Solution to Evan Birnholzs Oct. 15 crossword, Couples Retreat
Here’s an interesting bit of crossword research: The folks at Crossword Solver sifted through a database of about 6.4 million puzzle clues from 62 newspapers to determine which authors have appeared the most frequently in crosswords. They found that Stephen King has been mentioned in crossword clues more than any other author. Coming in second and third are Dr. Seuss and Mark Twain, respectively. I guess it helps to be as prolific and famous a writer as King is (who knew?) and also to have an easy connection with short answers with common letters like EERIE and SALEM and MAINE and ORONO. A short book title like CUJO can certainly get you more play in puzzles than you might otherwise, too. The most commonly referenced female authors were Agatha Christie, George Eliot, Jane Austen (really helped by answers like EMMA) and Sue Grafton (all her alphabet mystery titles are like catnip for constructors). Anyway, you can delve more into their findings at that link above.
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