Wonderful World of Words

A composer and orchestrator, Greg Pliska has been solving and creating puzzles since he could read. He is Chief Puzzle Officer for The Puzzler with AJ Jacobs, an iHeart podcast now in its second season.  He has been a puzzle writer and presenter for public radio’s Ask Me Another and A Way with Words, as well as a regular contributor to the MIT Mystery Hunt. Under the auspices of his company, Exaltation of Larks, he creates puzzle hunts for Web3 clients, universities, and others. In his other career, Greg has scored films, television shows, musicals, and opera, and his orchestrations can be heard every morning on NPR and at night on CBS Evening News. He is developing a new musical based upon the life of Walter Reuther, and most recently wrote incidental music for the Broadway play SUMMER 1976, with Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht (now available on Audible).

Will Shortz is the crossword editor of The New York Times, the puzzlemaster for NPR’s Weekend Edition, and the founder/director of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. He directed ‘Words’ from 2007 until 2019 and holds the distinction of being the only person to have attended every ‘Words’ weekend since its inception in 1982. In August, Will married for the first time to a partner he met through table tennis, which both play every day. Will will challenge anyone to a game of ping-pong in Mohonk’s Game Room on Saturday afternoon during ‘Words’ weekend!

Eric Berlin has had dozens of crosswords and other puzzles published in The New York Times, and he is the author of “The Puzzling World of Winston Breen,” a trilogy of puzzle-filled mysteries for kids. He creates live puzzle events for schools, museums, and organizations — among other places, his work has been seen at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, New York City’s Museum of Mathematics, and the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Eric is the constructor behind Puzzlesnacks (http://www.puzzlesnacks.com), and collections of his puzzles can be found on Amazon.

David Feldman is the author of 13 books — 11 of them being collections of Imponderables, including the national bestsellers Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?, When Do Fish Sleep?, and Do Penguins Have Knees? He is also the co-creator of the board game, Malarky. Since retirement from writing, Dave devotes most of his energy to supporting the Posse Foundation, playing duplicate bridge, consuming popular culture in all its forms, and hunting for great food in unlikely places.

Zach Sherwin is a Los Angeles-based comedian. His writing for the web series “Epic Rap Battles of History” has received numerous Emmy nominations and Streamy Awards, and the Epic Rap Battles in which he’s co-starred have amassed well over half a billion YouTube views and an RIAA-certified Gold record. His own YouTube videos have been viewed many millions of times, and his other writing credits range from “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (The CW) to MAD Magazine. As a performer, Zach has appeared on “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell” (FX) and “The Pete Holmes Show” (TBS), both long cancelled, as well as “America’s Got Talent” (NBC), which tbh seems to be thriving! In 2022, Zach published his debut crossword puzzle in the New York Times, and he has also worked extensively as a TV audience warm-up comic, including at the live tapings of the 2023 and 2024 National Spelling Bee finals.

A.J. Jacobs is an author and podcaster. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. Among his books are The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All. He is host of the iHeart podcast “The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs,” with chief puzzle officer Greg Pliska. It is based on his book “The Puzzler,” which contains 20 original puzzles by Greg Pliska. His new book is “The Year of Living Constitutionally.” He has told several Moth stories, and given several TED talks that have amassed over 10 million views. Jacobs was the answer to 1 Down in the March 8, 2014 New York Times crossword puzzle.

Bomani Jones is the host of the podcast The Right Time with Bomani Jones. As CEO of Old Soul Productions, he also hosts The Evening Jones, an audience driven podcast discussing a range of pop culture topics. He previously hosted Game Theory with Bomani Jones on HBO, where he tackles sports and their intersections with the world, and contributed to Back on the Record with Bob Costas. Jones was the former co-host of the ESPN sports television programs Highly Questionable and High Noon, and was a panelist on the sports roundtable discussion show Around the Horn. He was an executive producer of Rand University, a film about former NFL wide receiver Randy Moss and an episode of ESPN’s acclaimed documentary series 30 for 30. He also worked on several documentaries. For over 20 years, Bomani has written on sports, music, culture and politics for a variety of online and print publications, including Vanity Fair and GQ. He is a former contributor for SBNation.com, and the former host of The Morning Jones on The Score on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. Bomani graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, and got his master’s degree in politics, economics, and business from Claremont Graduate University, as well as a master’s degree in economics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as an adjunct professor at Elon University and Duke University.

Lisa and David Spira founded Room Escape Artist in 2014. They publish daily well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room reviews, design tips, player tips, and industry commentary. Lisa is the Editor-in-Chief, managing all written content. David co-hosts Reality Escape Pod, our podcast now in its 8th season. Their professional expertise includes User Experience and Speech Writing (David) and Language Technology and Data Analytics (Lisa). They have experience managing projects, teams, and products in different areas of technology. Lisa and David have been featured as industry experts in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and on a CBS Sunday Morning segment. They are the escape room industry’s most prolific leaders.