Charles Erlenkotter author page

Charles Erlenkotter constructed the first-ever crossword in the Times, published on February 15, 1942. At that time, he was a veteran constructor, having been published in outlets as early as 1924 and frequently after that.

He was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1881. He married Wilhelmina "Mina" Weinacht in 1911.

As a young man, he ran his family's printing business after his father, the proprietor, died in 1897. He later joined the Hamburg American Line, a German-owned shipping company, where he spent most of his career. He would go on to work in various locales for the company, including San Francisco, St. Louis, and Montreal. During World War I, the company's operations were limited, and Charles instead worked for the New York Conservation Commission as a forester.

After the war, he resumed work with the Hamburg American Line. He and Mina moved to Montreal, and he managed the company's office there.

By 1924 he had begun constructing crosswords. That year, he was published in the Tribune syndicate.

In 1939, the outbreak of World War II interrupted the Hamburg American Line's business again. Charles left the company and he and Mina moved back to New York, settling in the Bronx. There he focused on puzzles. In the 1940s, besides the Times, he was active with such publications as Stars and Stripes and the newspaper PM, which later became the New York Star. He was also an editor of Simon & Schuster puzzle books.

He passed away in 1948 at age 67.

In the forward to Eugene Maleska's book Across and Down, Margaret Farrar noted that Erlenkotter was also known as "Charles Cross." The third-ever puzzle in the Times, appearing on March 1, 1942, was published under the Charles Cross name and was likely by Erlenkotter.* Erlenkotter may have also been published under the pseudonym "C.E. Noel," the byline that appeared on Christmas Eve in 1944.

* Margaret Farrar likely employed the Charles Cross pseudonym for other constructors as well. It appears as late as 1962, several years after Erlenkotter's death. David Steinberg's Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project blog noted that several books stated that Farrar used the Charles Cross moniker to avoid the same constructor's name appearing close in time.