![\"A](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/crossword_630px.jpg\" "\\"crossword_630px\\"")
<\/a>Creative and competitive are two other adjectives that aptly describe Croce\u2019s personality. Just try matching wits with him by attempting to solve the puzzle accompanying this story, recently published in The<\/em> Times<\/em> and reproduced with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s a Saturday puzzle,\u201d says Will Shortz, New York Times<\/em> puzzle editor, \u201cwhich is one of Tim\u2019s specialties. This means it\u2019s really, really hard. Only the most expert solvers can probably do it!\u201d<\/p>\n The Times\u2019 <\/em>daily crossword puzzles grow increasingly difficult from Monday to Saturday, and each earns its creator $200; Sunday\u2019s puzzle is so complex the newspaper pays its creator $1,000.<\/p>\n To date, Croce\u2019s puzzles have been published on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; as this story goes online, several of his puzzles are slated for Tuesday publication and another is scheduled for a Monday. \u201cMy goal is to hit for the cycle, having a puzzle published in The New York Times<\/em> on every day of the week,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Now 29, Croce\u2019s interest in crossword puzzles began when he solved kiddy-style puzzles for kindergarten assignments; by age 9 or 10, he was doing newspaper-style crosswords. \u201cMom used to do a lot of puzzles, so I\u2019d solve crosswords with her,\u201d he says. \u201cThree out of my four grandparents also did crosswords and we\u2019d solve them together. I guess crosswords are in my blood.\u201d<\/p>\n In a nod to how much crossword puzzles have become part of his identity, Croce\u2019s Twitter avatar is an ostrich. Oops, erase that. \u201cIt\u2019s an emu,\u201d Croce says. \u201cIt\u2019s a word you find pretty often in crosswords because, of its three letters, two are vowels.\u201d<\/p>\n Emu is also a word that crossword puzzle enthusiasts (cruciverbalists) consider clean, meaning it\u2019s not a word that\u2019s used only in crosswords. \u201cThe New York Times <\/em>publishes fewer than 10 percent of the puzzles that are submitted for consideration,\u201d Croce says. \u201cWill [Shortz] looks for puzzles that use clean words, and answers with unusual letter combinations.\u201d<\/p>\n For The Times\u2019<\/em> theme-free Friday and Saturday puzzles, Croce says, \u201cI\u2019ll just hear a current, fresh word or a phrase on the news, so I\u2019ll put it at 1 Across. If it\u2019s an interesting fact, I might use Google or Wikipedia to come up with the clue. If I\u2019m stuck for an original clue, I\u2019ll look in the dictionary for something in one of the definitions that I can twist in a creative way not used before. I don\u2019t have a library of hard-bound reference books. I have a lot of bookmarked websites.\u201d<\/p>\n Croce has a computer program that lists every puzzle clue published in The Times<\/em> and The LA Times<\/em> for the past several years. \u201cIf it\u2019s a new word and the same clue has been used twice, there\u2019s no way I\u2019m repeating that clue,\u201d he says. \u201cI want as much of my puzzles to be original as possible. But for common words that have been used several hundred times, I don\u2019t have a problem repeating the clue.\u201d<\/p>\n He constructs the puzzles using a crossword compiler program, using it to lay out each puzzle\u2019s grid; the software also provides a database of incomplete words. If he\u2019s filled in \u201c_ E R _ _ S\u201d he enters \u201c?ER??S\u201d and the compiler reveals letters that complete the blanks with real words. The software description makes creating crossword puzzles sound like a snap, but on closer investigation the software seems as complicated as completing a long-form tax return. And the human creator still has to know foreign words, proper nouns, and phrases.<\/p>\n \u201cMaking crossword puzzles is an art, but at its heart it\u2019s putting stuff together, thinking logically,\u201d Croce says. \u201cAt its essence it\u2019s a very structural process, building one thing on top of another, with a scientific mind. You\u2019ve got to think as if you were a computer sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n An environmental engineer for the City of Pittsfield, Mass., Croce attended UConn in Storrs for his four years of undergraduate studies, during which time he met his wife. He\u2019s a member of UConn\u2019s 2011 Honor Roll of Donors, and says he gives because, \u201cUConn fueled my competitive fire. You couldn\u2019t just get by in the competitive UConn School of Engineering \u2013 you had to have a competitive spirit that made you stick out and not get lost. The rigor of the program didn\u2019t let you graduate without knowing that you could thrive in a competitive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n He was with the pep band in New Orleans in 2004 when the UConn women won the NCAA basketball championship, right on the heels of the men\u2019s victory. \u201cIn my UConn years, I saw a lot of winning first hand. It was surreal,\u201d Croce says. \u201cThat was a super good year for me in sports. It was the first time UConn\u2019s football team went to a bowl game, and the Red Sox won, and the Patriots won in football. All five of the teams I follow most fervently achieved the high water mark.\u201d<\/p>\n Usually, big successes are preceded by smaller victories. For example, even a cursory investigation of how to break into crossword puzzle sales turns up advice that novice puzzle makers start with smaller publications and work up to the paper of record. Not Croce\u2019s style.<\/p>\n \u201cI was unwilling to sell my puzzles anywhere but The Times<\/em>,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt that if my puzzle wasn\u2019t good enough for The<\/em> Times, <\/em>then I\u2019m not sending it anywhere else.\u201d That\u2019s meant he has had a few rejections \u2013 of the 70 to 80 puzzles he\u2019s created, about 50 are unsold. But it\u2019s not making the sale that drives him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s creating a complete puzzle that I find fascinating,\u201d Croce says. Each puzzle usually takes him a few days to a week to complete, working at it for about an hour at a time, although a few puzzles have come together in a day or two.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been sitting on some puzzles for months, even years,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ll come back to one of those puzzles and have a spark. You ask yourself, \u2018How come I didn\u2019t see that before?\u2019 If I keep staring, I keep thinking the same way. Taking a break gives me a new perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a>