Taking Merl's Time

by Bob Mercil
(Foundtain Hills, AZ)

It was in the early 90's and I attended my first
NY Times Tournament. Somehow, I got Merl to talk to
me about crosswords. He was a very busy man and he
even said that he wasn't going to do this again;
but he DID. He spent about 15 minutes with me which
was very generous of him.