Merl Reagle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Merl Reagle
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Reagle in 2005
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| Born | January 5, 1950 Audubon, New Jersey, U.S.
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| Died | August 22, 2015 (aged 65) Tampa, Florida, U.S.
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| Occupation | Crossword constructor, musician |
| Spouse(s) | Marie Haley |
| Parent(s) | Sam and Evelyn Reagle |
Merl Harry Reagle (born January 5, 1950 – died August 22, 2015) was an American crossword puzzle maker. For 30 years, he created a new puzzle every Sunday. These puzzles appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and were shared with over 50 other Sunday newspapers. Some of these included the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
Merl Reagle also made puzzles for AARP The Magazine and for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. He was known for making crosswords that were fun and clever.
Contents
Merl Reagle's Life Story
Early Life and Puzzle Passion
Merl Reagle was born in Audubon, New Jersey, on January 5, 1950. He made his very first crossword puzzle when he was only six years old! By age 16, he sold a puzzle to The New York Times. This made him the youngest person to have a puzzle published in the Times at that time.
He went to the University of Arizona. He studied English but left before finishing his degree.
Crossword Tournaments and Career Start
Merl first joined the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1979. This was only the second year the tournament was held, and he placed third! Later, he started creating puzzles for the contest himself. He also helped judge the tournament finals.
In the early 1980s, Merl began sending his crosswords to different magazines. These included Dell crossword magazine and Games magazine. He also sent puzzles to Margaret Farrar's Simon & Schuster books. At this time, he thought of crossword making more as a hobby. His main jobs were writing scripts for TV and movies.
In 1985, he got a special job to create a regular Sunday crossword. This was for the San Francisco Examiner's new Sunday magazine. Three years later, his puzzles started being shared with many other newspapers across the country. This is called syndication.
Making Crosswords Fun and Modern
In the 1990s, Merl Reagle became known as one of the best puzzle makers. He helped create a new style of crossword puzzle. These puzzles were "less old-fashioned and more cool." The crossword editor for The New York Times, Will Shortz, encouraged this new style. He wanted puzzles to appeal to more people, especially younger readers.
This new style included references to pop culture, funny word play, and unique themes. Merl's puzzles were a big part of this exciting change.
Helping Others with Puzzles
In 2011, Merl used his puzzle skills to help the Alzheimer's Foundation of America. He created the National Brain Game Challenge. This was an online contest with a Sunday crossword puzzle. The puzzle had a secret message hidden in its clues. Winners could get cash prizes, including a top prize of $25,000. There were categories for both "casual solvers" and "puzzle professionals."
Merl Reagle was one of the few crossword creators who earned a living only from making puzzles. He owned all the rights to his puzzles. He reprinted them in books that he sold himself under the name PuzzleWorks. With help from his wife, Marie Haley, he published over 20 books of his Sunday crosswords. They sold these books from his website. Merl and Marie lived in the Tampa Bay, Florida area.
Merl Reagle passed away on August 22, 2015. He had been in the hospital for two days before due to a serious illness called acute pancreatitis.
Merl's Amazing Puzzles: Funny and Wide-Open
Creative Themes and Designs
The New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz once said that Merl Reagle's puzzle themes were "fresher and funnier than anyone else's." He also said Merl was great at connecting words in complex, "wide-open" patterns. Games magazine called Merl "the best Sunday crossword creator in America." A poll of puzzle makers on a popular website, cruciverb.com, showed that Merl was the most admired by his fellow creators.
His 2004 puzzle, "Wide Open Spaces," holds a record. It has the fewest words (answers) ever in a Sunday puzzle. This large 21x21 grid had only 112 words, with 51 black squares. Another famous puzzle editor, Stanley Newman, called Merl's puzzle "Gridlock" "the best single crossword of the last 25 years." "Gridlock" had many car names crossing each other in the middle, like a "thick traffic jam."
Humor in Crosswords
Other puzzle makers often said Merl created some of the funniest themes for his puzzles. One puzzle, called "Hit Song," was a funny version of the song "My Way." It included funny phrases like "I'M IN A / RUSH, NO PICTURES, PLEASE, OR / ELSE YOU'LL LEARN THE / BLACKENED EYE WAY."
Other popular puzzles had funny titles like "Inappropriate Muzak for a Doctor's Office" and "Least Popular Beanie Babies".
Merl in the Movies and TV
Wordplay Documentary
Merl Reagle was known for making his puzzles with a pencil and paper. He didn't use a computer to help him. The 2006 movie Wordplay showed Merl creating a crossword puzzle on camera. This puzzle was later published in The New York Times. The movie then showed famous crossword fans trying to solve it. These included Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, the Indigo Girls, and Mike Mussina.
Other Fun Appearances
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Merl Reagle was part of a psychedelic rock band called Greylock Mansion. He played the organ and sang lead vocals. He also wrote most of the band's songs. The band released two songs but never made a full album. Their old recordings were finally released in 2016, but Merl passed away before he could see it.
On November 16, 2008, Merl Reagle was a special guest voice on an episode of The Simpsons. The episode was called "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words." In the show, a cartoon version of Merl appeared with Will Shortz. Lisa Simpson found secret messages hidden in the puzzle and its clues. Merl had created this puzzle, and Will Shortz had edited it. The actual crossword puzzle that appeared in the Times that day also had these secret messages!
Merl also appeared on many other TV shows and radio programs. These included CNN, the Today show, Nightline, Oprah, and National Public Radio. In 2013, the Washington Post featured an online interview with him.
