Henry Hook (1955-2015)
October 27, 2015 2:14 PM   Subscribe

The crossword community has lost another of the greats: Henry Hook. The New Yorker ran a profile of Hook in 2002, calling him "the Marquis de Sade of the puzzle world."

The news has been confirmed on Twitter by Brendan Emmett Quigley and the NY Times crossword blog.

This comes just two months after the untimely passing of Merl Reagle (previously).
posted by Shmuel510 (21 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
I had a subscription to GAMES magazine all through my youth and early teen years, and I was always excited to see a puzzle by Henry Hook. Thanks for introducing me to cryptic crosswords, Mr. Hook, despite all the frustration and broken pencils.
posted by jess at 2:29 PM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


5-DOWN: One-third of an ellipsis.
posted by delfin at 2:31 PM on October 27, 2015 [12 favorites]


.
posted by Diagonalize at 2:37 PM on October 27, 2015


6 DOWN: R.I.P. Ode can be a mark of respect?
posted by zamboni at 2:55 PM on October 27, 2015 [12 favorites]


6 DOWN Solemn as the tomb and broken ties (9)
6 ACROSS With grief we hear at the time we rise. (8)
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:10 PM on October 27, 2015


What was the Marquis de Sade the Marquis de Sade of?
posted by clockzero at 3:54 PM on October 27, 2015


What was the Marquis de Sade the Marquis de Sade of?

Pretty sure it was sex.
posted by aubilenon at 3:57 PM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


What was the Marquis de Sade the Marquis de Sade of?

Flatulence, according to the court records, but it's polite to pretend that the answer is "sex."
posted by Phlogiston at 4:04 PM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Never could get into cryptics, but I instantly remembered him from Games. Sad to hear.

.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:16 PM on October 27, 2015


What was the Marquis de Sade the Marquis de Sade of?

Anticlericalism. Also antinomianism.

Also, weirdly, crossword puzzles.

Well, cross words, at any rate.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:21 PM on October 27, 2015


                  [ R ]
[ F ] [ R ] [ I ] [ E ] [ N ] [ D ]
                  [ P ]
posted by Fizz at 4:23 PM on October 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Preliminary obit by Amy Reynaldo.
posted by Shmuel510 at 4:24 PM on October 27, 2015


17 ACROSS : According to one, overdose on punctuation.
posted by Death and Gravity at 5:39 PM on October 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


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posted by painquale at 6:23 PM on October 27, 2015


My co-conspirator and I carefully ration our remaining stock of Henry Hook puzzles, having learned our lesson by burning through every available Cox and Rathvon too fast. We broke into the stash today in his honor; it feels pretty fitting that we only got through about 7 clues before the coffeeshop we were in closed.
posted by dorque at 6:31 PM on October 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


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posted by mmoncur at 4:23 AM on October 28, 2015


One of the highlights of my early adolescence was finding a huge box of mint GAMES magazines in a used book store. With my parents' help, I took them home for probably 20 cents each and devoured them. ~28 years later, they're boxed up but not forgotten, and it would break my heart to have someone dump them on me.

And the familiar pang whenever I see the name of a GAMES puzzle maker.

.
posted by sylvanshine at 9:48 AM on October 28, 2015




I must admit to certain admiration for these gentlemen. Though I never got into crossword puzzles myself - that is except for winning an Observer competition (junior) in 1955.
Peaking early.
But my dad did the Times crossword on his daily commute into Waterloo from Epsom station. The goal was to have completed it before Wimbledon.

From that period I remember particularly the name of one of Henry Hooks eminent predecessors - Torquemada.
Could it have been in the Observer?
posted by jan murray at 2:54 PM on October 28, 2015 [1 favorite]




Boston Globe obit (mostly just quoting pieces linked above)
posted by Shmuel510 at 7:14 AM on October 31, 2015


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