Michael Ashley

I love puns and games and word play of all sorts and I always have. So I consider myself more than lucky that I stumbled into the world of writing pencil puzzles, where I could put all those loves to use. I actually get to entertain people with my puzzles, make them think and laugh and, yes, even struggle a little from time to time, and I get a check in the mail as well. Amazing! Nowadays, considerably grayer but still impressively buff, I've published over a thousand puzzles and I have been contributing the regular acrostics feature to Games Magazine since 1978. My acrostics and crossword puzzles have also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, all 4 volumes of the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Puzzle Book series and other places too numerous to mention.

I lived nearly 20 years in Manhattan, New York, and have now lived with my wife and two children in Scottsdale, Arizona, since 1993. Besides being a maniacal online chess buff, in my spare time I dabble at another sport which, on my better days, strongly resembles golf.