Your Questions, Our Answers
I normally work remotely from my home in Iowa, but about twice a year I attend on-site work events with the rest of the Games team in New York. While in town earlier this month, I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of high school journalism students who were getting a tour of the Times Building. They were excited to meet with me and my colleagues Tracy Bennett and Isaac Aronow, and to ask us about being on the Games team. They had some great questions. What goes into editing a puzzle? How long does it take from the time a puzzle is accepted to the time it is published? What happens if a clue becomes dated by the time it’s published? Because of the volume of submissions we receive (sometimes more than 200 puzzles a week!), it can take a while to get through them all. It will often take about six weeks for an editor to first look at a puzzle after it has been submitted it. At this point, that person might reject the submission — if it’s flawed in some way — or move it to a second stage of review. If it seems as if it’s probably a “no” but there’s nothing flawed about the concept, we’ll put it in a “Second Opinion” folder for another editor to look at. If it seems as if it could be worth publishing, we’ll move it to the “Maybes” folder, where we will review it as a whole team. Because we meet only once or twice a week to review the puzzles, it will often take another month or so before we collectively turn our attention to it. If we accept a puzzle, it will move to our inventory, where it will sit until we put it on the schedule. At the moment, for each day of the week we have 20 to 40 puzzles in our inventory. This is in addition to the puzzles already on the calendar — we usually schedule about two or more months in advance, and edit five to six weeks before publication. In the end, a year or more is likely to have elapsed between the moment the constructor finished making the puzzle and its publication. A lot can happen in this time! So what happens if a constructor writes a clue that’s no longer true by the time it goes to print? Part of our job as editors is to write clues that are what we call “evergreen” — clues that stand the test of time and won’t soon become factually inaccurate. Rather than using the clue [Pat who hosts “Wheel of Fortune”], we’d typically write something like [Pat of “Wheel of Fortune”] or [White’s longtime co-host]. We use similar tricks for athletes and record breakers whose accomplishments might be topped. Before we publish a crossword we’ll email a proof to the constructor, with fully edited and fact-checked clues. Occasionally the constructor will use the opportunity to suggest a new clue that feels more timely. What would you ask a group of puzzle editors if you had the chance?
Solve Friday’s Crossword on Easy Mode!
For expert hints on today’s puzzle, read the Wordplay column. Were you able to solve the Friday puzzle with Easy Mode? We want your input! Share your experience with us by email. Easy vs. HardIn today’s puzzle, 31-Down is clued as [They’re filled with bacon]. If this makes you think the answer is related to food, you’d be wrong. Crossword editors love to throw around goofy slang for money. For Easy Mode, I went with [Drive-through conveniences at many banks].
How are we doing? Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it regularly here. P.S. The answer to Easy vs. Hard is A.T.M.S.
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