Esther Haynes, Deputy Editor
My husband, Mike, does the New York Times crossword puzzle every day (even Saturday!), and he’s annoyingly good at it. For his birthday this year, I hired the extremely talented Brendan Emmett Quigley, who has written puzzles for the Times, ESPN, McSweeney’s, his own website and many other people/publications to make a personalized crossword just for Mike.
I came up with a bunch of personal keywords, inside jokes and names of people who
mean something to my husband, and then Brendan worked them into one awesome puzzle. When I gave it to Mike, he looked thoroughly delighted and a little astonished. And isn’t that how you always want someone to look when you give them a gift?
