History of the NYT Sunday Crossword

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The four prominent editors of that New York Times crossword puzzle have had are:

• Margaret Petheridge Farrar:  February 15, 1942 to January 6, 1969
• Will C. Weng:  January 7, 1969 to February 27, 1977
• Eugene T. Maleska:  February 28, 1977 to September 12, 1993
• Will Shortz:  November 21, 1993 to present

You might note the 10-week gap between Maleska and Shortz.  This was due to the untimely passing of Maleska.  For two weeks, the bylines did not contain an editor; the subsequent eight weeks' worth of puzzles were edited by Mel Taub.

The Sunday puzzle started as a 23x23 grid size only but at present they are the exception rather than the rule.  The first 21x21 puzzle appeared in June 11, 1944 along with the "Double-Crostic" and followed its appearance periodicity until May 4, 1980.  At that point, the 21x21 puzzle also appeared along with the diagramless puzzles thus the 23x23 puzzles appeared only with the "Puns & Anagrams" puzzles (once every four weeks).  The last regular 23x23 puzzle appeared November 14, 1993, its demise brought about in part by the shrinking NYT Magazine page size.

Odd-sized Sunday puzzles that have appeared in the past are:

• Free Thinking (Anne Fox) -- A behemoth 27x27 puzzle from Bicentennial Day
• Ho, Ho, Ho (John M. Samson) -- A 25x25 puzzle appearing December 19, 1993
• Rhymes Of The Centuries (Frank A. Longo) - A 25x25 millenium puzzle with hard and easy versions
• Famous Females In Film (Nancy N. Joline) - A 25x25 millenium puzzle with hard and easy versions
• Choice Words (David J. Kahn) - A 25x25 millenium puzzle with hard and easy versions
• Anagrammed Inventions (Manny Nosowsky) - A 25x25 millenium puzzle with hard and easy versions
• Just Try Me! (Bob & Sharon Klahn) - A 25x25 millenium puzzle with hard and easy versions
• Predictions For The Next Millenium (Joe DiPietro) - A 25x25 millenium puzzle with hard and easy versions
• Always Felt This Way (Michael Shteyman) -- A 19x23 puzzle in which the odd-shape is meaningful.

Enjoy the history in an of the many collections of the Sunday NYT Puzzles:

The starting and ending dates indicate the range of the puzzles included in the volumes. HOWEVER, some volumes do not include all the puzzles between these dates and may include puzzles outside these dates. Alas, these collections sometimes do not keep the puzzles in published order nor their title as printed in the original paper which I list in my puzzle database pages.

Omnibus and other large collections of Sunday puzzles are listed below:

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