Patti Varol, a veteran editor and constructor in the close-knit community known as the “crossworld” describes Agard as a “beacon of inclusivity” who is “revolutionizing the way puzzles are edited and vetted and published.” I expect Agard to say something about this, about the way that he has used his position to draw women and people of color and LGBTQ people into the square-and, in the process, turned a once-maligned puzzle into what one prominent blogger called today’s “most interesting, innovative, and provocative daily crossword.”Ĭrosswords are not just some nerdy pastime. There has been resistance.Īgard, a 26-year-old puzzle phenom who has been in the job about eight months, has done unprecedented work on this score. Critics have called out editors of major puzzles for publishing far more puzzles made by men than women, for the “old white guy sensibility” that has long set standards for the industry and for spectacular slips that prove just how real the blind spots are. There has been mounting protest in the world of crosswords, as there has been in entertainment and politics and every other arena where marginalized groups have felt excluded and disenfranchised. Entertaining as that all was, it is not exactly what I’m expecting Agard to say.
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