I’m Mike Shenk, Crossword Editor for the Wall Street Journal. AMA.

Do you solve crosswords in other publications (NYT, USA Today, LA Times, etc)? Or, since crosswords are your work, do you avoid them as a hobby (i.e. like a professional chef who doesn't want to cook at home)?

I solve a few crosswords. I do Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest puzzles, and Peter Gordon's Fireball crosswords. I solve the Times puzzle sometimes, especially the unthemed Saturdays.

Are you and Will Shortz friends, enemies, or frenemies?

Will and I are friends. We worked together for years at Games Magazine, and I'm a judge every year at his crossword tournament.

My great-uncle spent years building up an alphabetized exercise book with every answer that appeared in his favourite daily crossword (it was a very repetitive puzzle.) And then every day he would look up every clue in his book and fill in the answer.

Do you approve or disapprove?

Sort of a do-it-yourself crossword dictionary. Nice.

What are some bits of crosswordese you'd be happy to never see again?

If I consider it crosswordese, I'd be happy to never see it again. My current top nonfavorite word is STYE.

Are there words you're sick of using, but they are convenient for connections, like 'ewe'?

Yes, lots of those words that appear so often they're hard to clue in fresh ways. But they do glue the rest of the puzzle together.

How did you manage the transition from being a crossword solver to a crossword constructor in terms of how you approached puzzles? In the same vein, how did you manage the transition from constructing puzzles to mostly editing them at the WSJ?

At some point, I just thought "I wonder if I could make a puzzle." So I did. (The early results were pretty bad.) Editing is a lot like constructing, asking "How could this puzzle or clue be better?"

Do you have a favorite puzzle? Like, a specific puzzle that you've done.

I'm not sure I have an absolute favorite. One of my favorite Friday contest puzzles was "Rainbow Connection." (I won't spoil it in case you can find it on the WSJ site.)

Hi, Maddie here from the WSJ interrupting for a minute. Here's a link to Rainbow Connection: https://www.wsj.com/puzzles/crossword/20180629/41573/index.html?mod=wsjreddit

As you create more and more crossword puzzles, does the job get easier or harder?

Filling grids becomes easier--you get to recognize which areas need to be tackled first and what words will fit. Coming up with new themes gets harder, since you feel like you've seen everything.

From time to time, I hear a song on one radio station and then a minute or two later hear it on another station. This may happen for a few songs in a row, and I'm convinced it's just the DJs messing with each other. Well, one time I was travelling for work and I was doing a couple different crosswords every day - I noticed that for that whole week, several words appeared in common between the two crosswords. Do you think it was coincidence or do crossword editors mess around from time to time like radio DJs?

I've noticed that too, but it is just coincidence. I don't collaborate with other editors to plant common words. (Though maybe there's a super-meta contest idea in that...)

Thanks for doing this AMA. 2 questions: 1) What goes into your process of reviewing a submission, and how long does it take to review one puzzle? 2) From acceptance of a puzzle, what then has to be done to get it published in the WSJ?

My assistant Joanne and I look at every submission separately and then compare notes. It usually doesn't take long to look over a puzzle--usually less that 15 mimutes--but we get so many, we have a big backlog (months) of puzzles we haven't gotten to.

Once a puzzle is accepted, I add it to the files. Every week, I pick a set to use, pick the days they'll run, edit them and lay them out. Then they go to the test-solvers to check. Once the revisions are made, they get uploaded to the WSJ.

Did you grow up wanting to work in crosswords?

I didn't have those ideas until I got to college, where I made a crossword for the daily student paper. Then I thought it would be great to make a living making puzzles, but I knew that wasn't realistic. Years later, I'm still surprised.

How much pull does an editor have at the paper in terms of increasing pay for constructors, setting editorial standards, etc.?

I've been pretty much allowed free rein on deciding on the puzzle style. Getting more pay for constructors is tougher, since the WSJ is a big organization with lots of levels to go through, so my pull isn't as strong as I'd like.

What's an innovation in crosswords that you would love but the Public isn't ready for?

I'm not sure there's any innovation I could come up with that some clever constructor hasn't already done. With all of the self-published crossword sites online now, a constructor doesn't need to worry what the public is ready for.

What do you think of wordle? do you like it?

It's weird, I kinda think it's silly but I still do it every day.

What do you think of (modern/indie) crossworld’s drive in increasing diversity among constructors, and what do you think print outlets could do better in this area?

I'm happy the indie outlets are doing what they are. I'd love to get more puzzles from underrepresented groups, but my philosophy is that I'll use any good puzzle submitted to me.

What do you look for when evaluating puzzles submitted to WSJ?

First: the theme--is it fun, clever, fresh?; is it well balanced and consistent?

Next: the filler words--are they good, lively words and phrases, with a minimum of abbreviations, partial phrases, crosswordese?

Last: the clues--if everything else looks good, the clues can always be fixed.

I've never seen the word abecedarian in NYT puzzles. I always thought it would be an excellent addition to the game. Are there words that you would love to include but can't (or won't) for some reason or another?

The only words I can't include are the really offensive ones, and anything longer than the grid will fit.

Who's your favorite crossword-famous person? Yma Sumac? Erle Stanley Gardner?

Yeah, no favorites. Too hard to come up with fresh clues for those folks.

Do you get hate mail?

I don't get hate mail. If the WSJ mailroom gets any, they're nice enough not to share it with me. I do get occasional lukewarm-or-worse reviews on some of the puzzle blogs.

Are computer-generated crosswords kinda of crummy?

Many of them are. The key to making a good computer-generated crossword is to spend a lot of time tweaking the word list. And even after that, the computer can't write good, clever clues.

Do your worry your job won't be around much longer? Have you given any thought to what you'd do if crossword editor wasn't a thing anymore?

I'm not too worried. I've been doing this for decades now, so if it goes away I'll be ready to retire. Though I hope it lasts another decade or two.

Are you a pen/paper solver? Or do you prefer digital puzzles?

Until recently, I was pen solver (with plenty of cross-outs). When my printer conked out a while back, I switched to digital and haven't gone back to paper.

Until recently I was a pen-and-paper solver (with plenty of cross-outs). When my printer conked out a while back, I switched to digital, and haven't gone back to paper.

What are some of your favorite clues that you made up during your career?

One of my early favorites was "Play with matches" for TENNIS.

What do you normally change when editing puzzles? i.e. do you change grid letters, entire clues, wording of clues, grammar/spelling, all of the above? What might prompt you to change grid letters or clues?

Any or all of the above. First I'll look at the grid fill to see if any areas can be improved. After I'm happy that the grid is as good as it can be, I'll edit the clues which can mean tweaking a few or rewriting whole swaths. Which day of the week the puzzle is scheduled for can mean making the clues easier or trickier. And when the puzzle is laid out, I might need to edit more clues to fit on the page.

What’s your favorite (non WSJ)? What’s your favorite indie outlet? Favorite blogs? Favorite constructors?

My favorite puzzles to solve are the themeless Fireball puzzles (which, since I'm crazy, I like to tackle with just the Down clues) and Matt's contest puzzles (though I don't always solve the meta). I won't name favorite constructors except to say I like the ones who require the least editing.

Any crossword pet peeves, either as a solver, a constructor, or an editor?

As an editor, I don't like an answer word in the grid to appear in a clue for a different answer. My test-solvers are very good at pointing those out.

Any tips for someone who'd like to give creating puzzles a try?

Get a copy of Patrick Berry's Crossword Constructor’s Handbook from his website. And look for the Facebook groups for new constructors.

How long does it take you to completely create a puzzle?

It varies a lot. Sometimes it feels like the grid is cooperating and sometimes it feels like it's fighting me. For a daily puzzle, it might take two hours or less, or it might take days, putting it down and coming back to it. Cluing adds more time.

What is your process when creating a puzzle?

The first step is coming up with a theme, and finding theme answers of good lengths that balance each other. Then I place them in a grid, decide where black squares look promising, and then fill in the restof the words. Clues come last.

Have you every put any kind of hidden messaging into puzzle? Say with a certain collection or sequence of words?

Obviously there's often something hidden in the Friday contest puzzles. Other than those, I've probably hidden messages in puzzles in the past, though nothing comes to mind.

When are you going to have other constructors other than you and Matt Gaffney create the Friday meta puzzles?

We have occasionally Friday metas from Patrick Berry and Peter Gordon. But since I need to test-solve every meta to gauge its solvability, I'm need to be picky about those I'll invite.

Is there a word or phrase you'd love to work into a puzzle but haven't been able to yet? And if not, are there any you're particularly proud to have included, especially if they were debuts?

I wish I had a better answer, but no, no particular word I've been dying to include. And I don't keep track of debut words, so I guess I don't have one to be proud of.

Do you ever just come up with a crossword item and just cackle maniacally as you fit it in?

I'm not really a maniacal cackler. (Maniacal, maybe.)