Mediaboss Marketing

Originally published January 13, 2014 at 2:39 PM | Page modified January 13, 2014 at 2:41 PM

What's a nine-letter word for a significant event? Try MILESTONE.

Longtime crossword constructor Bernice Gordon is marking two big ones: She turned 100 on Saturday, and The New York Times will publish another one of her puzzles on Wednesday -- making her the first centenarian to have a grid printed in the newspaper.

"They make my life," Gordon said. "I couldn't live without them."

Gordon has created crosswords for decades for the Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and others, including puzzle syndicates and brain-teaser books from Dell and Simon & Schuster. She still constructs a new grid every day.

Gordon is nearly as old as the crossword puzzle itself. The first "word-cross" appeared in the New York Sunday World on Dec. 21, 1913; it was diamond shaped and didn't even separate clues into "Across" and "Down."

The grids have evolved a lot since then, thanks in part to Gordon. She's credited with pioneering the "rebus" puzzle, which requires solvers to occasionally fill in symbols instead of letters. Her first rebus in the Times used an ampersand to represent the letters AND, so an answer like SANDWICH ISLANDS was entered as S&WICH ISL&S.

Though now considered standard fare, such a trick was unheard of when it first appeared decades ago. Letters poured into then-crossword editor Margaret Farrar, who forwarded some to Gordon.

"She got hundreds of letters, some screaming that they never saw anything worse and it was cheating," Gordon said. "And the others (said) how wonderful it was. It's something new. It was an innovation."

Gordon was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 11, 1914. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she raised three children before working as an artist and traveling around the world. She began creating puzzles in her 30s because she liked the challenge and it offered some extra pocket money.

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Crossword creator marks 100th birthday with puzzle