Trip Payne
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Norman "Trip" Payne''The Crossword Obsession: The History and Lore of the World's Most Popular Pastime'', by Coral Amende, published 2001 by
Berkley Books Berkley Books is an American imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein owned by the Penguin Group unit of Penguin Random House. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Compa ...
, p 91, " 'Penny A. Roman', which is an anagram of my real name, 'Norman Payne'"
is an American professional puzzle maker. He is known by many as a three-time champion of the
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) is a crossword-solving tournament held annually in February, March, or April. Founded in 1978 by Will Shortz, who still directs the tournament, it is the oldest and largest crossword tournament h ...
(ACPT). With his first victory in 1993, at age 24, Payne became the youngest champion ever in the tournament's history, a record he held until 2005.


Early life and education

Payne was born in
Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the most populous city in York County, South Carolina, United States, and the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 5th-most populous city in the state. It is also the 4th-most populous city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, be ...
. He grew up in nearby
Spartanburg Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-most populous city in the state. The Office of Management and Budg ...
, attending
Spartanburg High School Spartanburg High School is a public high school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. It is part of Spartanburg County School District 7. The current principal is Andrew McMillan, former principal of Chapman High School in Inman, Sou ...
, and has been making puzzles professionally since publication in ''Games'' in November 1983. He attended
Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...
in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, graduating with a degree in English in 1990.


Career

Payne interned at ''Games'' during his college summer vacations, where one of his pseudonyms was the anagram "Art Pipeny"; he was expected to go on to work there full-time after college, but two days before his graduation, the magazine folded temporarily. In 1990 he also served on the four-person American team that won the International Crossword Marathon. In 1992, he was awarded ''CROSSWRD'''s "Wynner Award" for creating the best unthemed crossword puzzle of the year. After graduation, he moved to New York City and was editor-in-chief of ''Herald Tribune Crossword Puzzles Only'', ''Large Print Crosswords'', and ''Crosswords & Other Word Games magazines'', 1990–1991. He moved back to Atlanta in 1991 to embark upon a full-time freelance puzzlemaking career. He is a former contributing editor to ''Games'', ''
Games World of Puzzles ''Games World of Puzzles'' is an American games and puzzle magazine. Originally the merger of two other puzzle magazines spun off from its parent publication ''Games'' magazine in the early 1990s, ''Games World of Puzzles'' was reunited with ''Ga ...
'', and ''Crossword'' magazines, and a former proofreader for
Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate (also known as Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites, and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few suc ...
, ''Dell Champion Crossword Puzzles'', and other magazines. In 1999, Payne was the third contestant to appear on the U.S. version of ''
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (British game show), British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, cu ...
'', and was the first to earn $32,000. In 2002, one of his crosswords was voted Puzzle of the Year by solvers of the ''New York Times'' crossword puzzle. A member of the
National Puzzlers' League The National Puzzlers' League (NPL) is a nonprofit organization focused on puzzling, primarily in the realm of word play and word games. Founded in 1883, it is the oldest puzzlers' organization in the world. It originally hosted semiannual conventi ...
since 1986, he served as vice president from 1991 to 1992 and hosted the group's annual convention in Atlanta in 1998. He created or co-created vast multi-puzzle team games for the 1991 and 1993 conventions. In 2006, Payne was one of the crossword solvers profiled in the documentary ''
Wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...
''. He also appeared briefly on a number of other television shows, including an episode of ''
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...
'' about the
American Crossword Puzzle Tournament The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) is a crossword-solving tournament held annually in February, March, or April. Founded in 1978 by Will Shortz, who still directs the tournament, it is the oldest and largest crossword tournament h ...
. In 2014, he won
Lollapuzzoola Lollapuzzoola is a crossword-solving tournament held annually on a Saturday in August. Founded in 2008 by Brian Cimmet and Ryan Hecht, it is the second-largest crossword tournament in the United States, and the only major tournament in New York ...
's At-Home Division, edging out David Plotkin by five points. Mathematically, Plotkin would have finished first had both contestants competed at the live tournament in New York City. Payne was the "Word Expert" on the CBS game show ''
Million Dollar Password ''Million Dollar Password'' is an updated version of the game show ''Password'' on CBS, which was hosted by Regis Philbin and ran from June 1, 2008, to June 14, 2009. FremantleMedia produced the program. Production and broadcast history ''Millio ...
''. He authors the wordoku puzzle in ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
''. He also occasionally writes puzzles for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', ''
The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative Online newspaper, news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) onlin ...
'', and ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', and usually creates one or two puzzle books per year for
Sterling Publishing Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. is a publisher of a broad range of subject areas, with multiple imprints and more than 5,000 titles in print. Founded in 1949 by David A. Boehm, Sterling also publishes books for a number of brands, including AA ...
. He has been ranked among the top 50
Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...
players in North America. He made five crosswords a week for
Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...
, Daily Crossword with Hints.


Publications

* ''365 Mind-Challenging Cryptograms'' * ''The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Word Puzzles'' (co-author) * ''Crosswords to Strain Your Brain'' * ''Pop Culture Crosswords'' * ''Sit & Solve Scratch Movie Trivia'' * ''Sit & Solve Crosswords'' (volumes 1–3) * ''Crosswords for Kids'' (volumes 1–8) * ''Cosmopolitans & Crosswords'' * ''Tiptop Crisscross Puzzles'' Payne has also been published in ''
New York Newsday ''New York Newsday'' was an American daily newspaper that primarily served New York City and was sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The paper, established in 1985, was a New York City-specific offshoot of ''Newsday'', a Long Island- ...
''; the ''
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
''; the ''
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''; ''Dell Champion Crossword Puzzles'';
Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate (also known as Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites, and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few suc ...
;
United Feature Syndicate United Feature Syndicate, Inc. (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media ( ...
; the
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
crossword puzzle book series; the ''Expert's Book of Crosswords''; ''Masterpiece Crosswords''; ''
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
Ultrahard Crosswords''; and ''
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
Editor's Choice Crosswords''. Small magazines and by-mail crossword clubs for more dedicated solvers include ''Tough Puzzles'', ''Tough Cryptics'', ''Cryptics Monthly'', Uptown Crossword Club, and Crossword Puzzles of the Month Club. Magazines that have run specially commissioned puzzles from Payne include ''
Golf Magazine ''Golf Magazine'' is a monthly golf magazine. One of the first "special interest" magazines of its kind, it was started in April 1959 by Arnold Abramson and Robert Abramson, the owners of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation, who sol ...
'', ''Manhattan File'', ''American Times'', ''Out'', and many more; corporate clients have included
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,
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,
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,
MetLife MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produ ...
,
Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
,
Fox TV Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an American commercial broadcast television network serving as the flagship property of Fox Corporation and operated through Fox Entertainment. Fox is based at Fo ...
,
Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...
,
Fruit of the Loom Fruit of the Loom is an American company that manufactures clothing, particularly casual wear and undergarment, underwear. The company's world headquarters are located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Since 2002, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary ...
, and
Kleenex Kleenex is a brand name primarily known for their line of facial tissues. Often used informally as a genericized trademark for facial tissue, ''Kleenex'' is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark applied to products made in 78 countries. The ...
.


References


External links


Official site
(via
archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...
) {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Trip 1968 births Living people Crossword creators Emory University alumni LGBTQ people from South Carolina People from Atlanta People from Rock Hill, South Carolina People from Florida American Scrabble players People from Spartanburg, South Carolina