Finn Vigeland, CC '14, is the News Editor here at Spectator, alongside Sammy Roth. When he's not doing that, however, he lives in a world of puzzles. He has a passion for crossword puzzles, and constructs them as a hobby. You can see one of his creations in today's New York Times --- he is the author of today's Sunday puzzle.
This is Vigeland's second crossword puzzle to make an appearance in The Grey Lady. Last time, Bwog interviewed him and found out how he first got into this somewhat unusual hobby. For this occasion, we've decided to focus more on the mechanics of how he does what he does.
Vigeland's been solving crosswords since he was a kid. Not a kid anymore, his personal record for solving a puzzle is 4:35 --- that's four minutes and 35 seconds --- in a Monday edition of the New York Times crossword. That time, while not the fastest in the world, is just a shade longer than it would take some of us to find a pen. He times himself with each weekday's edition of the Times crossword. Monday puzzles take him, on average, five to six minutes to solve. "I don't really keep track. I just know what I have to beat." On Sundays, he doesn't time himself, opting instead to "soak in the puzzle." That usually takes him about half an hour.
