In reverse alphabetical order, here are the regular contributors to the Diary of a Crossword Fiend venture:
Dave “Evad” Sullivan got his moniker when he first posted at the old NYT Puzzle forum under the member name “evadnavillus.” He was at first mistaken for a Croatian housewife who did American crosswords named Evadna Villus. He just had his fifth daily puzzle accepted for publication in the New York Times, and has had over 20 puzzles published in other media outlets. He lives with his partner of over 20 years, Gary, in Swampscott, Mass., but will soon be moving to Woodstock, Vermont to try out the farming life. Along with tending to all things technical here at DOACF, Dave has helped out fellow bloggers Brendan Emmett Quigley, Tyler Hinman and Matt Gaffney.
Janie Smulyan has a background as a performer and lyricist, and is a tyro constructor (published, thank-you-very-much!). For two years she blogged the daily CrosSynergy puzzle (with more than a little help from Evad!); now, ‘cept as a sub, she blogs almost not at all. She couldn’t be less impressive as a solver if she tried (and she has…); nor more obsessed (and she is). She counts herself as one of the many here “…bedazzled by language and addicted to [what] Cyril Connolly called ‘unbreakable toys for the mind.’” (Alistair Reid)
Doug Peterson constructed his first crossword in 2003 and had no idea what he was getting into. He’s an accomplished constructor (over 500 puzzles published) and solver (ACPT 2008 Rookie of the Year), though you can’t always tell that from his blog posts. He gets distracted easily. Now where was I? Oh right. Doug blogs the Washington Post‘s Post Puzzler every Sunday, unless he can con someone else into doing it. His hobbies include attending crossword tournaments and watching old episodes of Sanford and Son.
pannonica currently lives with a cat. Just one.
joon pahk is a physics teacher at harvard university who has been obsessively into crosswords since 2008. an occasional, though not prolific, constructor, he has also finished in the top 20 of the ACPT each of the last 3 years. here at diary of a crossword fiend, joon blogs matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest. outside of crosswords, joon’s main interests are trivia and sports, especially soccer. he can’t stand pets or long walks on the beach.
Jeffrey Krasnick of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, has won four Foreign Division trophies at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, where he has finished as high as 29th overall. Jeffrey blogs the LA Times puzzle every Thursday. Jeffrey was mentioned on 53 episodes of the Fill Me In crossword podcast and has the spreadsheet to prove it. Jeffrey wishes he could spend more time at Walt Disney World and in February, 2013 had his first published crossword.
Jared Hersh is a college math teacher in Santa Barbara, CA. He accidentally became a member of The Crossword Community after sending an email to the late, great podcast Fill Me In. His other main crossword credential consists of a plan to finish in the 10th percentile (no, not 90th) at his ACPT debut next year. In addition to being bad at crosswords, Jared is a competitive runner and sleeper. While the running is free of performance-enhancing drugs, the same can’t be necessarily said about the sleeping.
Angela Olson Halsted (a/k/a PuzzleGirl) doesn’t blog much any more but can occasionally be talked into covering a puzzle or two. She has had several puzzles published in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, all collaborations with either Michael Sharp or Doug Peterson. Her first solo puzzle has been accepted by The New York Times, so keep your eyes open for that! When Angela isn’t solving puzzles, she’s a legal secretary who lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband and two children. She’s a voracious reader and an avid Hawkeye wrestling fan. She types faster than anyone she knows, and her blood pressure is excellent.
Matt Gaffney has been a professional crossword puzzle writer for the past 15 years. His weekly crossword contest is here, his daily 11×13 is here and his personal website is here. At Fiend he blogs Brendan Quigley’s Thursday puzzle, Pete Muller’s Monthly Music Meta, and Patrick Blindauer’s monthly weblog puzzle.
Neville Fogarty is a graduate student in mathematics at the University of Kentucky who’s been solving crosswords since preparing for a game show in 2007. He had his first crossword published in the LA Times in 2008, and while still contributing there, he also blogs the LAT Tuesday and Thursday puzzles here at The Fiend. He also publishes a weekly crossword when he’s not playing racquetball or ultimate Frisbee.
Sam Donaldson is a law professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta. In 2008, he attended his first American Crossword Puzzle Tournament as a 40th birthday present to himself. Later that year, his first crosswords were published in the USA Today, the New York Times, and the New York Sun. Since then he has published a couple dozen crosswords in various venues. Once upon a time, he blogged the weekly Boston Globe puzzle here at The Fiend, but since April of 2011 he has been covering the daily CrosSynergy puzzle. A perennial contender for People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” he has been approached by several high-level Nigerian officials to receive substantial sums of money in exchange for his bank account information.
T Campbell is a writer of comics, blog posts, books and more. An occasional contributor to the Fiend, he’s preparing to publish On Crosswords, a 63,000-word rumination that began with his work here. He’s produced the 14,400-square Ubercross C-Spot, the largest known crossword to follow standard American rules (no repeated words, no two-letter words, no uncrossed squares and totally solvable). Other crossword credits include Crossworlds: 50 Crosswords for the Science-Fiction Fan, a 2500-square “warm-up” called the Ubercross Fiddy and the cross-comic story Crossover, guest-starring Amy Reynaldo.
Gareth Bain: Born ’86, Port Elizabeth, South Africa in a hospital (we have those); qualified veterinarian at East London SPCA since 1 August 2012. Has been known to publish the odd puzzle. Also fond of baking and bird-watching (though combining the two would be a bad idea).
