Will Shortz was born and raised on an Arabian horse farm in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Graduating from Indiana University in 1974, he is the only person known to hold a college degree in enigmatology, the study of puzzles, after designing his own degree program.

This item includes a copy of The New York Times Will Shortz Presents KenKen: 300 Easy to Hard Puzzles That Make You Smarter (Will Shortz Presents...) and the DVD Wordplay:

Witness the inner workings of Will Shortz, NY Times Editor and NPR Puzzle Master, and his brilliant, entertaining and often hilarious contributors as well as surprising celebrity fans. Wordplay takes us through the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament where almost five hundred competitors battled it out for the title "Crossword Champ" and showed their true colors along the way.

Both are signed by Mr. Shortz, and both are new (though the DVD has been opened and signed).