The brilliant mind behind The New York Times’ beloved Puns and Anagrams puzzle, Mel Taub, has passed away at the age of 97. Known for his masterful wordplay and famously ‘groan-inducing’ puns, Taub left a lasting legacy for puzzle enthusiasts.
His son, Daniel, confirmed his passing.
Within the world of puzzles, Puns and Anagrams crosswords, affectionately known as PandAs, are a unique twist. While some hardcore cruciverbalists might consider them a lighter diversion compared to cryptic crosswords, PandAs have a dedicated following. Their charm lies in the delightful challenge of unraveling wordplay, appreciating a truly awful pun, and the satisfaction of deciphering a clever anagram.
Deb Amlen, a senior puzzle editor at The Times, fondly referred to Taub as ‘the king of the groaners in our puzzle family.’ She emphasized that his puzzles were crafted with the sole purpose of bringing a smile to solvers’ faces.
To experience his unique style, here’s an example from one of Mr. Taub’s puzzles from 2017:
Among Taub’s classic creations, consider this: the clue ‘Offspring of many fodders’ led to the answer ‘DODDERS.’ Another brilliant, and perhaps cringe-worthy, example: ‘Male or female, in Boston’ cleverly pointed to ‘AGENDA’ (think ‘gender’ with a thick Boston accent!).
Outside of his career as an underwriter for the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, Taub dedicated his nights and weekends to crafting puzzles. Each creation, typically featuring around 10 puns, would take him approximately eight hours to complete at his family’s dining room table in Brooklyn.
In a 1982 interview with The Four Star Puzzler magazine, Taub revealed his creative process, stating he liked to begin each puzzle with a fresh, unused pun, then quip, ‘And then I pray.’ The magazine noted his ‘rapid fire’ delivery, reminiscent of his comedic heroes, Henny Youngman and Rodney Dangerfield, which surely influenced his unique brand of humor. He once shared a favorite clue: ‘Salad ingredient on the Titanic,’ with the perfect answer: ‘ICEBERG.’ He further explained that ‘each definition is a word game in itself,’ favoring those where the anagrammed word seamlessly integrated into its definition, like ‘He doesn’t have an end seat,’ yielding ‘STANDEE.’
A delightful discovery for many readers was that ‘Mel Taub’ itself is an anagram for ‘mutable,’ a remarkably fitting descriptor for his ever-evolving wordplay. Though, some playfully frustrated puzzlers might have preferred ‘bum tale’!
The very first Puns and Anagrams puzzle graced The Times’ Sunday magazine on February 15, 1942, appearing alongside the newspaper’s inaugural crossword. Titled ‘Riddle Me This,’ it was credited to ‘Anna Gram,’ a name Will Shortz, The Times’ current puzzle editor, suspects was a pseudonym for the paper’s pioneering puzzle editor, Margaret Farrar.
It wasn’t an easy start; the 26-year-old Taub faced three rejections before his work appeared in print. His initial submissions were traditional crosswords. In her first rejection letter, Ms. Farrar acknowledged, ‘This is an interesting puzzle… And I foresee you will land in the puzzle corner.’ However, she took issue with certain entries, stating, ‘I don’t take to the crossing of djo and oont.’ (‘Djo’ referred to a Japanese unit of measurement, and ‘oont’ to an Indian camel.)
Despite the initial setbacks, Ms. Farrar encouraged him, adding, ‘I hope you’ll come again. We pay $10 for the dailies.’ His second puzzle was also rejected due to what she deemed ‘contrived abbreviations,’ such as ‘diph’ for diphthong. Persistence paid off, and his third puzzle was finally published on October 24, 1954. His first PandA followed the next May, earning him $15.
Beyond PandAs, Taub also crafted double-crostics, publishing them in a series of books, though not for The Times. He occasionally contributed traditional crosswords and even a few cryptic crosswords to The Times.
One notable creation was ‘Hail to the Chief,’ featured in The New York Times Magazine on January 17, 1993. This puzzle was a clever tribute to then-President-elect William Jefferson Clinton, who, just three days before his inauguration, returned it fully solved, penned with a note expressing his enjoyment ‘in between spurts of speech writing.’ A memorable clue from this puzzle was ‘The White House is her Everest,’ with the answer being ‘HILLARY.’
Melvin Seymour Taub was born in Brooklyn on September 4, 1928, the youngest of four children to David and Esther (Schwartz) Taub. His father had a colorful past, working as a part-time bootlegger during Prohibition, specializing in slivovitz, a fruit brandy, before later finding employment in a luggage factory. Mel pursued an English major at Brooklyn College with aspirations of becoming a comedy writer. When that path didn’t materialize, he transitioned into the insurance industry, working there until his retirement at the precise age of 63.5, as his son Daniel recounts — a detail that perfectly reflects his meticulous nature. He married Phyllis Spinrad, an administrator at Brooklyn College, in 1959.
He is survived by his sons Daniel and Dave, and one grandson. His wife, Phyllis, a crossword constructor in her own right who had two daily puzzles published in The Times, passed away in 2023.
While Puns and Anagrams puzzles continue to appear bimonthly in The Times Magazine, they are no longer featured online. However, puzzle enthusiasts can still explore over a hundred of Mr. Taub’s ingenious creations, archived on a dedicated website maintained by fellow puzzler, Jim Horne.
Taub himself estimated that he contributed between 350 to 400 PandAs to The Times throughout his career, with his final puzzle appearing on October 20, 2019.
As his wife, Phyllis, so eloquently put it in 1982 to The Four Star Puzzler, ‘He doesn’t just play with words… He preys on them.’