword lover's library. Eileen Rieback