Bernice Gordon: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 23:53, 3 October 2013

Bernice Gordon (born Jan 11, 1914, Philadelphia) is credited as the oldest living professional crossword puzzle constructor in the world, having written puzzles printed in publications including the New York Times since the early 1950s.

Puzzling History

Having loved doing puzzles as a child, Gordon started creating her own puzzles for fun in the early 1950s, shortly after her first husband died. Soon after, she started submitting them to Margaret Farrar, the first puzzle editor of the New York Times. Despite 6 or 7 quick rejections ("Too many abbreviations", Unfamiliar words, etc), her first puzzle was accepted by the Times in 1952, a weekday puzzle for which she was paid $5 or $10. According to current puzzle editor Will Shortz, this was the first of over 150 puzzles from her the NYTimes would subsequently print. In 1955, she landed the coveted Sunday stumper puzzle, the first of 9 Sunday puzzles she would author for the Times.^[1]

Gordon graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BFA IN 1935, including a year studying abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris, then later received an MFA. She is an accomplished painter and needlepoint artist as well. She has an incredibly extensive personal reference library, filled with hundreds of books that include encyclopedias, dictionaries, books about different types of word patterns, famous quotes, and such.

Gordon has published thousands of puzzles during her 60+ year career, and continues to write new puzzles daily. She calls herself a "cruciverbalist," and credits her productivity to chronic insomnia.

Other Puzzles

Though most recognized for her crossword puzzles, Bernice Gordon has also published a number of other types of word puzzles including Double-Crostics. Her technique for constructing Double Crostics is to arrange scrabble letters on a large desktop surface.

Publishers and Editors

Newspaper or Publisher	Editor(s)	Years
New York Times	Will Shortz Eugene T. Maleska Will Weng Margaret Farrar \|\|	1952 - present
Los Angeles Times
Simon & Schuster	John M. Samson
The Pennsylvania Gazette		2012,2013
The Crosswords Club	Will Weng	past
The Universal Crossword	Timothy Parker	past
Dell Magazine

Notable puzzles

Use of Symbols and Signs

On Sunday, May 30, 1965, Gordon made puzzle history by introducing a convention-busting puzzle with answers including COWBOYS&INDIANS, CARMEN MIR&A, SC&INAVIA, using signs in place of letters. ^[1] This is now a common convention in harder puzzles. Margaret Farrar initially rejected the puzzle with 10 ampersands in it calling it "trickery", but six months later decided to print it. The puzzle response was overwhelming, both with praise for originality, and anger from those who felt tricked.

She was also the first to include symbols in her answers, such as JIMMY*TER and BI*BONATE.

Happy Hooker

Gordon once created an X-rated puzzle for the Happy Hooker, aka Xaviera Hollander, a writer and former call girl with a bestselling memoir in the 1970s. Hollander became a family friend after getting to know Gordon's son, Ben Lanard, in Europe. Hollander had to provide the clues and dirty words for Gordon to incorporate.

Collaborations

Norman Wizer

The late Norman S. Wizer of Malvern PA, also a veteran crossword puzzle writer, was one of Bernice's closest friends. The two collaborated often and co-authored puzzles under the pen name "Monica Brenner" - an anagram of their first names, Norman and Bernice. The pair won a best puzzle award for their contribution to the Mega Crossword Puzzle Book from Simon & Schuster.

David Steinberg

David Steinberg, who at 14 was the 2nd youngest puzzle constructor to be printed in the NY Times, paired up with Bernice Gordon, the oldest living constructor, on June 26, 2013 to create an AGE DIFFERENCE-themed puzzle. He was 16, she was 99 at the time of publishing, and they collaborated over more than 70 exchanged emails.

The Flower Show in Rittenhouse Square

The Flower Show in Rittenhouse Square is recognizing its 100th-year celebration in conjunction with Gordon's 100th birthday, in early 2014.

Awards and Recognition

Currently the oldest living contributor to the New York Times, having had her latest puzzle published at age 99
Lifetime achievement prize and annual constructor award named after her by Universal Crosswords, editor Timothy Parker, 2000
Recognized as one of only a few constructors to contribute puzzles to the New York Times for over 50 years
Best Puzzle Award for Monica Brenner-penned puzzle in Simon & Schuster's Mega Crossword Puzzle Book, co-authored with Norman Wizer (need year)

Online Puzzle Links

Notes

^ ^a ^b http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705334506/At-95-Bernice-Gordon-is-still-master-of-the-crossword-puzzle.html?pg=all

References

[deseret-1] ttp://www.deseretnews.com/article/705334506/At-95-Bernice-Gordon-is-still-master-of-the-crossword-puzzle.html?pg=all

[1]

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 === The Flower Show in Rittenhouse Square ===
-The Flower Show in [[Rittenhouse Square]] is recognizing its 100th-year celebration in conjunction with her 100th birthday, in early 2014.
+The Flower Show in [[Rittenhouse Square]] is recognizing its 100th-year celebration in conjunction with Gordon's 100th birthday, in early 2014.
 == Awards and Recognition ==