Jeremiah Farrell's Election Day
N. Y. Times Crossword Puzzle
It predicted Clinton's 1996 Victory BEFORE the polls opened

(Portions of this page are copyright 1996 The New York Times Company)

Do you remember the New York Times Crossword that appeared on Election Day, 1996? That puzzle elicited more response than any other puzzle, because of these four clues:

      17A: Forecast
      39A: Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper (!), with 43A
      43A: See 39A
      68A: Title for 39A next year

The answers to these four clues spelled out
PROGNOSTICATION
CLINTON ELECTED
MISTERPRESIDENT

a very clear prediction that did indeed come true later that day after all the results were counted. However, if you looked at the clues in the other direction, there were intentional ambiguities in the crossing clues. These ambiguities meant that the answer could just as easily have come out

PROGNOSTICATION
BOBDOLE ELECTED
MISTERPRESIDENT

I've copied part of the puzzle for you here. The squares in yellow show where the answer, CLINTON or BOBDOLE, fits into the puzzle.

Here is the portion of the puzzle
that correctly predicted
CLINTON would be elected

and here are the clues, in left to right order,
for the crossing clues. See if you can figure
out both variant answers that intersect:
39D Black Halloween animal
40D French 101 word
41D Provider of support, for short
23D Sewing shop purchase
27D Short writings
35D Trumpet
42D Much-debated political inits.

If you would like a copy of that puzzle, we recommend The New York Times Daily Crossword Puzzles volume 52 edited by Will Shortz, of course. The Election Day Puzzle is the #1 puzzle in this collection.

Mr. Shortz commented,

"It was the most amazing crossword I've ever seen. As soon as it appeared, my telephone started ringing. Most people said, 'How dare you presume that Clinton will win!' And the people who filled in BOB DOLE thought we'd made a whopper of a mistake!"

Would you like to try this famous puzzle?

Click here to read more fascinating background of Will Shortz, enigmatic crossword editor for the NYTimes. (Will is the only person to earn a college degree in puzzles at Indiana University. I was there the same time he was, but I don't remember if I ever met him.).

Another fascinating page giving history about this puzzle can be found at www.barelybad.com, including an interview with the author, Professor Farrell.