Photo credit: Scott Ross
Fred Piscop is a master puzzle creator and a legend of crossword construction. He has been a regular contributor to The New York Times, a former daily crossword editor for USA Today, former editor of the Washington Post Sunday crossword, and now a contributor of cryptic crosswords to the Times and The Guardian.
Fred has an inspiring story of being introduced to puzzles by his school teacher George Bredehorn who became a mentor and dear friend. George Bredehorn was the inventor of the Split Decisions puzzle for which Fred inherited the legacy of keeping it going.
This is the example of a Split Decision solution mentioned by Fred during the conversation:
And here is an example of a full Split Decisions grid with the solution linked here:
Find more puzzles at the Split Decisions website linked here.
Among other credits, Fred is a published author of the books The Healthy Brain Book of Word Puzzles, Mensa 10-Minute Crossword Puzzles, and Cryptic Crosswords & How to Solve Them.
The feature image on this page is of Fred Piscop playing a keyboard and Fred shares some of his interest in music during this conversation.
Listen using the audio player above or access the podcast via iTunes or Spotify (or search for “Wide Open Air Exchange” on your preferred podcast platform).
Thanks to Vape Dadz for use of the track ‘Whiskey Priest’ for the Wide Open Air Exchange theme music.