81
EW IN OTHER NEWS
by Liz Hillman EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer
May 2018
San Diego ophthalmologist
has landed puzzles in The
New York Times and Los
Angeles Times
P
erhaps you're someone
who likes to settle into a
comfortable chair once a
week and complete the
Sunday newspaper's cross-
word puzzle. Maybe you do such
puzzles daily or only while sitting
on an airplane after you've exhaust-
ed all other reading possibilities.
While many have at least tried
to do a crossword puzzle, have you
ever thought about the process of
constructing one? Bruce Haight,
MD, Eye Associates of San Diego,
La Mesa, California, neither solved
crossword puzzles nor created them
until about 5 years ago. Now, he's
had dozens of puzzles published in
prestigious newspapers such as the
Los Angeles Times and The New York
Times.
Dr. Haight said he started
attempting to solve The New York
Times crossword puzzles when he
got an app on his tablet. He started
doing all Monday puzzles because
that's the easiest day of the week
in the Times, he said. When he had
a handle on those, he progressed
and new feels good with Monday
through Wednesday puzzles.
"I still have trouble with the
later days of the week," he said.
Something Dr. Haight thought
was missing from the puzzles he was
solving were puns.
"I like puns. I've got a bunch of
corny puns with my grandkids and I
thought, there are not enough puns
in crosswords; I'm going to make
one," Dr. Haight said of why he set
out to create and market his first
puzzle back in 2012.
He worked with a friend, an
already experienced crossword
constructor, on this first crossword
puzzle, which featured a bunch of
puns as the theme. The puzzle was
rejected.
"Looking back on it, it was not
even close. It was a bad puzzle," Dr.
Haight said.
Of the crossword puzzles he
has created, it was lucky number
39 in 2013 that was first accepted
by Will Shortz, The New York Times
crosswords editor, a man Dr. Haight
described as the Mr. Crossword of
the country.
"[This] was the realization of
my dream and all those hours of
work. Looking back on that puzzle,
it was an incredibly bad puzzle, and
[Mr. Shortz] bent over backward to
accept it. … It was a crummy puzzle,
the first one, but I was proud of it,"
he said.
Since then, Dr. Haight has had
35 puzzles published in The New
York Times, including the coveted
Sunday slot. Even still, his overall
acceptance rate is only about 25%.
"It's competitive. You've got
professional puzzle makers, and The
New York Times gets about 80 puzzles
a week on its desk and only accepts
Constructing crosswords
Index to advertisers
APACRS
Page: 58 and 59
Phone: 65-63278630
www.apacrs.org
Alcon Laboratories Inc.
Page: 31
Phone: 800-862-5266
Fax: 800-241-0677
www.alconlabs.com
BRASCRS
Page: 63
www.Brascrs.com.br
Beaver Visitec Int.
Page: 49
Phone: 781-906-6926
Fax: 781-906-7992
www.beaver-visitec.com
BlephEX LLC
Page: 5
Phone: 800-257-9787
www.blephEX.com
Diamatrix Ltd.
Page: 33
Phone: 281-367-8081
Fax: 281-292-5481
www.diamatrix.com
ESCRS
Page: 73 and 79
Phone: 941-751-0588
Fax: 941-752-4738
www.escrs.org
EyeMD EMR
Page: Cover 3
Phone: 877-239-3367
Fax: 239-949-5959
www.eyemdemr.com
Haag-Streit
Page: Cover 2
Phone: 877-628-1335
www.haag-streit-usa.com
Katena Products
Page: 19
Phone: 973-989-1600
Fax: 973-989-8175
www.katena.com
Marco Ophthalmic Inc.
Page: 7
Phone: 904-642-9330
Fax: 904-642-9338
www.marcooph.com
Oasis Medical
Page: 57
Phone: 909-305-5400
Fax: 909-305-9987
www.oasismedical.com
Shire Pharmaceuticals
Page: 82 and Cover 4
Phone: 617-349-2020
www.shire.com
Stephens Instruments
Page: 21
Phone: 800-354-7848
Fax: 859-259-4926
www.usiol.com
UCLA Office of Continuing
Medical Education
Page: 55
Phone: 310-794-2620
Fax: 310-794-2624
www.cme.ucla.edu/courses
ASCRS•ASOA
Meeting Information
2019 ASCRS•ASOA
Annual Meeting
Page: 15
AnnualMeeting.ascrs.org
ASCRS Subspecialty Day
2019
Page: 47
www.ascrs.org
YES Residents & Fellows
Page: 35
www.ascrs.org
ASCRS Center 4 Learning
Page: 45
www.ascrs.org
EyeWorld Surgical Summit
2019
Page: 52 and 53
Surgicalsummit.eyeworld.org
COS
Page: 29
cos.ascrs.org
EyeWorld Digital
Page: 41
Digital.eyeworld.org
EyeWorld Hub
Page: 39
Hub.eyeworld.org
EyeWorld Replay
Page: 25
www.ewreplay.org
EyeWorld AR
Page: 23
EyeWorld Daily
Page: 17
Digital.daily.org
Dr. Haight started creating crossword puzzles a few years ago and has since had several
appear in publications such as The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Source: Bruce Haight, MD
continued on page 82
