Patrick's Puzzles

PATRICK BLINDAUER has had a lifelong love of puzzles, from the time his mom bought him Mr. Light and his dad shared his Games magazines. He caught the theater bug in junior high and studied theatre at Webster Conservatory in St. Louis, MO. Go Gorloks!

Patrick then moved to NYC, where he worked on various projects, appeared in 7 episodes of Strangers with Candy, and had a line in A Beautiful Mind.

Patrick’s life took at definite turn for the better when he quit smoking cigarettes and took up solving crosswords in the summer of 2004. He decided to try his hand at construction, and saw his first puzzle published in The New York Times on July 21, 2005 (a Thursday). He has since written over 60 puzzles for the Times, including a week-long puzzle contest similar to his Puzzlefests. His work has also appeared in places like the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and GAMES magazine.

Patrick also writes a weekly Monday 9×9 and a monthly 15×15 for Vox Media, occasional puzzles for the American Values Club Crossword, and monthly website puzzles as well as quarterly print puzzles for Yes! magazine.

When he’s not making puzzles, Patrick can be found performing around St. Louis, teaching music for shows, or cavorting with his kiddo at City Museum.

If you read the previous paragraphs, you know that performing has been a part of Patrick’s life for a long time now. Most recently, Patrick performed as Daryl and Stanford in an actor/musician version of “Bright Star” at the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre.

Patrick started letterboxing a few years ago, which involves solving clues to locate hidden hand-carved rubber stamps.

He and his dog, Penny, were featured in the Riverfront Times.

This baby girl came into my life eight years ago, and I am so grateful for her. #proudpapa