At the bottom of last week’s column, I mentioned that The Daily Commuter crossword puzzle authored by a Spokane woman named Jacqueline E. Mathews seemed to have a fill-in author.
I’ve done some more digging, and I don’t think many Columbian readers are going to like what I discovered. According to her syndicate, Tribune Content Agency, Mathews recently retired. The feature continues with a new author, Stella Zawistowski.
In theory, Zawistowski seems like a great choice to take over. She’s a Princeton University graduate living in Brooklyn whose passions, besides puzzles and trivia, include competitive weightlifting. She boasts that she once completed The New York Times’ Sunday Crossword in 4 minutes, 33 seconds.
“Hi! I’m Stella Zawistowski, many-time top-10 finisher at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, winner of Lollapuzzoola 2018, one-and-done Jeopardy! loser, and all-around lover of puzzles and trivia. …
“Neither crosswords nor trivia has enough women creating content. You should care because both puzzles and trivia are more vibrant and interesting when there’s diversity of content. I don’t mind having to know who Ralph KINER (a baseball player of the 1940s and ’50s) is, but you should have to know who LIZZO is, too.
“Oh yeah, and crosswords in general are too easy. I realize this may be a tougher sell to most people than the idea that we need more diversity, but I know there are others out there who love a good challenge as much as I do. I’m also an evangelist for cryptic crosswords, which are both the kind you do when vanilla puzzles have become too easy and also the kind that reward lateral thinking over speed solving.”
That’s quite a contrast to Mathews. In the words of the Capital Press, an Oregon newspaper that also runs the feature, “The Daily Commuter Crossword Puzzle uses straightforward clues to appeal to new puzzle solvers or those with limited time. This crossword offers a quick diversion on the train or bus.” (And around Clark County, on kitchen tables and in recliners, too.)
I rarely work the puzzle. But I’ve heard from at least a dozen readers now about the change, and the feedback has been consistently negative. They say the puzzle is too cryptic, or features clues that might be familiar to New York City hipsters, but not to loyal newspaper readers in the suburban West.
Although I am loath to change standing features like puzzles or comics, I think we’ll look around and see what else is available.
Meanwhile, if you like the changes Zawistowski has brought to The Daily Commuter, please send me an email to let me know. If she has found a receptive audience among Columbian readers, we wouldn’t want to make a change.
Choosing A1 stories
Although most of my calls and emails this week were about the crossword puzzle, I also received an email from a reader asking about A1 story selection. I’ve recently changed my thinking a little bit and wanted to explain.
We pick the stories as a group at an online 2 p.m. meeting. Our local journalism always takes priority, as that is what we do best. Second priority goes to news about Washington, followed by stories about the Pacific Northwest. We are de-emphasizing national and international news, because we know that by the time your newspaper arrives, you may have seen the story on TV or online, or elements of it may have changed.
For most of its history, The Columbian was a source of breaking news. But in our modern communications era, no newspaper is. So we try to reserve the front page for news you haven’t seen, or that has the biggest impact on our area.
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