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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 - present
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', and 'SC&INAVIA', using ampersand 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 evoking praise for originality, and anger from those who felt tricked.

She was also the first to include symbols in her answers, including answers like JIMMY*TER and BI*BONATE, where * had to be substituted for the letters 'CAR'.

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 (deceased August 12, 2013), also a veteran crossword puzzle writer for publications including Simon & Schuster, was one of Bernice's closest friends for decades. 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 for the New York Times.

At the time the puzzle was published, Steinberg was 16, Gordon was 99. They collaborated remotely, over more than 70 exchanged emails. Will Shortz introduced Steinberg to Gordon initially.

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 38: / Line 38: @@
 == 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', and 'SC&INAVIA', using ampersand signs in place of letters. <ref name="deseret"></ref> 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.
+On Sunday, May 30, 1965, Gordon made puzzle history by introducing a convention-busting puzzle with answers including 'COWBOYS&INDIANS', 'CARMEN MIR&A', and 'SC&INAVIA', using ampersand signs in place of letters. <ref name="deseret"></ref> 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 evoking praise for originality, and anger from those who felt tricked.
 She was also the first to include symbols in her answers, including answers like JIMMY*TER and BI*BONATE, where * had to be substituted for the letters 'CAR'.