Merl Reagle has died

[Thomps2525]

Merl Reagle, whose pun-filled Sunday crossword puzzles appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and dozens of other newspapers, died August 22 in a Tampa hospital, two days after being diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and slipping into a coma. He was 65.

Reagle began making crosswords as a child and sold a few to the New York Times when he was a teenager. He worked as a writer on the tv game shows Couch Potatoes and Crosswits before becoming a crossword creator full-time. His first Sunday puzzles began appearing in the San Francisco Examiner in 1979.

Reagle's wife, Marie Haley, says he often worked right up to deadline so it is unlikely that there are any unpublished puzzles.

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-merl-reagle-20150823-story.html

[richochez]

Sad to hear

[Thomps2525]

In November of 2013, The Puzzleworks published Merl Reagle's 100th Anniversary Crossword Book. No, Merl was not a hundred years old.....but the crossword puzzle was. The first one, created by Arthur Wynne, appeared in the Sunday New York World on December 21, 1913. The collection of Reagle's Sunday puzzles is illustrated by Zits cartoonist Jim Borgman.

http://www.amazon.com/Merl-Reagles-100th-Anniversary-Crossword/dp/0989782506

[Thomps2525]

On September 6, the Los Angeles Times will introduce a Sunday version of the daily crossword by David Poole. Today, August 30, Merl Reagle's final crossword appeared. During the past week, the Times published several letters from fans of Reagle's puzzles. One man had a unique approach: He tried to fill in only the theme answers. What a challenge! I doubt that any of us could come up with all the clever wordplay that Reagle came up with. He will definitely be missed.