Boston University College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Patrick John Duggan can complete a Monday crossword puzzle in The New York Times in less than five minutes, and make his own to boot.
Times crosswords get harder throughout the week, but even the weekend puzzles do not present a challenge to Duggan, who said he can finish one in 30 minutes. He now designs his own, and two of them have been published in the Times.
“I really enjoy it,” Duggan said. “It’s kind of an addiction – doing them, making them. It’s hard to stop. There’s something elegant about it, the way all the different words mesh together so nicely.”
The Times published Duggan’s latest crossword last Tuesday. It appeared as part of the newspaper’s first Teen Puzzlemaker Week. His first one was published in May, Duggan said.
“It’s kind of surreal to see one with my name on it,” Duggan said. “It was pretty cool.”
As a human physiology major on the pre-medical track, Duggan, who began writing crosswords while in high school, said he has no plans to incorporate puzzles into his career, though he likes making them as a hobby.
He works on his puzzles periodically throughout the school year, using graph paper or a Microsoft Word document grid to lay them out. It takes about three months of on-and-off work for Duggan to complete a crossword.
The hardest part is coming up with clever clues for common vocabulary, he said.
“You’re trying to stand out,” Duggan said. “The challenge would be to come up with something that captures the eye and is challenging to solve.”
For example, one of his clues was “popular boxing venue.” Most people would intuitively guess a word having to do with the sport, but the answer was really “UPS store,” Duggan said.
“You’re tricking the mind into going one way, but you’re really going the other way,” he said.
Times crossword Editor Will Shortz said he was impressed by Duggan’s work.
“Patrick is really good at writing clues that are accurate, on target and fresh,” he said.
Shortz also praised Duggan for using vocabulary that may be new to Times readers, like “Jay-Z” and “Vavavoom.” Readers would never find these kinds of entries a few years ago, and they add a sense of liveliness to the puzzle, he said.
Shortz organized the Teen Puzzlemaker Week to showcase young puzzlemakers’ talents. Constructing top-quality crosswords requires a deep knowledge of many different topics, he said, a gift that many crossword solvers may not associate with teenagers.
Jim Horne, who reviews New York Times crossword puzzles in the JimH Crossword Blog, said the teenagers’ puzzles were as good as any other published in the Times. Duggan’s humorous clues in particular let his personality shine through, Horne said.
“Think of the constraints you work under,” Horne said in an email. “All those interlocking words that have to completely mesh, each one has to sound natural, each clue has to be at the appropriate level. Given all that, it’s hard to be delightful as well. Patrick’s puzzles are delightful.”
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