Timothy E. Parker
Founder & Chief Architect of Cognitive Systems
Timothy E. Parker brings nearly three decades of experience in designing, testing, and deploying large-scale cognitive systems. Recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's most syndicated puzzle compiler, his work has reached over 80 million solvers across 90+ countries through newspapers, digital platforms, and television.
Parker's career spans an unprecedented scope of cognitive content creation. He has created or edited more than 20,100 crosswords—more than anyone in American crossword history—along with thousands of word search games, over 5,000 complete trivia games, and more than 54,000 puzzle and word game units for over 1,450 clients worldwide.
His clients have included Disney, Microsoft, Warner Bros., the Smithsonian Institution, ABC, CBS, NBC, USA Today, Reader's Digest, Comcast, Merriam-Webster, and hundreds of other major organizations. He served as the sole puzzle producer for Merv Griffin's Crosswords, single-handedly writing all 225 television episodes—work typically assigned to a team of eight writers.
Parker was the only person in history to simultaneously edit two nationally-syndicated crossword puzzles: 13 years at USA Today and 23 years at the Universal Crossword, which he founded. His 17 puzzles-per-week publishing schedule remains the highest total ever achieved in the industry.
Beyond puzzles, Parker is an ordained minister and author of over 100 books, including collaborations with Tim LaHaye (co-creator of the Left Behind series). He created the world's first AI-adaptive crossword system and the world's first syndicated digital crossword in 1996.