Frank W. Lewis, Master of the Cryptic Crossword, Dies at 98

[madinmaryland]

For more than six decades, Frank W. Lewis mesmerized, mystified and miffed a circle of obsessed people by writing a devilishly quirky cryptic crossword puzzle for The Nation. But there were some bridges even he would not cross.

If the clue “BEFORE FALL” led to the answer “PRIDE,” for example, drawing from the Bible, he conceded that it would be “carrying things a trifle too far,” as he wrote in an essay, to use the clue “SUMMER.”

Cryptic puzzles are in a universe by themselves, but even there Mr. Lewis was famed for the freewheeling, idiosyncratic approach he took in the pages of The Nation, where for years his mind-twisters leavened the magazine’s weekly helpings of politically liberal reporting and commentary.

A cryptic puzzle usually gives two clues: one a definition, the other a play on words or letters, say an anagram. Mr. Lewis thought nothing of giving three clues. Or one. And, fueled by a huge vocabulary, his penchant for puns was puckish.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/arts/03lewis.html?hpw