Anna Shechtman
{{Short description|American journalist and crossword constructor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anna Shechtman
| image = Anna Shechtman (2024 ACPT) 01.jpg
| caption = Shechtman in 2024
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| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date |28|2019|03|08}}
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| nationality = American
| education = Swarthmore College
Yale University
| occupation = Journalist and crossword constructor
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Anna Shechtman (born 1990/1991) is an American journalist and crossword constructor. Shechtman is the film editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books and constructs crossword puzzles for The New Yorker and The New York Times.{{cite web|url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/contributor/anna-shechtman/|title=Anna Shechtman|author=|date=|website=Los Angeles Review of Books|accessdate=12 May 2019}}
Early life
Shechtman grew up in a Jewish family in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood.{{cite web|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/anna-shechtman-is-revolutionizing-crosswords-can-she-save-them|title=Anna Shechtman Is Revolutionizing Crosswords. Can She Save Them?|first=Tanya|last=Basu|date=8 March 2019|publisher=The Daily Beast|accessdate=12 May 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/may/12/anna-shechtman-the-new-queen-of-crosswords|title=Anna Shechtman, the new queen of crosswords|first=Alex|last=Moshakis|date=12 May 2019|work=The Guardian|accessdate=12 May 2019}} She earned her bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College. In 2020 she received her PhD in English literature and film and media studies from Yale University.
Career
= Crosswords =
Shechtman was 19 when her first crossword appeared in the New York Times. Until she was 25, she created most of her puzzles by hand using graph paper and dictionaries rather than crossword software. Shechtman is the second youngest female crossword creator to be published in the New York Times. After graduating college, Will Shortz asked Shechtman to be his assistant at the New York Times.{{Cite news |last=Wallis |first=Lucy |date=2022-04-03 |title=The 'real outlier' in the crossword puzzle-making community |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-60902128 |access-date=2022-04-03}}
In May 2019, The Guardian called her "the new queen of crosswords".
She has been praised for including youthful references and lighthearted clues, such as [State of being awesome, in modern slang] for EPICNESS.{{cite web |last=Greenfield |first=Rebecca |date=13 June 2014 |title=The 23-Year-Old Wordsmith Behind The Hip, New Voice Of The Times Crossword Puzzle |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3031792/the-23-year-old-wordsmith-behind-the-hip-new-voice-of-the-times-crosswo |website=Fast Company}}
= Book publication =
Shechtman's memoir The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle was published on March 5, 2024.{{Cite book |last=Shechtman |first=Anna |title=The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle |publisher=HarperOne |year=2024 |isbn=9780063275478}} In this, she discussed how some of her puzzles have been caught in "culture war" controversy, especially over what kinds of facts and figures are considered puzzle worthy. The book also discusses her struggle with anorexia nervosa as a teen.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-05 |title='Queen of crosswords' recovers the puzzle's feminist side |url=https://as.cornell.edu/news/queen-crosswords-recovers-puzzles-feminist-side |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=as.cornell.edu |language=en}} One figure she highlighted in the book is Margaret Farrar, the first editor of crossword puzzles for the New York Times.
Bibliography
{{Incomplete list |date=May 2025}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}
- {{cite journal |date=December 27, 2021 |title=Black-and-white thinking : the power and pleasure of the grid |department=Personal History |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=31 |pages=20–24 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/27/escaping-into-the-crossword-puzzle }}Online version is titled "Escaping into the crossword puzzle".
- {{cite book |title=The riddles of the Sphinx : inheriting the feminist history of the crossword puzzle |location= |publisher=HarperOne |date=2024 }}
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;Bibliography notes
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References
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Category:The New York Times journalists
Category:The New Yorker people