'ousesaarEnow?

'- GastYour
voteon crosswordese
PlusAmerica'sMostCreative
Crosswords
By the Nation'sTopConstructors

WESTCOASTCONTEMPORARY
MerlReagle
by HeleneHovanec
Firstof Two Parts
acrossthetop or stackingentries...that was writing, "Thesearedazzlingdiagrams,but
erlReagle,thequintessential
new- tough.I copiedthe diagramsexactly and not the most attractive-sounding
wordsor
wavecruciverbalist,drawsupon filled themin with my words."
pleasant-sounding
phrasesin theworld."
his eclecticbackgroundasa rock
Reaglecontinuedto make up puzzles
Reaglewas perplexedthat wide-open
musician,stand-upcomic,scriptwriter,and throughhischildhood,
buthadnodesigns
on grids weren'tthe most importantfactorin
televisiongameshow writer to createhis sellingthemuntil hediscoveredWorldWeek crosswordconstruction.
He hadthoughtthat
uniquecrosswords.Moreover,he was en- magazinein a high schoolcivicsclass.The Farrarwouldn't be able "wait
to
to get the
dowedwith a naturalfacility for words,had magazine"spotlighteda differentcountry puzzlesin the paper."Her polite
rejection
anearlyinterestin puzzles,livesa California eachweekby focusingon its history,geog- was Reagle'sintroduction
to the concept
lifestyle,and displaysa new-agesensitiv- raphy,cunentpolitics,etc."Eachissuealso that"diagramisn't
enough.Whatmattersis
ity-all factorsthat contributeto his clever hada student-made
crossword
puzzleabout word choiceand interestingthemes."This
cluing.
the spotlightedcountry."How the students conceptwas "complelelyalien" to him.
"I didn'tknow
A constructorfamousfor his wide-open knew which countryit was going to be I
whata themewas.I was
diagrams(thosewith veryfewblackspaces) don'tknow."
just tryingto openttrediagramup aswideas
and ouEageousthemes,Reaglehas been
Reagleanalyzedthe puzzlesand found possibleto poppeople'seyeballsout.I was
foolingaroundwith wordssincehewasfive
yearsold. He'd drawan"S" or anotherletter
in outlineformandthenfill in theshapewith
wordsthatcrossedwith eachother.
"I just thought
thatwasreal crJte,"he remembers.
He alsosolvedeverypuzzlethat
camehis way,especiallythe onesin Highlightsfor Children.When he graduatedto that.mostcontained
an averageof l0 the- concentrating
on show-offbaloney."
thesyndicated
puzzlesin his local newspa- matic entries.Thinking
that "any idiot can
Farrardid accepthis third puzzlewhich
perhegotboredwith solvingotherpeople's do that," he
constructed
a puzzleabout "accidentallyhad nothingwrong with it,"
cluesand stafiedto fill in the blank grids Canadawirh 27pertinent
factsandmailedit Reaglequips.Shecalledthepuzzle,wirh its
with hisownwords.To do this,heappropri- in. No soonerhadhe
returnedfrom thepost triple l5Jetter phrasesverticallydown the
ated his grandmother'sfirst edition of officewhenthenext
issuecameoutwith the center,crossingwith "InnocentsAbroad',
Webster's
NewInternationalDictionary to highlightedcounrry
of rheweek-Canada! horizontally,a remarkable"tour de force',
searchfor wordsto placeinto thegrids.
The
editors
had
to
delaypublishingReagle's
for a l5-year-old.
"I
went throughthe dictionarylooking puzzlefor oneyear,
at whichtime theypaid
Thissecondpublishedpuzzle,printedin
for wordsthar were the right lengthto fit him thegoingrare($10)
for it.
thedaily Times,wasmorethanenoughenwhatI wasdoing." Reaglewas undeterred
Inspiredby beingin print, Reaglewas couragement
for Reagle.DespiteFarrar's
from thislaborioustaskeventhoughevery determined
"tons
to explore new frontiers.He protestsheinundatedherwith
"generally
of widetime he founda word it was
an thought,"Gee,that was easy.I'll just go open puzzles
with
outrageous
liberties
in
obscure
one,"
straightto TheNew York Times."' Margaret [hem." Farrar would always try to solve
Reaglewas
livingin Lindenwold,
N.J.,at Farrarwastheeditorat thattimeandimme- them
andtell Reagle"whatwaswrongwith
thetime and startedto "makepuzzleslike diatelyrejected
two of the threedaily size them in the nicestway possible."Shedid
theone that was comingout in my daily puzzles(15x 15)
Reaglehadsubmitted. publish the crosswordsthat met her stanpaper,The
Courier."Thestandardgrid was
a
dards.
ll boxesacrossby 13boxesdown.
"DEAD AS A DOORNAIL"
and.totReaglecontinuedto supplyFanar with
Rcaglevividly remembersthe first time len in Denmark"
werethe ttremeentriesin puzzlesfor The Times and the Simon &
hebecameconsciouslyawareof wide-open the first puzzle
and "edema"was in the Schusterbookswhilehefinished
highschool
diagrams.
It waswhenhesawa puzzlewith secondgrid.Farrar
"wasn'
wrotethatedema
t and enrolledat the Universityof fuizona.
four 1l-letter entries(two eachacrossthe exactly pleasant
a
idea"andscoldedReagle He neverentertainedthoughtsof pursuing
top and bonomof the grid). "Wow!" he for his "poor
use of word choices."Her crosswordconstructingasa careerbecause
"Stacking
thought,
I ls!"
dictumwasto rejectpuzzleswith references moslconstructors
had"real" jobs andused
Reagleinstinctively"knewit washardto to "death,
disease,
war, andtaxes"because thepaltrypayments
theyeamedfrompuzzles
do."But "it lookedlike it wassomething
I she believedthat "the subwaysolver got
asa way to supplement
their incomes.
hadto try to do eventually.Thethree-,fourenoughof thosesubjectsin the rest of the
So, after college,Reagleco-foundeda
and five-letterstuff was easybut doubles paper."
Shesoftenedtherejecrionblow by
(Continuedon Page7)

'I wasjust trying to open the

diagram up as
wide aspossibleto pop people,seyeballsout.

I wasconcentrating
on show-offbaloney.'

September/October
1991

CROSSW RD

Page5

Reagle (from Page5)

Reagle would metamorphoseinto a show"Steprightup,

folks, andplaceanysixman.
or seven-letter word on the blackboard.
Scrambletheletters,andif I don'tunscramble
the word in five secondsI'll thrcw a pie in
my face.Or youcanthrow the pie." He used
this spiel to warm up the audiencesand get
them in the mood for participation in his
"Special Ed
and his Word-O-Rama" routine.
SOMEONE placedtheword MOONEES
on the blackboard one night and stumped
Reagle."It was a very good word," he said,
chuckling as he relatedthe actual "pie in the
face" incident. "I was supposed to use a
custardpie, but we could only buy applepie
that night. It was really sticky and messyand
didn't blow up very well, but it was a pie in
the face." (Reagle'sability to laugh at himself is evident by the fact that every time he
tells this anecdote he starts by saying,
"Someone...")

rock band, Greylock Mansion, and was the

lead singer as well as the keyboard player.
The band performed in "every cow town in
Arizona" for four years. During one period
Reaglewas also a copy editor for theTucson
Daily Citizen. He worked double shiftseveningsuntil the wee hours of the morning
in the band and from 6 a.m. to early afternoon for the newspaper.
Reagle quit the band in 1972 to join the
Invisible Theater, the only all-original theater group in Arizona. The staff wrote all its
own plays and musicals while Reagle wrote
all the music and performed in some of the
shows. He doubled up on jobs again-this
time as a copy editor for the Arizona Daily
Srar. Reagle'sschedulewas chaotic.When
he was actually scheduledto perform on
stagehe had to cut out early from the Star. "I
wassupposedto work until 1 a.m., but there
Reagle culled material for this routine
was very little to do after 10 so the boss
would let me off early. I would race down from Dmitri Borgmann'sbook,Languageon
"used
from the paperto do my stint."
Vacation.He
only the screwiest,
stuff
Arriving just in time to catch his breath, that a normal audiencewould think was

ridiculously funny." If Reagle was poking

fun at palindromeshe excludedttrestandard
ones like radar, madam, rotator, etc., and
concentmted on stuff like "kinnikinnik, a
mixture of sumacleavesand dogwood bark
smoked by the Ohio Indians." Audiences
found it "so screwy that they couldn't help
but laugh."
Reagleenjoyedaudienceparticipationbits
and delightedin prodding peopleto exercise
"What's
their brains.
the longest word you
can think of that repeats no letters?" he'd
ask, and then he'd write regular words like
"uncopyrightable"
on the blackboard. The
audienceswould join in with their choices
and then Reagle would pull out all the stops
and startplacing coined words on the board.
He'd
write
something
like
PUB VEXINGFJORDS CHMALTZY and
would then invent some "ridiculous defini
tion that beganas if in the mannerof..." The
audienceswould howl and come up with
their own words and zany definitions.
After four yearsofpursuing two careers,
Reaglewantedto try his handat scriptwdting.
(Continuedon Page 9)

ReagleSpecialties
Reagleis primarily an entertainerand wantsto makepeople
laugh.This couldinvolvechangingor eliminatinglettersto get a
newperspective
on a familiar movie,expression,
song,or place.
In "Don't StarttheMovie" thegimmickwasto removethefirst
letterfrom a movietitle to answera cluebasedon anothermovie:
'sleast popular CocHaiI garnish?tt
"Works on The Road to Rio?"
3'Mom's request about
The Sound of Music?"

tt_-Flush(bathroomproduct)tt,,Sani"

.,Livcr twisttt
.rlars and Stripes Forever"

r'Walkmans, e.g."

.,Sonys"

"Erstwhile soft drink"

"Amerlcan competitor?,,

..Fresca',

"Lower Drum Song"

"MY CAR anagramt'

"Gillette's
_ II razortt
"Radarange makcrt'
"Airwick targcttt

(,Odortt

t'Granatelli goo"

"STPI'

In "Take Two"

the gimmick went one stepfurther with the

removalof two consecutive
lettersfrom a movietitle:
"Film atroutman'sfirst encounter
with fire?"
"Thc first all.bongomusical?"

filled with lots of new words,manyof which happento be brand

names.In the pasteditorswould neverallow constructors
to use
brandnamesandtherearestill editorsfor whomit's a no-no.Reagle
goesout of his way to usebrandnamesin thecluesandthegrids:

,.TWA,
,tCamry,t
tofract'
..Amanatt

..I am Curious.Yeow',
..A StreetcarNamcdDesi',

Reagleis oneof thefew constructors

who canwrite mini-screen
playswith hiscrosswords.
In "A Night at theMovies"thethematic
In "Something'sBackedUp in Here"oneword in eachtheme entrieswereall "namesof moviesthatsounded
like youwouldhave
entrywasspelledbackwards:
theworstnightofyourlifein thetheater,"
e.g.,HouseofUsher,Wait
Until Dark, Torn Cwtain, The Big Chill, TheStranger,On your
'(Most popular diner in Hcaven?tt
.,St. Peter's Grubt,
Toes,
TheWild Child, andDark Passage.
"Toy store for dumb people?tt
..O.A,F. Schwarz"
Reagle'sgridsareidentifiableby the lack of blackspaces.
He's
In "Maim ThatTune!" songsweremangled:
a specialistinstackinglSletterwordsandphrases
acrossthetopand
bottomof thegrids,like theonefor the1986hesentingBalrimore,s
'lnfrcqucnt flycr's remark?"
ttl'm heaving on a jct plane"
lst AnnualCrosswordOpen:
"Fri.day the 131h, Part 70?"
"Killing me softly with his saw"
In "A CapitalIdea" statecapilalswereusedconversationally:
"Hcpburn'sassent"

"Ralcigh

I dott

and
I N C O M P A T I B I l , I T Y
F O O T B A L L D E F E N S E

"Start of Charo's American Express

commcrcial?tt

"Juncau me?t,

MerlReagleis veryawareof thecontemporary

world,onethat's

September/October
1991

S T A R T I N G P I T C H E R
N A T I O N A L A V E R A G E
A U T O M O B l L E T I R E S

CROSSW RD

I S T H I S S E A T T A K E N

_H.H.
Page 7

Reagle (from PageT)

He relocatedto SanFranciscobecauseit had
the ideal combination of "big-city appeal
and small-town quaintness." To support
himself, he worked as the assistantmanager
of the largest movie theater there, and used
his sparetime to writeToyworks, a sciencefiction screenplayabout "a young guy who
inventsthe first voice-operativetoys." Billed
"special
as a
effects extravaganza," it has
sincebeenrewritten severaltimes,butReagle
never submitted it to a studio.
His next job was as a film inspector,
where he and his staff would review films
and check them for damage after they had
been rented out to theaters.Reagle always
tried to inspect brand-new films so the machine could run without stopping at flaws.
While themachinewason,Reagletaughthis
staff how to construct Laddergram puzzles
(a type of puzzle in which a letter of the first
answerword is eliminated to form a second
answerword. The eliminated lettersarethen
placed in two opposite columns and when
the puzzle is finished the eliminated letters
spell out a related phrase. Traditional
laddergramsmight spell out short phrases
"fairy
"Easter
such as
tales,"
Parade," etc.).
Theseeasypuzzleswere never sufficient
for Reagle; he pushed his cohorts to create
"real
extravagant" Laddergrams and in a
short time they were creating l5-letter
Laddergrams where the related phrases
spellcd out connectionslike Close Encounrers,RichardDreyfuss,andStevenSpielberg.
Reagle loves to tickle people's brains
and prod them to go a step beyond their
perceived boundaries. He uses a similar
type of goading in crosswordsby putting
wordsandphrasesinto puzzlesthat solvers
might not expecrto find in either the grids
or the clues.
In thegridshe'll useup-to-datephrases
and
words.They're not difhcult,just unexpected:
"Tot's complaint
at a
paradc"
"1,024 bytcs, bricfly"
ttRevel"
'sPrinter's unit"
t'Bingo calltt
"Chromosome
possibilities"
"Certain facility"

ttl can't
scett

"One K"
ttBe

merrytt
"Onc emt'
ttB sixtt

"X or
Ytt
"Mcn's
roomtt

His clues make solvers think:

'sProtectorof the
crowntt
"Not quitclike Ali?"
"Tip from your
butchcr?"

ttBnamel"
ttGreatertt

"Sirloin"

September/October'l
991

"It costs to take them

outrr
"Lock turner?"

..Adsrt

"It holds the mayot'

"Fore scorett

"Jn""

,.Curlcrt,
.,Part,

"They're made by
"Sodastt

jerkstt

All throughhis showbiz andcopy-editing years, Reaglewas still constructing

crosswords
for Farrar.But the low pay alwayspreventedhim from devotinghis fulltime efforts to puzzlemaking.He'd occasionallywanglemoremoneyfromFarrarby
writing, "Gee, only $60 for this 2l x 2l

treatmentsof scripts, ideas for scripts, and

did"otheroddjobs."After l8 monthsReagle
decidedhe'd ratherwrite his own scriptsand
peddle them himself.
Reagle still resisted a full-time crossword consftucting career. "I'd hate to look
back on my life and think rhat all I did was
crossword puzzles," he confided to a close
friend who forced Reagle to see what was
really happeningin his life. "Every time you
start to write something, you always stop
and do puzzles. If making puzzles makes
you happy, just do it." That was the goad
Reagle needed. He headedto Connecticut
to enter the second American Crossword

NewWavei la Reagle

Justwhatarenew-wavecluesandhow wave clue, "one that is so strippeddown

do you recognizethem?Reagledefines that one must get one's bearingsbefore
new-waveas"a generalmovementtoward solvingit." For example,when a solver
morevitality andwit in crossword
puzzles. seestheclue"Charlie'sbro" whichis anIt's a directreactionto thesfraightconser- sweredby "Syd," heor shemustfigureout
valiveapproach."
that"Charlie"refersto CharlieChaplinand
Reaglelikesto useteasersin his clues, that "bro" is an abbreviarionfor trother,
those with question marks that tell the necessitating
anabbreviated
answer.Reagle
solverthattheanswerisfunnyorunexpected usesthesecluessparingly:
and shouldneverbe takenliterally:
"Romeo's
(Naughty

first

amount?"
"Get somealr?"
"Husky state?"
"Hart's running
mate?,'

"Zerd'
"Resplret'
"Alaskatt
'(Doe"

Reagle also uses anol.hertype of new-

.lAlfatt

name?tt

"Ilalfway

through a

,rl p.m.t'
(St,
Pattt
"981'65'4321,e'g."'rSSNtt
9-to-5 job"
"March celebtt

t'H'woodproduct"

..Pic,

-H.H.

puzzle.Maybethispuzzleisjust so arnazing Competitionand to meet some peoplein

it shoulddeservea litrle more."And Farrar, "thebusine.ss."
In oneeventfi:lweekend
hewon
chucklingasshemadeoutthepayrnentvoucher,thirdprizein themntest,methislongtimeidol
"That
wonldusuallyreply,'
wasamistake,
ttrere's MargaretFanar,
wasinnoduced
toDell'seditoranadditional$60onfheway."
in-chiefRosalindMoore,and also met Will
Concurrently,Reaglewas constructing Shortz,Doug and JanisHeller, Stephanie
lotsof "reallywide-opengoolballpuzzles" Spadaccini,
andothercrossword
mavens.
and distributingthemto his friends.In his
Reagle'sdecisionto pursuea careerin
bestcomedicpatterReaglewouldgive this crosswordscameat an opportunetime. It
spiel,"Here's what a normalpuzzlelooks was1979andthedawnof thenew-waveera.
like and here'sa Merlllllllllllllllll puzzle. Games magazine,
abrand-new
typeofpuzzle
Which onedo you want?"Reaglestill be- magazine
with glossy,four-colorpagesand
lieved"themore wide-openit wasthemore lots ofarticles,hadrecentlybeenlaunched,
appealit would haveto a massaudience." crosswordcontestshad beenrevived and
Lookingback,he believesthat this wasan weregenerating
lots of presscoverage,
and
"idiotic"
way to think. "How can anyone theNationalPuzzlers'Leaguehadre-instibreakinto apuzzlelike that?"
tutedits annualconventions
afteran l8-vear
Afterafewyearsin SanFrancisco,
Reagle hiatus,alsoawakening
thepublic'sinterest
relocatedto SantaMonica, California,to in puzzles.
concentrateon screenwriting.He went to
The puzzle world was ready for Merl
work for his friend DennisHacken,whose ReagleandMerl Reaglewasreadyto devoto
career was on the rise after he had all his energiesto crosswordconstructing.
writtenWandaNevadafor BrookeShields
To be continued...
tr
and PeterFonda.Hackenwas in suchde"small
mandthat.he hiredReagleto do the
HELENE HOVANEC is Edirorandpubstuff he couldn't handle."Reaglewrote lisherof Kids' PuzzleExpress.
CROSSW RD

Page 9

Maintaining
the FarrarNewYorkTimesTradition
PlusAmerica'sMostCreativeCrosswords
By the Nation'sTopGonstructors

WESTCOASTCONTEMPORARY
MerlReagle
by Helene
Hovanec
Secondof Two Parts
tionalgridsandstraightforward
cluingwere
hen Merl Reaglejourneyedto not exactlythestylehewasintenton creatStamford,Connecticut,in 1979 ing.
to participatein the 2nd Annual
WhenMooresawaReaglepuzzlewith its
AmericanCrosswordPluzzleTournament. 15-letterentriesstackedacrossthegrid she
he was almost positive that he'd pursue askedhim to "makeoneof those"for her.
crossword
constructing
asafull-timecareer. RightafterthecontestReagleretreatedto a
Theeventsof thatweekendsolidifiedhis friend's houseand,withoutany of his refdecisionas he mct puzzle-purchasing
edi- erencebooks,constructed
a thematiccrosstors,interactedwith avidsolvers,andtalked word with triple 15sstackedacrossthe top
shopwith new-wavsconstructors.
Most of andbottom.Mooreacceptedit on the spot
theinnovations
in thecrosswordworld were andReaglestartedsubmittingpuzzlesto her
emanating
from the EastCoastandReagle regularly.
hadthewherewithalto enterthetopechelon.
Theisolationofthe long-distance
construcfor wasover.
Crypticaficionadosttrinkof barpuzzles
Tournament
directorWill Shortz,buoyed
as
thoseBritish inventionswherewords
by theavalanche
publicity
of
from the first
"puzzle
are
separated
by heavyblacklinesinstead
toumament,
hadassembled
panel
a
of
"bar
stars"for the Friday night program.These of black squares.Reagle defines
"little
puzzlesthatyou cando
includedconstructors
MauraJacobson.
Jor- puzzles"as
danLasher,and William Lutwiniak; Dell in a bar thatoccupypeople'smindswhile
editorRosalindMoore, and authorof The they're drinking." Reagleand his fiance
a"Cheers"-likebarin LosAngePuzzler's
Paradise,this writer.Judgesin- habituate
theysit aroundwith theregulars
cludedconstructors
HenryHook,Stephanie leswhere
"shootthesepuzzles
backandforth."
Spadaccini,
andNortonRhoades.
andeditors and
DougandJanisHeller.Puzzledom's
first No paperandpencilneeded...
lady,MargaretFarrar,awardedtheprizesat
Name a car modol that's a patlndrome
theSundayafternoonbanquet.
Not including.rY,ttname theonly U.S. president
AlthoughReaglereally didn't know the whose last name starts wlth two vowels
constructors
andeditors,hedidknowhowto
Not Including..Y,"name theonly U.S,presldent
talk shopwith them (diagramsize, word whosc last name cnds with two vowels
count,wide-opengrids, favorite clues,
Not including .Yrt'name the only U. S. capitat
payrates,etc.)andquicklyinfiltrated whose only vowel ls..E,
lhemes,
their supposedlyoff-limits chambers.He
Name the only state whose only vowel ls.(E '
crackedjokes with rhem as they marked
Reaglelikes thesebecausethey don,t
puzzles,
computed
statistics,
entereddata
require
rivia knowledge,per se,but they
on tabulationsheets(this was the era of
peoplestretchtheirbrains.
do
make
manual
calculations),
andbolteddownmeals
incrowded
hotelsuites.
Hedazzledthejudges
'aoilow,r,^"r,"iri iffj, ::ffii
wittrcopiesof his wide-openpuzzlesfrom
theSimon& Schuster
PocketBookseries.
Many were rejected.Some of the time,
"Dell
Reagle
usedthe72-hourcompetiLion
had no idea of what I was talking
asa
pointto setup appoinr.ments
stafling
to see about," recallsReagle."I submitteda puzzle
puzzleeditorswhilehewasin theNewyork called 'Where areyou Mr. Chaney?'in which
area.Oneof thepeoplehe focusedon was every theme answer was a movie title with
RosalindMoore. If Reaglewas going to 'Lon' in it-Quee n of B abylon,Godzillavs.
maketheplungeand earnhis living from Megalon, The Lone Wolf in London. It was
puzzles
heneeded
apublisherlike Dell,who returned with this note,'We don't underpurchased
lots of crosswords.
Reaglehad stand what N.{r.Chaney has to do with ttris
gown upwith Dell puzzles,but theirtradi- puzzle,' Dell wasn't used to the kind
of

HISBARPUZLES

November/December
1991

CROSSWRD

puzzlesI wassending."
But Reaglereally wantedto have his
puzzlespublishedin Dell, so he adapted
them to meetthe needsof a mass-market.
publishingcompanywhose puzzlesare
gearedto a "typical" solver,a 35-to 50-yearold womanliving in theMidwest."I leamed
to do neatly squaredoff seven-by-seven
cornerswith no 'bad' abbreviations.
It was
really hard to learn becauseit wasn't mv
styleat all."
(ThroughtheyearsReagleandDell have
developedan excellentrelationship;along
theway they'vebothcompromised.
Reagle
saveshis most outrageousthemesand
newest-wave
cluesfor otheroutletsandsends
Dell puzzleshe knowswill be published.
And the Dell editors,especiallyeditor-inchief Erica Rothstein,have recognized
Reagle'stalentandallowedhim manylibertiesnot permittedotherconstructors.)
During this eventfulperiodReaglealso
hadtheopportuniryto meerwirhWill Shortz
at Games magazineand to analyze the
puzzlesdoneby thetwo constructors
whose
work he admiredmost-Henry Hook and
Mike Shenk.He gainedvaluableinsighrs
from everyone.
From Shortzhe leamedto closeup his
gridsjust a little sothathecouldmakeberter
wordchoicesfor thediagram.FromHookhe
leamedabout"alphabetsouppuzzles"with
interestin
g abbreviations-FTDlXNJ(Fort
Dix, NewJersey)or EXAFLCIOVIp (exAFL-CIO V.I.P.). And from Shenkhe
leamedto put moreemphasison his threeletterwordssothattheywererealwordsthat
couldbecluedcleverly,notjustabbreviations
thatfinishedthediagram.It wasanedifying,
"I wasn't good
yet humblingexperience.
as
as I thoughtI was when I sawtheseother
guys."
The highlighrof rheweekendwasmeering hislongtimeidol MargaretFarrar.
Itwas
mutual admirationat first sighr,although
Farrar'sfirstwordsto him wereinreference
to his beard,"You're much hairierttranI
thoughtyou'dbe."An additional
bonuswas
Reagle'sthird-prize
award,a checkfor$50!
When Reaglereturnedto Californiahe
(Continuedon page 7)
Page5

I
Reagle (from Page5)

for thetopprizesandteamgamesfor light_ until he joined

the writing staff of ..Couch
hearteddiversion.The contestdrew 70 Potatoes"
in 1989. Thephilosophybehind
rncorporated his new discoveries with his pailicipants,
mostof whomhadneverpar_ this show was ..TV
rivia that haOto be
specialway of cluing andsoldlotsofpuzzles ticipated
in a crossword
public_ phrasedin
toumament.
an interestingway," so Reagle
over the next two years. In the early ,g0s he ity generated
by ttre contestwas directly developed"cute" questions:
enteredBantam Book,s Great MastersHunt responsible
"Woody
for Reagle'snextjob as a TV
"for
Allen, Woody Woodpecker,
new crossword puzzle experts" with gameshow
writer.
WoodyHarrelson-whichoneis noia natu_
oneof his trademarkpuzzles,a mini_screen_
"Cross
At this time
Wits" wasbeinsre_ ral redhead?"
play. Titled "Signs of Destruction,,'each vived.
"Klingon,
Whentheproducerssawthearti"cles
cling-free,or Klinger_which
themed enlry was clued as ..a sign in a on Reagle
theyimmediatelycontactedhim of_theseis a cross-dresser
on a TV show?,,
departmentstorethat you hopeJunior won't
to write for the show, and he accepted. Reagle's
maincrosswordshowcase
take literally": throw rugs, pound cake, slit "Cross
is the
Wits" questions
weredesigned
sothe SundaySanFranciscoExaminermagazine.
skirts,scatterpins,pocket calculators,watch celebrity
contestants
could respondwith a Whenthemagazinewas
beingdeveloped
repairs, paint counter, floor manager, and gaganswer
(it
beforethebuzzerrangandthey debutedon Ocrober
3,
l9g5),
stretchsocks.
rhe
advertis_
hadtogivethecorrectanswer.Foiexamplg ing
personfelt that,,if you're goingto stafi
Reaglewas notified that he had won first before
answering..umbrella"for . people a newmagazine
youhaveto haveaDuzzlein
prize. However, he had originally sent
the sayit's badluckto openonein thehouse,,,
the
back."
Reagle
quipsthathewasiiredfor
puzzleto Dell, who had informedhim
that it a contestantmight ad lib with ..a yogurt
thejob because"I havea Californiasensi_
wasbeing put "on hold." Reagleinterpreted shop" "an
or
oysterbar.,,Similarly,.iSJr" bility.I use'Perrier'instead
that as a rejection and sent the puizle to peopleget
of.terrier'inthe
on their kneesto scrubthem"
Crid."
Bantamwitrout requestingits return. In the could
conceivablybe answeredbv
Reaglefeelsthatthis audienceis a ,.hip,,
interim,Dell publishedthepuzzlemaking it "chihuahuas" ,dachshunds,,
or
before
the
crowd
andmoreaccepting
ineligible for the prize. (This was befJre real
of libertiestlratire
answer,"floors.,'
couldn't
useon a mass_market
Dell and Bantammersed.)
"Cross
audience.
In
When
Wits" wentoff the air the his"ModernLatin,'crossword
retrospect,Reagtewaxes philosophi_ sameproducers
he
used
clues
-In
hired Reagleto consFuct that he "would
neverbe able to get away
calon thismix-up..,Thefactthatbeilediiors word
minepuzzles
for theirnewshow,.,The with in Dell":
would turn down a puzzle that would go on Home
ShoppingGame.,'In
a wordmine,the
to win first prize in something struck me
"Great
,,A posteriori"
bunst'
as contestant
is givena key word,e.g.CRyS_
funny.It was more of a misunderstandins. TAL,
ttAwesome
..Ars
bunst'
and must form and spell-asmanv
magnart
fne1.{id.n_tspecifically turn it down. The], words
"We are
out
of
aspossible
mulch.
in
30
seconds,
usingonly
just didn'r know what they weregoing
"Non compos
I think"
to do the lettersin that word (stay,car, tai
mentistt
sar,
with it. Dell publishedit with perfecttiriing_
"I
rat,rats,etc.).
love Japanesefood",,O tcmpore, o
mores,
perfecttiming for me to lose the first priz"e.,,
Unfortunately,thisshowairedweekdays
Bu-t
.
even
Reagle,
In 1985, after six years as a full_time in
therule_breaker,
hasa
mid-afternoonduring the Iran_Contra
cut-off point. After testinghis themeson
constructor,Reagle organized a Western hearings
andwaspre-emptedalmostevery "friends
who neversolve puzzles,"he,ll
crosswordtournament, co_sponsored
by day by OliverNorth,steslimony.The rat_
discardcluesthataretoo ,,wayout,,, e.g.,
Gamesmagazine.Borrowing heavily from ings
werelow andit wascancelledafterfive "Ingredients
in a cannibalcocktail"ior..B?_
theStamfordformat, the weekendevent
was months.
nanas,
Three
Men anda Babv."
a combination
of individualspeedsolving
Reagle took a hiatus from game shows
(Continuedon pa[e 9)

MoreReagleSpecialties

In "Knowing the Angles," rhe gimmick

was to place the themed
entriesinto the grid at right angles:
|
I
I
R

I
COCHETRoMANCE

|
|
|

SNCEDCHECK

The,brand
names
..r"r,,
-'Let.S
of popular
sofrdrinks
u rrrr popped
tsvr,srs ovrr
pup1reu up
upin
m
Ggt
c.t

||
r

Fizzical":

'{DamnYankcestt
star

..wharyoumighthaveaftcrthis
puzzler,

..Dyspcpsi1r,

"A shotIn the

doc'
"Southerndish
that neverruns out?', .oThree
pot hominy,,

"Movies
in Brief'summarized
films in a singleword:
..-- "PLIJM"
..^_-

,.TheColor purple,,
"Placcs

In the Heartrt
,*^,, , ,^*. ;;:;;.
'Tou
Light Up My ;Life"

,,ffiot*t"
..LAMp.

,..-..--_--.
"WEEK"
1
I o-^_r^

.oTabHunter,,

L'tr
rs73,,il:il::T;,,,
i.Natatoriarnymph"
*ffi::;:;:"'
"vvatersprrte"

.,Resutt
of a surgeon
sittingon his
r-.-^a,,
hlPo?"

,,SevenDays
in 1l1sy,,

"goog
Vibrarions,,he
spoofed
I H:3:":*:*:"i::::':1.31nr;,tn
eltlauat".i"r""""i"i#frrtr;

| :::r"lj:::f::1r..:::lan
each.themed
enry sentence
which startedur;irr. Jrjrffif;'f,
I
,.I the..."
|

llNewEngland-style
chatter" spoofedBostonaccenfs:
'fish market
come.on?"

{.pick e cr.r

.,Nerghborhoodbuirdings?,,
fiil;#;:il:"'

|
|

'tnesscruu,
-'

"Plcnic ground,

..Toppring
kings,,
-"

| ;:.T_*i*."v,J,
CROSSWRD

"collapsing

tab;ss'r

_:::T:lr,yl:,
baby boysl
"Bouncing

Page 7

Reagle (from PageT)

Examinersolversareloyal toReagleand
bitterlydisappointed
ifthere's ablankspace
onthepuzzlepage
whenhetakesa vacation.
But Reagledid test his fans' loyaltieson
April 1, 1990,with his "Tearfully Yours"
Etzzlewhosesix themeentriestold a story:
I'm moving to the Big Apple
The change will do me good
I got hlred by the NY Times
I'll miss everyone dearly
You can't be funny forever
Incidentally April F'ool

scramblesup into 'trophies.'I want to do

thingsin puzzlesthatpeoplemay
nevereven
haveheardof before,e.g.,thatJohnphilip
Sousaactuallydied in March.I think it's
amazingthatalmostnobodyknowsthis,so
I'll stickit into apazzle.Iwantpeopleto go
'um,'
or laughor something."
Anothergoalis "to havesomething
tricky
that solvershaveto catchon to that's not
quite like anythingthey've ever donebefore."In "LeaveUs Outof This,"theunsuspectingsolverthoughtthat "us" hadto be
eliminatedfrom theanswer;actually,,,me"
hadto be removedtwice;
"Graduationtime',

..ComncentDay"

EmestBorgnine's
namewastheonesolvers had to discoverthroughpoems,riddles,
and a progressivelyshrinking bank of 99
letten. (As thenameswerediscovered,solvers crossedout the letterscontainedtherein
from the bank.) Reaglepurposelymade
Borgninethefinal discoverybecause,,it
had
theword'nine' in it; hewasbornin llamden,
Conn.,andleamedto actin Flarford,Conn.',
More than 1,400peopleenteredthecontest.
Reaglealso wants to syndicatehis
puzzles,"There are all thoseregional
areasin America that have no idea I
evenexistandI would like to somehow
get my puzzlesin front of their noses."
He bemoansthe fact that "puzzlesthat
are hard and obscureare bad because
they discouragenew solvers."

Solverswerereallyupsetuntiltheysolved
"CertainHlspanlc"
.,XicanArlcanrt
thefrnalthemeentry.Someconfessed
to an
"Wicked Witch's
last
earlypeekat theanswers,"As soonas'I am
..I'm lting lting',
wordstt
moving'creptintothepuzzleI wasunableto
completethe puzzlewithout checkingthe
solution."The editorreceivedso manylettersthatonecolumnwasdevotedentirelyto
Reagle'spracticaljoke. "I could kill Merl
Reagle,wereit not for the fact that I can't
livewithouthim" wastypicalof thesolvers'
on clues;he fixls that'becauseof
feelings.
comesfromandhowstregrewrp," slelma
Reagle,whosupportshimselfcompletely wrought-iron chairs with red seats,and differentperspective
ttrran
hedoes
urdisanasset
from puzzles,is an extremelygregarious large tables.Eschewingthe high-calorie, in cluing*le "sameold words
in brandrew
personinvolvedin a careerthatrequireshim
high-cholesterol
pastries,
eggs,andcheeses,*t#;
to work independentlymost of the time. Reaglesticksto hisregularorderof two oat
breakfastReagrepopsino his
Consequently,
he hasdevelopeda schedule branmuffins,a largedecaffeinated
coffee, aparunent
to checkhis phonemessages,
thatallowshim to bealonewith people(see and a srnall, flavored coffee-of-*re-dav then dashe,sout to fast
a
food restaurant
sidebar).
(coconut-raspberry
joinedhimj. wherehe nursesiced teafor hows,writes
on
the
day
I
"I can't
shutmyselfin a room andjust
Reaglearrivesbenveensix andsevenand let0ers,works on puzzles,and thinks of
makepuzzles
all daylong," heexplains.He
slaysforafewhours.Flaleyjoinshim
atvrying themesandideas.
enjoyslos of orheractivities-going to ttre times,depending
on hersctredule
(shewqt$
In theafternoon
hereUrms
o his.
movies,
diningout,hangingoutwith friends, for an accounting
firm andhaslimitedtime b work on the cornprterand put
goingto bars,and chattingon the phone.
tcnrches
on theprzzlesprio o maili
Reagleis also still very involved wirh his
music,usinghis synthesizerandcomputer
Reaglewantsto expandhis outletsby
A firm believer that ..new-wave
toproducedemotapesthathe takesaround "gettinginto contestsmore.I wantto reach
puzzles
encourage
newsolvers,,'
Reagle
Hollywoodso peoplewill "seeif whatI'm a very, very wide audienceusing
word strivesto createlively puzzlesthatmake
doingis differentor gimmicky enoughor pluzzles
andwordgames."He hada chance "learninga gameexperience.',
He feels
weirdenough."
to enterthis arenawith a nine-daycontest that "all of us who are in
the
biz are
Reaglehas a fiancee, Marie Haley. commissioned
for theninth anniversary
of basicallystudenrsof the mind. We like
"living
They'vebeentogethereightyears,
in theHar tford Courant's Northeast magazine to seehow
it works."
separate
apartrnents
together"a few blocks in March,1991.
Whenaskedif he seeshimselfdoingttris
"She's
apart,
Reaglesays,
theactualadultof
Contestantshad to solve eight word for therestof his life, Reaglehesitates
mothetwoof us-the goodinvestor,thebook- puzzlesto figure oul a) the namesof nine
mentarily."Yes, in one form or another.I
keeper,the agent, the businessperson." famouspeopleassociated
with Connecticut don't think I'll everstopunlessI makeso
I{aleyworkswittr Reagleon cluing.
and,b) thepattern
associated
withttrenames. much moneyfrom my musicthat I don't
Reaglehas
specificgoalswittrhispuzzles. Reaglespecificallydesignedr,trecontestso
havetime for puzzles."
Hismainaimis "to makesomeone
laughout thatwinningwas
a
testofthesolvers'
abilities,
Beforesolversbleaklyenvisiontheconloud."Hehopesthat"whensolverstell their not theresultof a lottery.
sequences
of this,Merl Reaglethenmakesa
puzzle-hating
spouses
thethemaricgagthey
The ninefamouspeople,in order,were: commentabouthis futureftat
shouldmake
toowill laugh.If it's funny stuff it hasto be Sancy Marchand,
Qscarde la Renta,Ring his puzzlefansbreathea sighof relief,,,If I
funnyin therealworld.Itcan'tbecrossword Lardner,Jr.,Iom Brokaw,flenryKissinger,
makeit asarockmusician
I don'tknowif I'll
funny."
ErnestBorgnine,dndy Rooney,gusanSaint give up puzzles."
"to
Healsowants wakepeopleup to all James,andlom Seaver.
Andthepatternwas
theneatlittlethingsthatarehiddenin words, thatthefirstlettersof ttreirnames
spelledout HELENE HOVANEC is editor
andpube.g.,how things anagram-'Shop Rite' themagazine's
name.
lisherof Kids' PuzzleExpress.

November/December
1991

CROSSWRD

Page 9