Many people know Mathew Westman as their Spanish or French teacher, but to puzzle-seeking minds, he is known for his monthly crossword puzzles.
Mr. Westman’s journey with crossword puzzles began in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. His mother had saved a stack of crossword puzzles from the Boston Globe and sent them to him shortly before the birth of his son. While in the hospital for the delivery of his son, Mr. Westman did the crossword puzzles to stay awake. Then, during the 2020 school year, Mr. Westman began to create his own crossword puzzles.
To do this, Mr. Westman uses a computer program with a dictionary and tinkers with clues to align all the across and down words. Mr. Westman started by making crosswords for the students in his dorm. During the pandemic in 2020, students were heavily restricted and spent most of their time in their rooms. Mr. Westman understood the challenges of this isolation and passed out a new crossword puzzle every day after study hall to the gratitude of his residents. Once they completed the crossword, Mr. Westman would give them food as a prize.
Mr. Westman is also proud to share that he completes the New York Times crossword daily. This skill is quite impressive as the puzzles get increasingly difficult as the week progresses, with Monday being the easiest and Sunday borderline impossible. He shared that his strategy for solving crossword puzzles is to “start with something [he] knows.” Mr. Westman also stated that he uses charts that show how likely a letter is to be in a specific spot in the English language. He explained, “Many words in English finish in e, d, s [and] only a few finish in x.”
Mr. Westman’s work has surpassed usual basic hobbies, and last year he was published in multiple famous newspapers, including the Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal. He has also submitted work to the New York Times, which he hopes will get published by them soon. Mr. Westman’s work with crossword puzzle-making has not only benefited the Deerfield community but also many solvers across the country