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Lysergic Sound
Distributors. Unfortunately Merl Reagle died during the production of the album and never got to witness its release. In 2023, television producer Scott Carter shared a recording of one of Reagle's unreleased songs "Calliopes and Clowns" on the WGCU radio show Three Song Stories for the first time.
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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
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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 $
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band
Greylock Mansion. He played the organ and performed the lead vocals and was also the main songwriter for the group. The band released two singles in their active period but never got a deal for a full album. All of their old recordings were finally released in 2016 by an underground label
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312:, a popular website for crossword constructors, ranked Reagle the most admired by his peers. His 2004 puzzle, "Wide Open Spaces", holds the record for the lowest word count (i.e., number of answers) in a Sunday puzzle. The 21 x 21 grid has only 112 words (with 51 black squares).
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crossword, a cartoon version of Reagle appeared together with Shortz, and Lisa
Simpson discovered secret messages embedded in both the clues and the puzzle, which Reagle constructed and Shortz edited. The actual crossword appearing that same day in the
333:". It included the theme entries I'M IN A / RUSH, NO PICTURES, PLEASE, OR / ELSE YOU'LL LEARN THE / BLACKENED EYE WAY / THE RECORD SHOWS / I'LL BUST YOUR / NOSE IF YOU GET IN... / MY WAY. Other much-discussed puzzles carried titles like "Inappropriate
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Reagle first competed in the
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1979, its second year, and placed third. He submitted a puzzle to the contest starting in 1980, and later served as a tournament judge and a commentator for the tournament's finals.
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crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz has said that "his themes are consistently fresher and funnier than anyone else's. And he's one of the greatest puzzlemakers at interlocking words in intricate, wide-open patterns".
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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
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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
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His fellow constructors routinely credit Reagle for creating some of the funniest themes for his puzzles. One, called "Hit Song", was what he called "
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He was noted for making puzzles with pencil and paper, instead of with the aid of a computer. The 2006 documentary
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magazine has called Reagle "the best Sunday crossword creator in
America". A poll of puzzlemakers at
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on
January 5, 1950. He made his first crossword when he was six years old and sold a puzzle to
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depicted Reagle's on-camera construction of a crossword that subsequently was published in
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Sunday crosswords, which he sold from his website. Merl and Marie made their home in the
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25,000, are awarded in two categories, "casual solver" and "puzzle professional".
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The
Crossword Obsession: The History and Lore of the World's Most Popular Pastime
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662:"Merl Reagle, Whose Crossword Puzzles Delighted Clued-In Solvers, Dies at 65"
708:"Crossword Contest: My Solution to Raising Awareness of Alzheimer's Disease"
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Reagle died August 22, 2015, after being hospitalized two days earlier for
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On
November 16, 2008, Reagle was a "special guest voice" on an episode of
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364:. The film then showed various famous crossword enthusiasts, including
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constructor. For 30 years, he constructed a puzzle every Sunday for the
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Gridlock: Crossword
Puzzles and the Mad Geniuses Who Create Them
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In the early 1980s Reagle began submitting crossword puzzles to
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475:"How I Drive You Crazy: Confessions of a Crossword Constructor"
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221:, but dropped out a few credits short of a degree in English.
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In the late 1960s and early 1970s Reagle was a member of a
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737:. Alzheimer's Foundation of America. 2012. Archived from
807:"Crossword creator Merl Reagle dies in Tampa at age 65"
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s new Sunday magazine. Three years later, he went into
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at age 16, a feat that made him the youngest published
761:"11 Burning Questions with a crossword puzzle maker"
107:(January 5, 1950 – August 22, 2015) was an American
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59:
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926:"Episode 280 - Scott Carter | Three Song Stories"
636:"Puzzling: Merl Reagle Lives to Tease Your Brain"
296:Representative puzzles: humor and wide-open grids
217:puzzle constructor at the time. He attended the
127:to more than 50 Sunday newspapers, including the
851:. New York: Perseus Books Group. p. 210.
183:. Reagle also produced crossword puzzles for
8:
682:The 21st Century Crossword Puzzle Dictionary
511:. L.A. Times Crossword Corner. 4 August 2009
685:. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. p. 7.
337:for a Doctor's Office" and "Least Popular
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608:. New York: Berkley Books. p. 365.
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805:Colette Bancroft (August 22, 2015).
452:featured an online interview in its
406:." In the episode, which featured a
191:American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
679:McCann, Kevin; Diehl, Mark (2009).
404:Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words
953:Reagle's Sunday Crosswords website
706:Reagle, Merl (19 September 2012).
562:Castillo, Piper (1 January 2012).
380:, attempting to solve the puzzle.
14:
911:"The musical life of Merl Reagle"
319:called Reagle's puzzle "Gridlock"
784:"A Peek Inside a Beautiful Mind"
660:Roberts, Sam (August 24, 2015).
973:People from Audubon, New Jersey
833:Games Magazine World of Puzzles
735:"National Brain Game Challenge"
634:Grossman, John (October 2003).
538:"Merl Reagle: Twisted but fair"
82:Crossword constructor, musician
473:Reagle, Merl (February 1997).
315:The prolific crossword editor
1:
564:"What's Merl Reagle reading?"
930:threesongstories.podbean.com
873:Crossworder's OWN Newsletter
509:"Interview with Merl Reagle"
418:Reagle also was featured on
415:had the embedded messages.
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988:Deaths from pancreatitis
265:crossword puzzle editor
782:Grossman, John (2012).
114:San Francisco Chronicle
924:Development, PodBean.
845:Gaffney, Matt (2006).
602:Amende, Coral (2001).
249:San Francisco Examiner
120:San Francisco Examiner
871:Newman, Stanley, ed.
540:. word-buff.com. 2012
480:Philadelphia Inquirer
444:National Public Radio
219:University of Arizona
142:Philadelphia Inquirer
98:Sam and Evelyn Reagle
786:. Delta Sky magazine
244:Simon & Schuster
232:crossword magazine,
741:on 11 December 2012
576:on February 4, 2013
203:Audubon, New Jersey
201:Reagle was born in
52:Audubon, New Jersey
978:Crossword creators
666:The New York Times
640:Delta Sky Magazine
361:The New York Times
301:The New York Times
290:acute pancreatitis
283:Tampa Bay, Florida
263:The New York Times
208:The New York Times
186:AARP: The Magazine
180:Arizona Daily Star
886:"Wordplay (2006)"
384:Other appearances
174:New York Observer
136:Los Angeles Times
105:Merl Harry Reagle
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933:. Retrieved
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399:The Simpsons
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65:(2015-08-22)
983:2015 deaths
968:1950 births
790:28 November
745:28 November
719:28 November
645:29 December
580:28 November
544:28 November
515:28 November
486:28 November
370:Jon Stewart
267:Will Shortz
256:syndication
90:Marie Haley
20:Merl Reagle
962:Categories
935:2024-02-22
895:16 January
858:156025890X
818:August 22,
615:042518157X
460:References
454:"The Fold"
177:, and the
125:syndicated
44:1950-01-05
456:feature.
433:Nightline
327:Sean Penn
271:word play
197:Biography
159:Cleveland
109:crossword
95:Parent(s)
890:IMDB.com
767:30 March
402:called "
355:Wordplay
347:Wordplay
189:and the
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285:area.
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439:Oprah
426:Today
413:Times
335:Muzak
306:Games
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235:Games
214:Times
897:2017
853:ISBN
820:2015
792:2012
769:2013
747:2012
721:2012
687:ISBN
647:2012
610:ISBN
582:2012
546:2012
517:2012
488:2012
428:show
424:the
230:Dell
163:Ohio
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420:CNN
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
