Margaret Saine author page
1 puzzle by Margaret Saine
with Constructor comments
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My first thought of making crossword puzzles started after I learned Will Shortz's story while looking through an alumni magazine in 2005, how he got his law degree then went on to become the editor of crosswords at the Times. Years later, there was a piece about Sam Ezersky, who graduated as an engineer then went to work with Will. It was this second nudge about another fellow alum that finally pushed me to add constructing crossword puzzles to my list of activities to pursue through old-age, along with photography and duplicate bridge. Playing the piano would also have made the list if I had had any hope of mastering it.
My first thought was to make the themeless puzzles I got so good at solving while commuting to the city in the early '90s. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that what elevates many of today's crossword puzzles is computing power combined with an author's creativity.
It's taken two years of fine-tuning, and still, every time an idea for a theme strikes, the hours pass like minutes while I am working on a new grid.
Thanks to the UVA Alumni Magazine for providing the inspiration to begin. Concerning A Reduced Sentence's theme, from the writing of Thomas Jefferson, "the most valuable of all talents, that of never using two words where one will do."