• ABOUT

Patrick Merrell is a book packager, puzzlemaker, writer, illustrator, photographer, cartoonist, and graphic designer. He’s created 80 books, contributed to another 15, and illustrated 250. He’s written 92 crosswords for The New York Times (including 20 Sundays), 320 more for the NYT crossword app, and 1,000 crosswords and word puzzles for People magazine. Six of his NYT crosswords appear in Will Shortz Picks His Favorite Puzzles, the most of any author.

From 2009 to 2011 he wrote and hosted “Wordplay,” the daily online crossword column for The New York Times. He’s one of Mad magazine’s “Usual Gang of Idiots,” as both a writer and artist, and has also worked on-staff for several guest stints at the magazine as a designer and illustrator.

Over the past 40 years, he’s produced thousands of illustrations, cartoons, greeting cards, posters, book covers, logo designs, and articles for a myriad of publishers, advertising agencies, national magazines, books, design firms, city agencies, and … well, you get the idea.

Topics he’s written about in feature magazine articles include art, architecture, nature, beer, baseball umpires, classic cars, model sailing, crossword puzzles, and Grover Cleveland. His photographs accompanied the articles.

In addition to writing crosswords for The New York Times, he’s also created puzzles for the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, Sports Illustrated, Mad, National Wildlife Foundation, Crayola, Scholastic, the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, the World Puzzle Championship, and many, many others. Two of his crosswords and an interview were featured in the 2006 documentary Wordplay (no relation to the NYT crossword column), which won the Golden Tomato Award as the best-rated documentary of the year.

He works quickly, is invariably pleasant to deal with and has never once been late with a job.

He studied art, architecture, and visual communications at Syracuse University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in illustration and editorial design.

In his spare time he’s a bicycle road racer and writes animated screenplays (not yet coming to a theater near you). He’s married, with one brilliant and beautiful daughter.

NY Times “60-second interview”: CLICK HERE
Patrick Merrell’s “ORTS” blog: CLICK HERE
Patrick Merrell’s original website: CLICK HERE

CLIENTS (about 90% of them, anyway)

Publishing: Time Warner, Storey Publishing, Sterling, St. Martin’s Press, Random House, Uncle John’s, USA Today, Houghton Mifflin, Simon & Schuster, Pocket Books, Scribner’s, Scholastic, Workman Publishing, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, DC Comics, Marvel Comics Group, Children’s TV Workshop, Readers Digest, Oxford University Press, Times Mirror, Fawcett Columbine, Prentice Hall, Andrews & McMeel, Publications International, Field Publications, Rodale Press, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Bantam Doubleday Dell, Harper Collins, Harcourt Brace, Penguin, U.S. Business Press, Xerox Educational Publications, William H. Sadlier, Herald Review, Scott Foresman, Vero Beach Magazine
Companies: Showtime, HBO, AOL, Turner Broadcasting, Walt Disney, Miramax, Hammermill Paper, CBS Records, RCA Records, SeaWorld, Six Flags, Beaches resorts, IBM, Texas Instruments, Sony, Burger King, Denny’s, Olive Garden, Ragú, Kraft General Foods, Sunkist, RC Cola, Anheuser Busch, Charms Candy, Lever Brothers, Friskies, Weight Watchers, Jack in the Box, Mattel, Fisher-Price, Crayola, Legos, Pampers, Johnson & Johnson, US Healthcare, Puffs tissues, Lilly, General Motors, Westinghouse, Citibank, TWA, Mobil, BIC Pens, Carrier, Raytheon
Magazines: Scientific American, MAD, Fortune, Parents, Inc., Woman’s Day, Popular Science, Family Circle, Venture, Games, Ski, Tennis, Guideposts, Country Accents, Baby Talk, Good Food, Expecting, Cricket, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon, Ranger Rick, My Big Backyard, Electric Company, Guideposts, Dynamite, Weekly Reader, Toy & Hobby World, Medical Meetings, U.S. Kids, Food & Beverage Marketing, Vegetarian Times, Scholastic News, Executive Female
Organizations: National Wildlife Federation, Canadian Wildlife Fed., the City of New York, the City of San Jose, U.S. Postal Service, Honey Institute, National Dairy Council, California Raisin Advisory Board, American Kennel Club, California Almond Board, Division of Nutritional Science, World Marathon Cup, Springfest Concert Series, Clark Foundation, American Academy of Pediatricians, American Bar Association, Vermont Business World, American Quality Foundation
Ad Agencies: DMB&B, Ogilvy & Mather, Ketchum, McCaffrey & McCall, Grey Advertising, Rapp Collins Marcoa, J. Walter Thompson Direct, Scali McCabe & Sloves, Lintas, Young & Rubicam, Saatchi & Saatchi, BBD&O, Gray Strayton, Popofsky, Davis Delaney Arrow, Hal Riney & Partners, Wunderman Worldwide, DFS Dorland, Congdon MacDonald, Emerson Lake Fortuna, M.E.D. Communications
Design Agencies: Tom Fowler Inc., King Casey, United Media Licensing, Creative Associates, Quarasan Group, Whitney Communications, The Sloan Agency, Clarion, Creative Programming, Criterion Communications, Rave Communications, The Zipatoni Co., JRM Media, MacDougal Littel, Hewitt Associates, Madoff & Scolnik, Moss & Co., Campbell & Co.. McClanahan & Co., Communico, US. Concepts, Parachute Press, Megabooks, Cadet Books, Fastback Press, Paperwing Press, Pencil Point Studios, George McCue Enterprises, Learning Express, Bill Smith Studios, Curriculum Concepts, MKR Design, Susan Borgen Design, Poodle Graphics, Laughs Unlimited, Smart Art

BONUS PAGE: HOW TO WRITE CROSSWORD CLUES