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Gridlock: Crossword Puzzles and the Mad Geniuses Who Create Them
In the spirit of Word Freak and Searching for Bobby Fischer, Gridlock is a chronicle of the quirky subculture of America's crossword puzzles. Tens of millions of Americans solve crossword puzzles regularly, but few know a thing about their genesis. Who writes crosswords, how—and for God's sake, why? Matt Gaffney is one of two dozen people who earns a living as a cruciverbalist. In Gridlock he provides an insider's look at the people who put that puzzle in your paper every day. With verve and gusto, Gaffney traces his own starving-artist struggle to find paying puzzle gigs, including marketing hip crosswords to the Gen-X market. He then moves on to topics like the effect of computers on crossword writing, including a man versus machine battle he stages to see who writes better crosswords; the ever-evolving crossword puzzle book market, where a top-selling series now has books shaped like a toilet seat; and a trip to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, where the "Cru" (collective slang noun meaning "the crossword puzzle writing community") hangs out in person once a year. Gridlock also features an interview with crossword rock star Will Shortz.
- GenresNonfictionGames
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2006
72 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 24, 2025
By a geek, about geeks and, ultimately, for geeks!
OK, OK, I admit it! I've been called a geek by the best of them. Even my family has indulged in a covert chuckle a time or two over my off-the-wall hobbies which include (aside from reviewing books for Goodreads, of course) Sudoku and crosswords. I've even been known to take a crack at constructing a cryptic crossword from time to time. So you may well imagine my pleasure at coming across GRIDLOCK, an insider's look at what author Matt Gaffney describes as "the quirky subculture of America's crossword puzzles."
Sadly, the idea was considerably better than the execution. I think the problem rests with the fact that there just simply isn't enough interesting material to pad out an entire book on the topic. Gaffney touches on the difficulties of making a living in the field, the growth of the use of computers in the industry, the evolution of theme-oriented puzzles and the quality of the puzzles in a national publication such as The Sunday New York Times versus the weakness and repetitiveness of puzzles in some of the off-the-shelf magazines. He talks at some length about the attributes that both solvers and creators alike look for in a well-constructed grid. He talks about some of the personalities in the field and even goes so far as to give us a peek inside some of the conferences that puzzle creators attend.
But ,the bottom line is this ... even though I probably qualify for at least honourary membership in the geek's club, reading about them never really ultimately proved to be particularly compelling. Passably interesting, yes, but thrilling page-turning - sorry, no!
Recommended (if you're REALLY into crossword puzzles).
Paul Weiss
OK, OK, I admit it! I've been called a geek by the best of them. Even my family has indulged in a covert chuckle a time or two over my off-the-wall hobbies which include (aside from reviewing books for Goodreads, of course) Sudoku and crosswords. I've even been known to take a crack at constructing a cryptic crossword from time to time. So you may well imagine my pleasure at coming across GRIDLOCK, an insider's look at what author Matt Gaffney describes as "the quirky subculture of America's crossword puzzles."
Sadly, the idea was considerably better than the execution. I think the problem rests with the fact that there just simply isn't enough interesting material to pad out an entire book on the topic. Gaffney touches on the difficulties of making a living in the field, the growth of the use of computers in the industry, the evolution of theme-oriented puzzles and the quality of the puzzles in a national publication such as The Sunday New York Times versus the weakness and repetitiveness of puzzles in some of the off-the-shelf magazines. He talks at some length about the attributes that both solvers and creators alike look for in a well-constructed grid. He talks about some of the personalities in the field and even goes so far as to give us a peek inside some of the conferences that puzzle creators attend.
But ,the bottom line is this ... even though I probably qualify for at least honourary membership in the geek's club, reading about them never really ultimately proved to be particularly compelling. Passably interesting, yes, but thrilling page-turning - sorry, no!
Recommended (if you're REALLY into crossword puzzles).
Paul Weiss
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February 21, 2025What a nerd book. The author is one of the few legit full-time professional crossword constructors ever, so that’s a fun place to start at least. It’s a real time capsule of late-2000s crosswords, and not to get too into it but I feel like the world of crosswords has evolved much further since then, so this book is maybe more interesting if you’re already deep in the crossweeds rather than trying to dip your toes in. Some strong chapters for sure, though I felt like it (or maybe I) lost a bit of steam in the back half. Anyways thanks Mira for finding this at a book sale and letting me read it. I had a perfectly enjoyable Amtrak ride
November 23, 2015
My city has a big book sale every year that benefits the library. I look forward to it eagerly -- trade paperbacks for $1, mass market for a quarter? Sign me up! I think my favorite part thing about it is that there's almost no risk -- you can pick up some random book because it looks vaguely interesting and if it sucks, who cares? It was a dollar or less. This was my reasoning behind 1) purchasing 55 books this weekend and 2) picking up a book about the creators and solvers of crossword puzzles.
So Matt Gaffney classifies himself as one of the few people in America who can claim to make their living by creating and editing crossword puzzles, so he's pretty qualified to write a book about them. I found Gridlock surprisingly interesting, especially when he discusses crossword puzzle tournaments and how they work (I also liked the Scrabble tournament in Bad Feminist quite a bit, so maybe it's me). He talks about the history of puzzles, how they vary paper to paper, and the big boom they've enjoyed on the internet.
It's a quick little read, full of dorky fun facts and random trivia. He interviews some real characters, too. I recommend it to anyone who loves words and the people who make a living playing with them!
So Matt Gaffney classifies himself as one of the few people in America who can claim to make their living by creating and editing crossword puzzles, so he's pretty qualified to write a book about them. I found Gridlock surprisingly interesting, especially when he discusses crossword puzzle tournaments and how they work (I also liked the Scrabble tournament in Bad Feminist quite a bit, so maybe it's me). He talks about the history of puzzles, how they vary paper to paper, and the big boom they've enjoyed on the internet.
It's a quick little read, full of dorky fun facts and random trivia. He interviews some real characters, too. I recommend it to anyone who loves words and the people who make a living playing with them!
December 30, 2014
Fun read!
January 3, 2018
This was a fun book, and I enjoyed it. I think anyone who enjoys crosswords would find this book worth reading. Some of my favorite parts are descriptions of some specific puzzles the author describes as notable examples. I also enjoyed the depictions of some of the quirky career crossword constructors. However, the book's structure is kind of a compilation of topics related to the world of crosswords. There is not really a unifying theme, and it certainly wouldn't be described as "compelling" or as a "page-turner." However, the style was easy to read, and I found myself tending to just keep reading whenever I got started.
October 22, 2020
A very quick read that delves into crosswords and their enthusiasts and creators. Matt Gaffney himself is an awesome constructor of crosswords and I was pleasantly surprised by his breezy prose.
It is a niche book, but great for a select few
It is a niche book, but great for a select few
November 27, 2017
nice crossword world insider tales.
March 29, 2013
After experiencing a sudden and renewed interest in crosswords a few weeks ago I had the good fortune of stumbling upon this little gem.
Grid Lock is a behind the scenes look at the world of the cruciverbalist, those mysterious writers of crossword puzzles. I have an insatiable desire to "look behind the curtain" and see what makes things tick. Matt Gaffney does a fine job of explaining how a crossword gets made and what the culture around crossword designers is like. He has an obvious affinity for those who write these addictive games for the masses, and gives us an insiders view of the personalities that make up the movers and shakers in the crossword writing universe.
Matt is at his best when he lets his wit run free. He is not constantly going for the laugh, but he has his moments. His description of the art of writing clues, and the love / hate relationship between the writers of these devious hints and the millions of puzzle solvers trying to decipher those clues is classic. At one point it resulted in me unexpectedly laughing out loud as I ate lunch alone at the local fast food joint. The glances of fellow patrons was embarrassing....I owe you for that one Gaffney.
It takes courage to open the doors and let the world see who you are and what you do for a living. Matt Gaffney does just that, and we get to meet a fellow who it would be easy to become fast friends with.
A quick and good read. Pick this one up!
Grid Lock is a behind the scenes look at the world of the cruciverbalist, those mysterious writers of crossword puzzles. I have an insatiable desire to "look behind the curtain" and see what makes things tick. Matt Gaffney does a fine job of explaining how a crossword gets made and what the culture around crossword designers is like. He has an obvious affinity for those who write these addictive games for the masses, and gives us an insiders view of the personalities that make up the movers and shakers in the crossword writing universe.
Matt is at his best when he lets his wit run free. He is not constantly going for the laugh, but he has his moments. His description of the art of writing clues, and the love / hate relationship between the writers of these devious hints and the millions of puzzle solvers trying to decipher those clues is classic. At one point it resulted in me unexpectedly laughing out loud as I ate lunch alone at the local fast food joint. The glances of fellow patrons was embarrassing....I owe you for that one Gaffney.
It takes courage to open the doors and let the world see who you are and what you do for a living. Matt Gaffney does just that, and we get to meet a fellow who it would be easy to become fast friends with.
A quick and good read. Pick this one up!
November 23, 2010
This was a fun read. Very interesting to find out more about certain crossword authors whose names I see fairly often. The chapters are pretty much stand-alone essays that each treat an aspect of crosswords: how one is constructed; humans vs. computers in creating grids; a profile of Will Shortz; etc. Recommended if you enjoyed books like Word Freak (inside competitive Scrabble). It did contain more typos than I like to see in my printed books, as well as a couple of other careless errors that an editor should have caught, which annoyed me. But overall an enjoyable insider's view of a favorite pastime of mine.
October 11, 2007
I guess I liked this book mostly because it took up more of my time thinking about the ny times crossword puzzle. Once I finish the puzzle I jones for more. This book isn't great but you learn a bit about how Gaffney creates his puzzles and how sort of pompous cruciverbalists can really be. I mean that in a good/entertaining way. I was hoping this book was going to be like the literary version of the movie Word Play which I watched over and over with and without the commentary...hey, i said this book is for crossword puzzle nerds LIKE ME...
November 3, 2015
Really enjoyable book for the crossword aficionado. Gaffney, a veteran crossword constructor, takes us behind the scenes of the annual crossword competition in Stamford CT, tells us the history of Will Shortz, informs us about the crossword market from books and magazines to the internet, brings us on a journey through the construction of one of his own crosswords, etc. It's full of little informative nuggets that are like candy for the crossword-loving brain. I very much enjoyed it.
January 7, 2016
This is not so much a microhistory of the crossword puzzle as it is a quick look at the origin of crossword puzzle magazines, editors, constructors, and competitions. The most interesting parts to me were the discussion of early crossword magazines and the way computerized construction algorithms prioritize different types of words. Entertaining if you're into crosswords (as I am, though not to the degree of most of the people mentioned in this book), no doubt deadly dull if you're not.
November 16, 2011
This is a fun guide to the inside world of crossword constructors. It's informal, and self-serving at times, but not enough to bother me. According to Gaffney, there are only 15 people in the U.S. (the world?) who make a living creating crosswords, and maybe 300 others who do it for a hobby. That's a small sub-culture, and it's fun to peek inside.
April 8, 2016
Brilliant book and much beyond my expectations. The author who is one of the rare breed of constructors has written a cracker of a book. Honest and self effacing, he has chased his dreams and cone out successful. Inspiring story.
June 27, 2007
Very knowledgeable, and a moving final chapter.
February 12, 2008
If you are a cross-word junkie, this is a great, amusing, clever book.
March 2, 2008
If you absolutely cannot live without finishing the NYT xword (in ink), and routinely compose nastygrams to Will Shortz in your head, then this book is for you.
April 9, 2009
Given how addicted I am to crosswords, the fact that I only gave it 2 stars speaks volumes. This was a waste of time.
November 12, 2011
Absolutely loved this inside glimpse into the world of crosswords. Funny, interesting, educational, and well-written. If you love crosswords, you'll love this book!
January 6, 2012
Not often I get to read books about my colleagues! This is very USA-centric, but interesting to read regardless.
March 13, 2015
Mildly interesting, mostly to fans of puzzles.
April 11, 2016
Entertaining tales from one of the very best crossword constructors. I've been meaning to read it forever and am glad I finally did.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews