Stephen Sondheim Crossword Puzzles Resurface Online!

Theare legend Stephen Sondheim took some time out of his busy musical-writing schedule back in 1968 to create a series of crossword puzzles for New York Magazine. The collection was published in 1980, but has been out of print since, making it difficult for theatre lovers to track them down. Now, according to the New York Times, a website has just shared 19 scans of real Sondheim puzzles!

Sondheim, who confirmed with the NYT that the puzzles are indeed his, commented: "There are crossword puzzles and crossword puzzles. The kind familiar to most New Yorkers is a mechanical test of tirelessly esoteric knowledge: ‘Brazilian potter's wheel,' ‘East Indian betel nut' and the like are typical definitions, sending you either to Webster's New International or to sleep."

He continued: "The other kind, prevalent in Great Britain but inexplicably nonexistent in the United States apart from The Nation and an occasional Sunday edition of The New York Times, is a test of wits. This kind of puzzle offers cryptic clues instead of bald definitions, and the pleasures involved in solving it are the deeply satisfactory ones of following and matching a devious mind (that of the puzzle's author) rather than the transitory ones of an encyclopedic memory."

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Stephen Sondheim has won seven Tonys, an Academy Award, seven Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize and the Kennedy Center Honors. His career has spanned more than half a century, his lyrics have become synonymous with musical theater and popular culture, and in his first book, Finishing the Hat, Sondheim has not only collected his lyrics for the first time, he is giving readers a rare personal look into his life as well as his remarkable productions.

Along with the lyrics for all of his musicals from 1954 to 1981-including West Side Story, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd-Sondheim treats us to never-before-published songs from each show, songs that were cut or discarded before seeing the light of day. He discusses his relationship with his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, and his collaborations with extraordinary talents such as Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Ethel Merman, Richard Rodgers,Angela Lansbury, Harold Prince and a panoply of others. The anecdotes-filled with history, pointed observations and intimate details-transport us back to a time when theater was a major pillar of American culture. Best of all, Sondheim appraises his work and dissects his lyrics, as well as those of others, offering unparalleled insights into songwriting that will be studied by fans and aspiring songwriters for years to come.