|
Merl Harry Reagle (January 5, 1950 – August 22, 2015) was an American crossword constructor.〔〔 For 30 years, he constructed a puzzle every Sunday for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (originally the ''San Francisco Examiner''), which he syndicated to more than 50 Sunday newspapers, including the ''Washington Post'', the ''Los Angeles Times'', the ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', the ''Seattle Times'', ''The Plain Dealer'' (Cleveland, Ohio), the ''Hartford Courant'', the ''New York Observer'', and the ''Arizona Daily Star''. Reagle also produced a bimonthly crossword puzzle for ''AARP The Magazine'' magazine, a monthly crossword puzzle for the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, and puzzles for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. ==Biography== Reagle was born in Audubon, New Jersey on January 5, 1950.〔 He made his first crossword when he was six years old〔〔 and sold a puzzle to ''The New York Times'' at age 16,〔 a feat that made him the youngest published ''Times'' puzzle constructor at the time.〔 He attended the University of Arizona, but dropped out a few credits short of a degree in English. Reagle first competed in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1979, its second year, and placed third. He has submitted a puzzle to the contest since 1980 and, thereafter, had served as a tournament judge and a commentator for the tournament's finals.〔 In the early 1980s Reagle began submitting crossword puzzles to Dell crossword magazine, ''Games'' magazine, and Margaret Farrar's Simon & Schuster books. He regarded crossword-making as more of a hobby, working as a television scriptwriter by day and a film scriptwriter by night. In 1985 he was contracted to produce a regular Sunday crossword for the ''San Francisco Examiner''s new Sunday magazine. Three years later, he went into syndication. In the 1990s Reagle was regarded as one of the top producers of a new type of crossword puzzle: "less stodgy and more hip." This trend was encouraged by ''The New York Times'' crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz, who sought to appeal to a wider and younger readership with "pop culture references ... humorous word play, and ... unique and clever themes". In 2011 Reagle donated his expertise to produce an awareness-building campaign for the Alzheimer's Foundation of America. Reagle created the National Brain Game Challenge, an online contest featuring a Sunday crossword that contains a clued secret message. Cash prizes, including a first prize of $25,000, are awarded in two categories, "casual solver" and "puzzle professional".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=11 Burning Questions with a crossword puzzle maker )〕 Reagle was one of the few crossword constructors who made a living solely through puzzlemaking, as he retained all rights to his puzzles. They are reprinted in books that he sold under his own imprint, PuzzleWorks. With the assistance of his wife, Marie Haley, he published more than 20 volumes of his Sunday crosswords, which he sold from his website. Merl and Marie made their home in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. Reagle died August 22, 2015, after being hospitalized two days earlier for acute pancreatitis. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Merl Reagle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|