William C. "Will" Weng (February 25, 1907 – May 2, 1993) was an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

crossword puzzle A crossword (or crossword puzzle) is a word game consisting of a grid of black and white squares, into which solvers enter words or phrases ("entries") crossing each other horizontally ("across") and vertically ("down") according to a set of cl ...

constructor who was the crossword puzzle editor 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 ...

'' from 1969 to 1977. Born in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and Terre Haute metropolitan area, its metropolitan area had a populati ...

, he attended Indiana State Teachers College. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1927. He received a master's degree from the

Columbia University School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism scho ...

and joined the ''Times'' in 1930 as a reporter. He was a lieutenant commander in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Weng occasionally assisted the ''New York Times'' puzzle editor,

Margaret Farrar Margaret Petherbridge Farrar (March 23, 1897 – June 11, 1984) was an American journalist and the first crossword puzzle editor for ''The New York Times'' (1942–1968). Creator of many of the rules of modern crossword design, she compiled and e ...

, and published his first crossword in the newspaper in 1963. He succeeded Farrar as crossword editor in early 1969 and was himself succeeded by Eugene T. Maleska when he retired on his 70th birthday in 1977. After leaving the ''New York Times'' he became the editor for a start-up crossword puzzle venue called The Crosswords Club, preparing five Sunday-size crosswords every month for distribution to subscribers. Weng died of

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

References

1907 births 1993 deaths Indiana State University alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers Crossword creators Deaths from throat cancer in the United States Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Writers from Terre Haute, Indiana {{puzzle-game-stub