Alvin Ashby author page

Alvin Ashby, creator of one the first known word lists, was a leading contributor to the Times in its inaugural year of 1942. Already a prolific constructor, Mr. Ashby had four puzzles in the Times in 1942, second only to Charles Erlenkotter, another veteran constructor.

By the early 1940s, Mr. Ashby had reportedly been published over 300 times in various newspapers and magazines. His first crossword appeared in 1924 in the Salt Lake Tribune. He had over 125 puzzles in the New York Herald Tribune alone. One profile noted that his 300 puzzles had earned him "over $1,500 for his trouble."

Mr. Ashby's success as a constructor was no doubt helped by an exhaustive word list that he created over several years. His word list contained about 200,000 entries, organized by word length. A 1943 article described how he created it:

[He] first bought a huge Webster unabridged dictionary. Then he proceeded to list, alphabetically, every word, suffix or prefix that was only two letters. His next alphabetical listing was compiled of all words three letters in length. Other separate lists were made of words containing four, five, six and on up to ten letters. Then our friend, with what strength he had left, labeled each of the 200,000 words as to whether it is a verb, noun, adverb, preposition, or horse of another color.

Another reporter described Mr. Ashby's word list, or "key book," as follows:

His guide to constructing puzzles is a key book…. Drafting of this book alone represents many years of work, it was pointed out. Every word in the English language is represented, except the obsolete ones.

That same reporter described Mr. Ashby and his workshop:

He … spends winters and spare time constructing the attractive but aggravating crossword puzzle. An inspection of Mr. Ashby's laboratory would dispel any belief that the real sufferer is the [one] who solves the puzzle. The room is piled ceiling high with key books, dictionaries, maps, fairy stories, mathematics books and headache powders.

On his growth as a constructor, Mr. Ashby said, "The whole thing in becoming a maker of crossword puzzles is developing yourself. Where it used to take me three months to invent one worthy enough to be accepted by a publication, I can run through a puzzle now in eight hours."

Alvin Jordan Ashby was born in Taylorsville, Utah in 1901. His father was a farmer and his mother was a homemaker.

Like his father, Mr. Ashby worked as a farmer. For several years he grew potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables in Bountiful, Utah.

In 1948, he married Edna Aamodt, a bookkeeper. The two traveled extensively by car throughout the United States, including once logging 8,000 miles through 20 states on one trip.

Besides constructing, Mr. Ashby was skilled in math. He devised several math problems and brainteasers for his local newspaper.

He passed away in 1979 at the age of 78.