William Lutwiniak

William Lutwiniak (November 24, 1919 – January 24, 1992) was an American crossword constructor who was also known for his work as a cryptologist with the National Security Agency. He composed a total of 8,413 puzzles;

Early life Lutwiniak was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Over the five years that followed, he was a regular participant in the ACA's activities, which brought him to the attention of William Friedman; Friedman invited him to pursue advanced training in cryptography, which Lutwiniak did on February 1, 1941.

Career Lutwiniak worked at Arlington Hall under Solomon Kullback until the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, at which point he became concerned that he would be drafted, so he went to the Munitions Building and asked Colonel Harold Hayes for advice; Hayes told him to go to a particular recruiting station and enlist. Lutwiniak did so, and was immediately assigned to work under Harold Hayes at the Munitions Building; when he returned, Hayes promoted him to sergeant so that he could skip basic training. By the following October, he had been promoted from staff sergeant to technical sergeant.

During the war, Lutwiniak stopped creating and solving crosswords "because things were serious".

In 1961, he headed the NSA's A5 unit, which specialized in Soviet codes. Later, he became the publisher of Cryptolog, one of the NSA's internal magazines, to which he also contributed articles and puzzles.

In 1985, he joined The Washington Post as crossword co-editor for their Sunday magazine,

Awards and honors Upon retiring from the National Security Agency in 1981, Lutwiniak was awarded the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement.

In 1991, CROSSW RD Magazine named him Crossword Puzzle Person of the Year.