Margaret Farrar initially rejected the puzzle with 10 ampersands in it calling it "trickery", but six months later decided to print it.
He is best known for designing many crossword puzzles for The New York Times, starting in the 1970s for Margaret Farrar, and then continuing to design new puzzles after the department was taken over by Will Shortz.
Stanley Newman has referred to her as a "crossword genius", and credits her with the creation of "many, if not most" of the rules that guide modern crossword design.
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Margaret Petherbridge Farrar (March 23, 1897 – June 11, 1984) was an American journalist and the first crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times, from 1942 to 1968.
Margaret Thatcher | Margaret Atwood | Margaret | Margaret Mead | Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon | Margaret Weis | Princess Margaret | Margaret Cho | Princess Margaret Hospital | Geraldine Farrar | Margaret Mitchell | Margaret Bourke-White | Jay Farrar | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Margaret of Anjou | Margaret Court | Margaret Becker | Margaret Sullavan | Margaret Hodge | Bob and Margaret | Margaret Murray | Margaret Tudor | Margaret the Virgin | Margaret of York | Margaret of Austria | Margaret Laurence | Margaret Island | Lady Margaret Boat Club | Margaret River, Western Australia | Margaret River |
Born in London, England in 1921, Farrar was the elder son of Donald Frederic Farrar (1897–1982), a former Royal Flying Corps supply pilot, and Mabel Margaret Farrar, née Hadgraft (1896–1985), and brother of RAF airman and poet James Farrar.