Who are the major cryptarithm producers?

One of the first cryptarithmeticians to emerge in the thirties was M. Pigeolet, the cryptarithmetic editor of the journal Sphinx. He published most of his prime puzzles in that magazine of mathematical recreations which circulated in Belgium from 1931 to 1939.

James Alston Hope Hunter is the "father", the greatest and most prolific cryptarithm producer of all times. Author of a syndicated puzzle column read throughout the United States and Canada, he wrote several books for Dover Publications Inc. A couple of those books were written with Joseph S. Madachy's partnership. Madachy is a famous constructor too, editor of the Journal of Recreational Mathematics.

Steven Kahan, editor of the alphametics section of the Journal of Recreational Mathematics, produced hundreds of puzzles many of them of the "doubly-true" genre. He wrote several books for the Baywood Publishing Company.

Mike Keith used computers to, in his own words, "push the envelope of alphametic possibilities to new and bizarre heights". His research introduced several new genres of puzzles, like literary, "found", chessametics, word squares, order-n, etc. He is a contributor to the Journal of Recreational Mathematics.

Jonathan Partington, Truman Collins, Jorge Soares and Colin Barker are using the Web to make their creations known worldwide. They are granting alphametic fans the opportunity to enjoy their puzzle collections.


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