Sam Ezersky

Name	Sam Ezersky
Image
Caption	Ezersky at the 2024 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
Birth Date	1995-05-29
Birth Place	Pikesville, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation	Puzzle editor ⋅ crossword constructor
Years Active	2012–present
Alma Mater	University of Virginia
Known For	Editor of The New York Times Spelling Bee

Early life and education

Ezersky was born in Pikesville, Maryland, outside of Baltimore. He became interested in puzzles at a young age, solving his first Fill-In puzzle when he was only five or six. He began constructing crossword puzzles and submitting them to newspapers by age 14. When he was 16, he published his first crossword, which ran in the Los Angeles Times on March 25, 2012, and when he was 17, his first New York Times puzzle, a collaboration with Vic Fleming, appeared on July 28, 2012.

Ezersky graduated in 2017 from the University of Virginia, where he double-majored in mechanical engineering and economics—and, for two years, wrote a weekly crossword puzzle for the Cavalier Daily. In 2016, when New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz was in town for a commencement speech, Ezersky, then still in college, had him over to his house to talk puzzles. Ezersky kept in touch afterwards and interned for Shortz that winter.

Career

Ezersky was hired right out of college, in 2017, as an assistant puzzle editor for The New York Times, where he helps review and edit crossword submissions to the newspaper. As of April 2025, he has also published 59 of his own crosswords, including collaborations and variety grids, in the Times.

Ezersky became the editor of the Times daily online Spelling Bee game at its launch in 2018. The game has amassed an online following known as the Hivemind, which constantly reacts to Ezersky's decisions to include or exclude words from the game.

Ezersky also edits the newspaper's Letter Boxed game, which debuted in 2019.

References

• Teenage Constructors, XWord Info, 2024-07-09
• The 'New York Times' Spelling Bee Editor is Proud of His Baltimore Roots, Weiss, Max, December 2023, Baltimore, 2024-07-09
• UVA's King of Crosswords Wins Dream Job, Hausman, Sandy, 2017-06-08, WVTF, 2024-07-09
• How a Crossword Puzzle Pro Landed His Dream Job, Gilman, Eleanor, 2020-04-08, New Jersey Monthly, 2024-07-09
• 60 Seconds With Sam Ezersky, Amlen, Deb, 2018-10-22, The New York Times, 2024-07-09
• Grossman, Sam, Winter 2022, The Bee Keeper, 2024-07-09, Virginia, UVA Alumni Association
• Jiffar, Miriella, 2024-03-15, For Sam Ezersky, puzzles are more than just a game, 2024-07-09, The Cavalier Daily
• Sam Ezersky page, XWord Info, 2024-07-09
• Your Spelling Bee Questions, Answered, Wu, Ashley, 2022-08-14, The New York Times, 2024-07-09
• Insider Secrets of the Spelling Bee, Holliday, Lauren, Zimmer, Ben, 2021-08-31, Slate, 2024-07-09
• The Wordle hurdle: the pitfalls of setting puzzles, 2022-04-19, Fielding-Smith, Abigail, 2022-04-19, subscription, The Economist
• Klein, Charlotte, 2023-12-19, Inside The New York Times' Big Bet on Games, 2024-05-08, Vanity Fair, en-US
• New York Times develops new word game for crossword section, Sarkar, Samit, 2019-02-01, Polygon, 2024-07-09
• Close-Up: Sam Ezersky, 2024-01-26, Air Mail, Gurewitsch, Matthew, 2023-04-01

External links