Will Shortz

For the guest star, see Will Shortz.

Will Shortz

Character Information Gender: Male ♂ Status: Alive Hair: Brown Occupation: Puzzle creator and editor First appearance: "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" Voiced by: Himself

Will Shortz is an American puzzle creator and editor.

History

Lisa became a very talented crossword solver and started to participate in a championship held at Springfield Hyatt. While she made progress in the competition, Homer started to bet on his daughter. In the final round, however, Homer placed his bet against Lisa due to her emotional insecurity. When Lisa found out, she became very angry with him to the point of changing her last name to Bouvier. Homer, in an attempt to have Lisa back, secretly gathers crossword editor Will Shortz and crossword constructor Merl Reagle to help him include a hidden message in one of The New York Times crosswords.

Lisa solved the newspaper crossword in her room, finding the phrase "DUMB DAD SORRY FOR HIS BET" that could be read on its diagonal. When she ran downstairs to forgive his dad, she is surprised to find Reagle and Shortz in the living room with Reagle telling Lisa he constructed that crossword and Shortz ordering Reagle to get back to crosswording.

• 

  Homer's hidden message in crossword

Appearances

• Episode – "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words"
• Episode – "Homer's Adventures Through the Windshield Glass" (opening sequence)

The Simpsons characters

The Simpsons and relatives Jacqueline Bouvier • Patty Bouvier • Selma Bouvier • Abraham Simpson • Bart Simpson (Bartman • El Barto) • Homer Simpson • Lisa Simpson • Maggie Simpson • Marge Simpson • Mona Simpson Jub-Jub • Plopper • Santa's Little Helper • Snowball II Around Springfield Kumiko Albertson • Ms. Albright • Jasper Beardley • Benjamin • Blue-haired lawyer • Shauna Chalmers • Comic Book Guy • Crazy Cat Lady • Larry Dalrymple • Doug • Eddie • Maude Flanders • Ned Flanders • Julio Franco • Jonathan Frink • Gary • Alice Glick • Barney Gumble • Gil Gunderson • Constance Harm • Bernice Hibbert • Julius Hibbert • Julius Hibbert's daughter • Julius Hibbert's oldest son • Lionel Hutz • Jacques • "Just stamp the ticket" man • Princess Kashmir • Hyman Krustofsky • Akira Kurosawa • Cookie Kwan • Grady Little • Lou • Helen Lovejoy • Jessica Lovejoy • Timothy Lovejoy, Jr. • Barry Mackleberry • Jerri Mackleberry • Jack Marley • Horatio McCallister • Milo • Hans Moleman • Marvin Monroe • Eddie Muntz • Mrs. Muntz • Bleeding Gums Murphy • Lindsey Naegle • Nahasapeemapetilon octuplets (Anoop • Gheet • Nabendu • Poonam • Pria • Sandeep • Sashi • Uma) • Apu Nahasapeemapetilon • Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon • Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon • Old Jewish man • Ruth Powers • Gareth Prince • Gloria Prince • Joe Quimby (Mayor Quimby's body guards) • Martha Quimby • Raphael • Luigi Risotto • Nick Riviera • Sam • Gerald Samson • Agnes Skinner • Roy Snyder • Spuckler children (Dubya • Whitney) • Brandine Spuckler • Cletus Spuckler • Squeaky-voiced teen • Strawberry • Disco Stu • Moe Szyslak • Kirk Van Houten • Luann Van Houten • Clancy Wiggum • Sarah Wiggum • Yes Guy • Artie Ziff Celebrities Bill and Marty • Booberella • Kent Brockman • Bumblebee Man • Scott Christian • Duffman • Matt Groening • Krusty the Clown • Lurleen Lumpkin • Troy McClure • Sideshow Mel • Roger Meyers, Jr. • Arnie Pye • Pyro • Dave Shutton • Jebediah Springfield • Miss Springfield • Drederick Tatum • Mr. Teeny • Rainier Wolfcastle (McBain) Springfield Elementary School faculty and students Chuck Berger • Black weasel • Wendell Borton • Gary Chalmers • Lewis Clark • Database • Lunchlady Dora • E-mail • Rod Flanders • Todd Flanders • Ham • JJ Hibbert • Elizabeth Hoover • Sophie Jensen • Jimbo Jones • Edna Krabappel • Coach Krupt • Dewey Largo • Sherri Mackleberry • Terri Mackleberry • Otto Mann • Audrey McConnell • Nelson Muntz • Nell Nicholson • Brunella Pommelhorst • Janey Powell • Martin Prince • J. Loren Pryor • Report Card • Richard • Dolph Shapiro • Becky Shorter • Nina Skalka • Seymour Skinner • Cosine Tangent • Allison Taylor • Milhouse Van Houten • Wanda • Ralph Wiggum • Groundskeeper Willie • Hubert Wong • Yellow weasel • Jaffee Ziswhisky • Üter Zörker • Kearney Zzyzwicz Blond-haired boy with glasses • Brown-haired boy • Buck-toothed boy • Buck-toothed girl • Girl with glasses • Lewis look-alike • Long haired girl Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Blinky • Charles Montgomery Burns (The Hounds) • Carl Carlson • Charlie • Lenny Leonard • Waylon Smithers, Jr. • Smitty Villains Sideshow Bob • Frankie the Squealer • Herman Hermann • Snake Jailbird • Kang Johnson • Kodos Johnson • Legs • Louie • The Rich Texan • Hank Scorpio • Johnny Tightlips • Fat Tony Other characters Capital City Goofball • Jesus Christ • Santa Claus • Devil • Fallout Boy • Itchy • God • Leprechaun • Richard Nixon • Poochie • Radioactive Man • Scratchy Families The Simpsons • The Bouviers • The Flanderses • The Hibberts • The Krustofskys • The Lovejoys • The Spucklers • The Van Houtens • The Wiggums • The Muntzes Miscellaneous Doppelgängers • Fictional characters • LGBT characters • Animals • Deceased characters • Crossover characters • One-time characters • Recurring characters • Non-canon characters