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Will Shortz Edits His 10,000th Crossword
If Malcolm Gladwell is correct, Will Shortz is finally an expert.
Credit.Illustrated by Ben Kirchner
April 7, 2021, 6:00 a.m. ET
There may be only a handful of people in the puzzle community keeping track of such things, but on April 7, Will Shortz will have edited 10,000 puzzles since joining The New York Times as crossword editor in November 1993. That, of course, is an approximate number, counting from his start date. There are the Variety puzzles, and occasionally, Mr. Shortz has been allowed a vacation.
If the “10,000-Hour Rule” made popular by Malcolm Gladwell is to be believed the theory holds that 10,000 hours of practicing an activity is the “magic number of greatness” then Mr. Shortz would finally qualify as an expert on editing crossword puzzles, if we counted in units instead of hours. In terms of time, he has put in many more hours than that.