Universal UClick, the Kansas City-based syndicator, says it has confirmed some of the allegations of plagiarism against the editor of its Universal Crossword feature following an internal investigation.
In a statement last month, it said the editor, Timothy Parker, will take a three-month leave of absence during which he “will confirm that his process for constructing puzzles uses the best available technology to ensure that everything he edits is original.”
“We will work with Mr. Parker on this effort and redouble our editorial process so that there is a stronger second level of review,” the statement, signed by Universal Uclick’s president and editorial director, John Glynn, said.
The investigation came after FiveThirtyEight, the website founded by statistics guru Nate Silver, analyzed a database containing nearly 52,000 puzzles dating back decades and concluded that Parker had copied elements from New York Times crossword puzzles, generally regarded as the gold standard of crossword puzzledom. FiveThirtyEight also reported that more than 1,500 other puzzles edited by Parker “were at least a 75 percent match to an earlier puzzle in the database.”
Parker denied the plagiarism allegations in a lengthy interview with FiveThirtyEight and attributed the similarities to “mere coincidence.”
In addition to editing the popular Universal Crossword puzzle, Parker also edits the USA Today Crossword puzzle.
FiveThirtyEight reported on Universal Uclick’s investigation and statement last week. The website said a call to Glynn was not returned and Universal’s chief marketing officer, Susan Johnson, referred them to the company’s statement.
FiveThirtyEight said it’s unknown what allegations were confirmed by Universal Uclick and how Parker’s editorial role will change.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
