We’re deeply saddened to share the news of Mel Taub’s passing. The brilliant mind behind The New York Times’ beloved “Puns and Anagrams” puzzles, a master of clever wordplay and delightful, often groan-inducing puns, Mel passed away on September 14th at his home in Austin, Texas, at the remarkable age of 97.
His son, Daniel, confirmed his death.
In the world of puzzles, “Puns and Anagrams” crosswords, affectionately known as PandAs, served as a refreshing break from the more intense cryptic crosswords, much like a delightful side dish to a grand meal. While some hardcore cruciverbalists might consider them lighter fare, PandAs captivated a dedicated fan base who relished a truly terrible pun and the satisfaction of unraveling a brilliant anagram.
Deb Amlen, the esteemed lead columnist for The Times’s “Wordplay” section, fondly remembered Mr. Taub as “the king of the groaners in our puzzle family.” She emphasized that “His puzzles were designed to put a smile on your face.”
Here’s a classic example from Mr. Taub, originally published in 2017:
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display: none;
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PM_Config.PM_BasePath = “https://puzzleme.amuselabs.com/pmm/”;
To give you a taste of Taub’s genius, consider these gems: The clue “Offspring of many fodders” from a puzzle that appeared on August 21, 2011, yielded the answer: DODDERS (a type of vine in the morning glory family). Another classic, from May 21, 2017, featured the clue: “Male or female, in Boston.” The solution? AGENDA. (That’s “gender” with a distinct Bostonian accent — a true groaner!)
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When not crafting puzzles, Mr. Taub worked as an underwriter for the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. He dedicated his nights and weekends to creating his beloved puzzles at his family’s dining room table in Brooklyn. Each puzzle, on average, took about eight hours to construct and contained around 10 puns.
He revealed to The Four Star Puzzler magazine in 1982 that he always aimed to start each puzzle with a pun he hadn’t used before. “And then I pray,” he quipped. The magazine noted his “rapid fire” speaking style, which mirrored his favorite comedians, Henny Youngman and Rodney Dangerfield, perfectly reflecting his unique sense of humor.
He once shared a favorite clue: “Salad ingredient on the Titanic.” The answer? ICEBERG.
“Each definition is a word game in itself,” Mr. Taub explained to The Puzzler. “The ones I like best are those where the letters in the word to be anagrammed lend themselves to a smooth definition. For example, ‘He doesn’t have an end seat,’ for STANDEE.”
Many fans were delighted to discover that “Mel Taub” is an anagram for “mutable,” a perfectly fitting description of his craft. For those who found his puzzles particularly challenging, it’s also an anagram for “bum tale”!
The very first “Puns and Anagrams” puzzle, then called “Riddle Me This,” made its debut in The Times’s Sunday magazine on February 15, 1942, alongside the newspaper’s inaugural crossword. It was credited to Anna Gram, a pseudonym that Will Shortz, The Times’s long-standing puzzle editor, believes belonged to the paper’s first puzzle editor, Margaret Farrar.
It took Mr. Taub, at just 26 years old, three attempts to have his work featured in the paper. His initial submissions were traditional crosswords.
“This is an interesting puzzle,” Ms. Farrar wrote to him in his first rejection letter. “And I foresee you will land in the puzzle corner. I don’t take to the crossing of djo and oont.” (“Djo” was clued as “a Japanese unit of measurement,” and “oont” as “an Indian camel.”)
“I hope you’ll come again,” she added, with encouragement. “We pay $10 for the dailies.”
His second attempt was also declined, this time due to what Ms. Farrar deemed “contrived abbreviations,” such as “diph” for diphthong. However, his perseverance paid off with his third puzzle, published on October 24, 1954. His first PandA followed the next May, earning him $15.
Beyond PandAs, he also crafted double-crostics, although not for The Times, compiling them into a series of books. For The Times, he occasionally contributed crosswords and even a few cryptic crosswords.
“Hail to the Chief,” a puzzle appearing in The New York Times Magazine on January 17, 1993, was a special tribute to the newly elected president, William Jefferson Clinton. Just three days before his inauguration, Mr. Clinton promptly returned the completed puzzle, filled in with pen, along with a note expressing his enjoyment “in between spurts of speech writing.”
A memorable clue from that puzzle: “The White House is her Everest.” The answer: HILLARY.
Melvin Seymour Taub was born on September 4, 1928, in Brooklyn, the youngest of David and Esther (Schwartz) Taub’s four children. His father, during Prohibition, worked as a part-time bootlegger, specializing in slivovitz, a fruit brandy, before transitioning to 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 entered the insurance industry, working there until his retirement at the precise age of 63.5 years (a detail his son Daniel noted, reflecting his father’s meticulous nature). Mr. Taub married Phyllis Spinrad, an administrator at Brooklyn College, in 1959.
He is survived by his two sons, Daniel and Dave, and one grandson. His wife, Phyllis, who also contributed two daily crosswords to The Times, passed away in 2023.
“Puns and Anagrams” crosswords continue to appear every two months in The Times Magazine, although they are no longer available online. Around a hundred of Mr. Taub’s puzzles are archived at xwordinfo.com, a website maintained by puzzle enthusiast Jim Horne.
By his own reckoning, Mr. Taub contributed approximately 350 to 400 PandAs to The Times, with his final one published on October 20, 2019.
As his wife, Ms. Taub, aptly put it to The Four Star Puzzler in 1982: “He doesn’t just play with words. He preys on them.”