B.C. chemistry professor’s puzzling hobby earns spot in New York Times

On CTV Your Morning Vancouver, Adam finds out how a UBC professor’s crosswords are adding up to something pretty remarkable.

VANCOUVER – This is not a story about realizing a childhood dream, because back then, Dr. Mark McLachlan was unaware of a crucial reality.

“I’d never heard of The New York Times when I was a kid,” Mark laughs.

Instead, Mark would regularly borrow his mom’s magazines to complete the puzzles printed in inside them, before learning how to effortlessly solve a Rubik’s Cube.

“Everybody would bring their cubes to me at school,” Mark laughs. “And I would solve their cubes.”

While he would grow up to become an award-winning chemistry professor and dean of science at UBC who wears aloha shirts every day to make everyone feel bright, it wasn’t until Mark was pursuing his post-doctorate work at MIT in the late ‘90s, that he discovered the pleasure of completing a crossword.

“I just completely forget about work and that I have another life,” Mark says. “And just immerse myself in the puzzle.”

Until one day, Mark wondered who actually makes the crosswords he was doing.

“I found out that anybody could submit a puzzle to The New York Times,” Mark smiles.

So Mark taught himself how to design crosswords by hand, with a pen and paper (which takes between 30 to 80 hours), and started submitting them.

“Promptly got it rejected,” Mark says. “And tried over and over and over.”

Mark persevered until he finally got his first puzzle published in The Los Angeles Times.

“It was amazing,” Mark says before pointing out a framed copy of the puzzle hanging on his office wall along with all sorts of scientific accolades. “Super cool!”

Since then, Mark has upgraded to making crosswords on a computer.

“I try to come up with new clever themes that other people haven’t thought up before,” Mark says.

Mark has made about 75 puzzles so far, which have been published in pages ranging from The Wall Street Journal to The New York Times.

While he can earn between $50 to $2250 per puzzle, depending on its complexity and placement during the week, Mark says seeing his work printed in the prestigious New York Times weekend edition is priceless.

“The Sunday New York Times has felt the best,” Mark smiles before agreeing it feels better than any other accomplishment in his career. “It’s the creme de la creme.”

While the puzzle-loving boy he once was never knew to dream this big, the professor he now is hopes his puzzling pastime, like teaching in those bright aloha shirts, proves to be both educational and entertaining.

“I hope people enjoy it,” Mark smiles. “And learn something new.”