Western student celebrates 10th published NYT crossword puzzle

When Jeffrey Martinovic isn't studying or playing intramural sports at Western University, you can find him crafting some of the world's best crossword puzzles.

While the fourth-year engineering student has published hundreds of puzzles, the crown jewel is to get a crossword in the New York Times, something Martinovic has done 10 times as of Wednesday.

His first accepted puzzle came after 23 failed submissions, a moment that came after much feedback from the Times editor, which helped him refine his craft.

"It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before," said 21-year-old Martinovic. "It came, actually, after an unusually long day of classes. I came home to see the 24th e-mail I'd ever received from them. The first that was an acceptance."

Nine more acceptance letters later, Martinovic seems to have refined his crossword creation process, though he admits every puzzle is different from the last.

"It's much more an art than a science, but generally, the process goes: you have an idea, you're struck with inspiration for a theme that you think would make a good puzzle. Then you go through the architecture of figuring out how to execute your theme and eventually filling in a full grid and writing the clues," he said.

Wednesday's puzzle was written in collaboration with fellow Western student Evan Park.

LISTEN | Western student Jeffrey Martinovic on making world-class crossword puzzles:

London Morning6:53Londoner has 10th crossword puzzle published in The New York Times

Jeffrey Martinovic is a crossword puzzle creator and he's caught the attention of The New York Times. His tenth puzzle was published today in the paper. The Western student told Andrew Brown how it happened.

Martinovic's passion for wordplay began when his mom introduced him to crosswords at the age of 10. Shortly after, he decided to create his own puzzles.

"I just had the inkling to try it. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm a creative person, and I just figured if someone else can do it, why can't I," he said. "Ever since, I've embarked on a lifelong quest that's finally been achieved to get in the New York Times."

While he admits he's better at creating puzzles than solving them, Martinovic offers some tips for puzzle enthusiasts.

"Solving is a very different ball game. I think the biggest hurdle is learning the crossword language. It very much is sort of its own ethos. And in order to solve effectively, start with a lot of Monday and Tuesday puzzles to build up a repertoire of crossword words and crossword language."

With aspirations of working in the aerospace industry after he graduates from Western, Martinovic said he plans to keep his crossword creating a hobby so it never feels like a chore. The compensation for getting a puzzle accepted by the New York Times comes with a $500 USD cheque.