Mangesh Ghogre
Mangesh Ghogre is an international crossword constructor with puzzles published in "The New York Times", "The Wall Street Journal" and the "Los Angeles Times". He is credited as being the first Indian to have constructed crosswords for many top newspapers in the USA. His crosswords have also been featured in publications like "Games" and "World of Puzzles" and syndicated by over 200 newspapers around the world. Ghogre was recognized as the first India-based crossword constructor for the "Los Angeles Times" in 2010. He became the first Indian to judge "The New York Times" crossword puzzle tournament in  the year 2012, and he designed a crossword themed "Fourth of July" for the paper's Independence Day edition in 2017, which was aimed at bringing the people of India and the US closer together. An investment banker by profession, since 2016 he has been an executive director at the global investment bank Nomura Securities. He also contributes to the "Speaking Tree" column of the "Times of India". Ghogre showcased his published crosswords in an art gallery at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in 2014. In an interview with "Hindustan Times", he described making crosswords as a work of art . In December 2017, Ghogre organised a workshop on crosswords at the US Consulate General in Mumbai. He is the only person who was born and raised outside North America, and who has never lived there, to create a crossword puzzle for "The New York Times". Deb Amlen, head writer and editor of "The New York Times"'s "Wordplay" column, said, "Mangesh's crosswords show that he has an admirable grasp not only of American English colloquialisms, but the art of setting the crossword as well". Will Shortz, crossword editor at "The New York Times" and director of the annual crossword  tournament, wrote in an email "I would say he is very rare". Shortz confirmed that, with the exception of American-born expatriates, and puzzlers who were born elsewhere but raised in the U.S. or Canada, no other non-North American has ever had a puzzle published in the "Times". In June 2019, Ghogre was featured by "Fortune" magazine in its annual list of the 40 under-40 sharpest minds in business. The magazine recognised his strategic contribution in establishing Nomura as a top-ranked franchise for Equity Capital Markets in India. In 2019, Mangesh Ghogre created a Mahatma Gandhi-themed crossword  to celebrate his 150th birth anniversary, which the NYT published on October 2. On this occasion, The Forbes magazine profiled Mangesh’s crossword journey. The magazine wrote “Considering the paper gets about 150 crosswords every week, this (Gandhi-themed crossword) is prestigious, and no mean feat. Nor is his journey to getting there. ” Career. His interest in crosswords began in the year 1997, when, in order to develop a good vocabulary for the GMAT, he started solving crosswords originally published in the "Los Angeles Times". After several rejections, his first crossword was published in the "Los Angeles Times". As a  tribute to the city of Mumbai, he published another crossword in the LA Times with the byline "Mangesh Mumbaikar Ghogre". Ghogre also continues to participate as a judge in the world's largest crossword tournament, the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. As an investment banker, Ghogre has over 12 years of experience and has been credited with raising over $20 billion in equity.