Anthony Morse author page

Anthony Morse constructed 34 known crosswords in the Times. His wife, Roberta, was also a constructor. She authored the first-ever rebus puzzle in the Times and Mr. Morse constructed the second. Combined, the Morses had 99 known crosswords in the Times between the mid-1950s and early 70s, making them one of the most prolific couples of all time.

The extent to which the Morses collaborated is unknown (they have no known shared bylines). However, their groundbreaking rebus puzzles — Roberta's published on Labor Day 1954 and Anthony's on New Year's Day 1955 — were remarkably similar in form. The grids had identical layouts, except Anthony's had two more black squares. The rebuses were placed in the same squares.

Anthony "Nat" Morse was born in 1891 in Springfield, Mass. His father was a prominent preacher known for founding the first Sunday school in Jerusalem and serving as an early leader of the YMCA. His mother was a homemaker. Anthony's great-uncle was Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph and co-developer of Morse code.

He graduated from Yale in 1915. As a senior, he led the varsity crew team as its stroke, the pace-setting rower. As his grandson, also named Anthony Morse, explained:

He was the JV stroke. The coaches didn't think he had the endurance to be varsity stroke because he had asthma. … At some point, the varsity stroke made the mistake of taking a sick day, which necessitated my grandfather sitting in as varsity stroke for the day's practice. My grandfather saw his opportunity, and he took it. Rather than setting the stroke at about 34 strokes per minute, he set the stroke at sprint level and kept it there until there were only two of the crew who hadn't collapsed. … From that day on, my grandfather was the varsity stroke.

In World War I, Anthony was a lieutenant in the Navy. He served aboard ships that escorted convoys in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, engaging in anti-submarine warfare. As he explained in a diary he kept during the war:

Until the Americans came, the British had been conducting more or less "run away" warfare, considering it victory if they got a convoy through without the loss of a ship. The U.S. ships, however, immediately began an aggressive warfare that has practically driven the submarines away from the British Isles, leaving the Mediterranean as the only practical field of operation.

His diary was reprinted in a 1990 issue of Naval History magazine. In it, he described how his ship destroyed a German submarine commanded by the infamous Captain "Spartel Jack," who had sunk over 100 Allied ships. "Nobody has seen or heard of Spartel Jack since," he wrote.

In 1920, Anthony and Roberta were married in Lexington, Kentucky, at the home of Roberta's aunt. "My grandfather did not want to be married in a church," Anthony's grandson explained. "[His father] was a hellfire and brimstone preacher, and as a result my grandfather avoided churches"

Anthony and Roberta settled in the suburbs of New York, where they had one child, Anthony Jr., who himself would go on to serve as a Naval officer in World War II.

The Morses later lived in Washington DC, Greenwich Village and Naples, Florida. In addition to crosswords, Anthony constructed diagramless puzzles. He passed away in 1973 at age 82.