Mumbai banker’s crossword makes it to New York Times

Mumbai city news: 37-year-old Mangesh Ghogre, has had his crosswords published in publications New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times, an American daily newspaper, on Tuesday published a crossword in their US Independence Day edition (July 4) with a unique theme which intends to bring the people of the US and India closer.

The crossword was made by an Indian - Mangesh Ghogre, 37, a resident of Nerul, a Mumbai suburb.

An investment banker by profession, Ghogre themed the crossword on ‘Fourth of July’. NYT crossword editor, Will Shortz, picked Ghogre’s crossword for the special edition from thousands of entries received from across the globe.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, the VJTI and NMIMS alumnus said, “I started solving crosswords during my engineering days to develop my vocabulary. Later, I started making crosswords on my own and sent them to different publications. I make only American crosswords and some of them have appeared in NYT, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal.”

Taking about Tuesday’s crossword, he said, “I wanted to do something special for the people of America which could also bring both America and India closer. I am very happy that it has appeared on their Independence Day.”

He said, “This tournament is held every year in March. This year, it received around 800 crosswords entries from different countries, but none of them were from India.”

According to Ghogre, NYT receives over 100 crosswords every week. At times people have to wait more than a year to get their crosswords published, even after they are approved by the editor.

“They have set a very high standard, as the number of entries is also large. And to meet that standard one has to work really hard. At times it takes me up to nine months to make one crossword. Over the past ten years, only ten to twelve of my crosswords have been published,” he said.

“The main purpose of crosswords is entertainment. But the youth in India is not really interested in it. Therefore, I am now trying to make it more youth-friendly, so that they can also develop an interest in solving crosswords,” he added.

Ghogre is also planning to launch a mobile app to make crosswords more accessible to the youth. “Once it is launched, people can solve crosswords while waiting in queues, at the airports, and bus stops, among others. Crosswords could also be made popular through the literature festivals organised in different Indian cities,” he further said.