INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Former President Bill Clinton Pens Crossword For The ‘New York Times’

By Josh Moorcroft
Published on: 01:32 PST, May 13, 2017

The New York Times crossword puzzle on Friday had a surprise author in the form of Bill Clinton. The former president, who is well known for his love of crosswords, collaborated with Arkansas district court judge and regular contributor Victor Fleming to pen a puzzle for the New York Times, which was littered with political clues.

According to the Hill, Fleming was responsible for creating the 15×15 grid for Friday’s edition of the New York Times, whilst Clinton wrote most of the clues. The paper’s puzzle editor Will Shortz, who oversaw the crossword’s creation, claims that Clinton was keen on making the puzzle as difficult as possible.

“When the judge proposed tweaks to certain clues, Mr. Clinton objected: ‘Too easy and boring. Might as well print the answers in the puzzle,'” Shortz said.

Clinton’s puzzle contribution is part of a celebrity series the paper is currently running in celebration of the puzzle’s 75th anniversary in the paper. The former president also gave the puzzle his own personal spin too, even including a reference to Clinton’s 1992 campaign slogan, and a combination of three different answers that form the lyrics to Clinton’s famous campaign tune.

The former president is well known for his love of crosswords, and according to CNN, he even appeared in the 2006 documentary Wordplay about puzzle enthusiasts.

“At some point in my life, we began to get the Sunday Times,” Clinton said. “When I was president, I worked no telling how many hundreds and hundreds of crossword puzzles. I find it very relaxing. For a moment, you take your mind off whatever you’re doing.”

Clinton last contributed a crossword to the New York Times in 2007. At the time, the puzzle was full of puns on famous songs but updated for baby boomers. In his 2017 puzzle, Clinton appears to have opted for a more general tone, which focuses on topics relevant to today and general knowledge questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqk6zZ_nDSs

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Six months after his wife’s surprise election defeat to Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election, Clinton, who served as 42nd president of the United States between 1993 and 2001 has been busy. According to the Inquisitr, it was recently announced that Clinton has teamed up with writer James Patterson to pen a political crime thriller, titled The President is Missing.

“Working on a book about a sitting president – drawing on what I know about the job, life in the White House, and the way Washington works – has been a lot of fun,” Clinton said when asked about writing the book with his friend James Patterson.

Prior to working on the book, Clinton and Patterson regularly play golf together, with their friendship spanning over 10 years. The pair first came up with the idea for the book last year when the lawyer who they both retain suggested that they work together. However, they only decided to go ahead with the novel after Clinton’s wife Hillary lost the presidential election to Donald Trump in November. Had Clinton secured the presidency, Bill would have become the United States First Gentleman.

“I’m a storyteller, and President Clinton’s insight has allowed us to tell a really interesting one,” Patterson said about working with Clinton. “It’s a rare combination – readers will be drawn to the suspense, of course, but they’ll also be given an inside look into what it’s really like to be president.”

The President is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton is expected to be released in June 2018.

[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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