Crossword columnist for The New York Times: Daily commentary, insights and blog hosting, 2009-2011

Highlights and innovations during my run:

• My “Squares” cartoons, starring a white square named Ashen and a black square named Noir, appeared in 34 posts. You’ll find more cartoons in some of the links below.

• “A Day with Will Shortz,” where I joined Will Shortz for a day of puzzle editing at his home, appeared in bite-sized chunks over six consecutive days. Here’s part 2 and 3 and 5.

• I started “Ask Will” at the end of 2009, posing questions to Will Shortz.

• “Guest Celebrity Solvers” started chiming in at the beginning of 2010. There were a total of 15, including Carol Burnett and R.L. Stine.

• In March 2010, when a puzzle by Dan Naddor ran three months after his death, I included tributes from Will Shortz and an especially moving one from Tracie Naddor, his wife.

• When Dan Naddor’s final New York Times puzzle ran in October 2010, I invited the Los Angeles Times crossword editor Rich Norris to share his thoughts about working with Dan.

• “The Doodle Pad,” an illustrated collage about the day’s crossword, debuted near the end of my run.

• Graphic representations of complex Sunday themes was another late idea.

• Two New York Times crossword firsts were featured: the first Sunday puzzle from 1942 and the first daily puzzle from 1950.

• In 2010, Bernice Gordon, at 96, broke her own record as the oldest constructor of a Times crossword. (She would go on to have puzzles every year until 2014.)

• We learned more about the first crossword blogger, Curtis Yee.

• I matched wits against three New York Islanders hockey players, including the team captain Doug Weight, in a videotaped crossword-solving face-off.

• A follow-up interview to the Islanders face-off was conducted by John Batchelor on his ABC radio show.

• Sally Bliumis-Dunn debuted an original crossword poem.

• Dan Piraro stopped by as a guest cartoonist … once … twice.

• I explained how a wide-open themeless puzzle is constructed.

• On Nov. 14, 2010, I introduced the game of Crossword Golf.