No? Well, too bad you're gonna "hear" one anyway
Before Will Shortz was the New York Times crossword editor (from 1993 on), he was a senior editor at (the then prestigious) "Games Magazine". Will Shortz, Merl Reagle, Henry Hook and a host of other pros, led the way in really trying to modernize crosswords. Will Shortz also organized the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), which is still going strong today.
During 1992, a certain Governor Clinton had just won the nomination, and word got out that he was a very fast Crossword solver.
So Games Magazine thought it might be interesting to interview him and give him a custom crossword of Mike Shenk's to solve (Mike Shenk now is the current editor of the Wall St. Journal crossword).
Bill Clinton had a good sense of fun, and was delighted to spend an hour with them (interrupting his campaign). After a short interview, Shortz presented Clinton with a customized 15x15 crossword. Clinton insisted on solving it immediately. So he took his PEN out and started solving and also chatted to Will and Mike while solving.
A few seconds later, he apologized and said he had to take a phone call. Both Will and Mike thought that they should leave. But Clinton insisted they stay.
Clinton had been on the phone for a couple of minutes, when Mike whispered to Will: "Hey, he's still solving!".
Indeed he was, because before the short phone call was over, he tossed the crossword back to them, saying "Done!".
Both Will and Mike stared and the pen-filled grid, only to discover that Clinton had solved it letter-perfect, in pen, while doing two other things!
If you can find that old copy of Games from 1992, you can confirm this incident. Also, you can see Clinton's pen-solved grid!
I remember Shortz being so incredibly impressed at how smart Clinton was, and how well he could hide it at times. Clinton was very adept at not being intimidating despite his MENSA-like intelligence.
Anyway, a little Clinton/crossword anecdote for you (100% true).
-MAS
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