Jeffrey Martinovic's mother has been doing crosswords for as long as he can remember. Around the age of 10, he started to help her. When he began to complete puzzles independently, it led to arguments over who got the newspaper first. Eventually, they had to photocopy the day's puzzle so both Martinovic and his mother could have a copy to complete.
After doing puzzles for many years, the fourth-year mechanical engineering student started researching how to design and create them on his own and bought a crossword-generating software system he still uses today.
He's since published hundreds of crosswords, sometimes with collaborators, nine of those appearing in The New York Times.
"Almost every crossword you see is written by a random person, just like you and I, who had an inkling to try it," said Martinovic. "I thought, if someone else can make it, why can't I?"
After 23 failed submissions, he was thrilled when one of his crosswords was eventually picked up by The New York Times. Following what felt like a long day of classes, he came home to an email from the newspaper giant sharing his puzzle had been accepted, and would appear as a featured crossword.
"Getting the first acceptance email was a fantastic feeling of my hard work paying off," said Martinovic.
A curious person by nature, Martinovic says he's always loved to create things on his own, rather than completing others' projects. While crossword-creation and engineering seem to have little in common, Martinovic says his ability to piece together complex puzzles is building skills he can transfer to engineering work.
Creating something truly unique
The puzzle creation process begins with a theme that frames the rest of the process, from the grid to the clues, Martinovic said.
"Coming up with the theme and the grid is the hardest, but also the most satisfying part," he said.
Martinovic tends to gravitate to wordplay themes, finding interesting irregularities or fun, playful tidbits about the English language. Of the themes he's created in the past, his favourite is "Double Negatives," which is a puzzle of opposites such as "sit up" and "stand down."
To get published in The New York Times, Martinovic's learned he has to give editors something truly unique that they've never seen before.
"When forming clues for the finished puzzle, it becomes a real challenge when you've seen the word era' 100 times in different puzzles but need to clue it differently for your audience," he said.
To create a hint readers will appreciate, creators need to touch on a wide range of resources so everyone solving the crossword has a foothold somewhere and learns something new. Martinovic said being fresh and lively is challenging, but stands out when a crossword constructor does a great job.
To perfect puzzles, creators aim to "balance the solver's needs, and the needs as a constructor," said Martinovic. When he first started, he tried to replicate the strategies from other successful puzzles, but now he's learned that creating something equally complex, yet completely new, is the key to success.
Martinovic wants his puzzles to have a certain feel, something his audience can connect to and recognize as his handiwork. How does he achieve that signature style? It's all about wordplay and personality.
Collaborators and mentors key to success
It was a puzzle mentor that took Martinovic from trial-and-error to everything clicking all at once. Cold emails and LinkedIn connections led him to mentors who provided insights about the publication process and helped perfect his creations.
"Collaborations in the crossword community are so common," said Martinovic, who said his mentors have led him to more opportunities.
When he's not creating crosswords, you'll find Martinovic and friends playing Western intramural sports including water polo, ball hockey, spike ball and flag football.
He dreams of working in the aerospace engineering field. Martinovic is using his Western mechanical engineering education to navigate the aerospace industry and investigate career paths.
Martinovic is currently completing a 16-month co-op program at an engineering consulting business, focusing on building design. He works to drive continuous improvements and optimize procedures in the HVAC sector. His co-op placement closely aligns with problem-solving, a skill he also transfers into puzzle creation.
