We sit down with the kind, witty, creative force behind some of the NYT Games' often loved, occasionally out-on-a-limb puzzles

Podcast Culture

Wyna Liu: Design Tangents Episode Eighteen

We sit down with the kind, witty, creative force behind some of the NYT Games’ often loved, occasionally out-on-a-limb puzzles

Josh Rubin, Evan Orensten

19 March 2025

Our outreach to Wyna Liu to appear on Design Tangents said “Hi Wyna. We’re fans (well, nearly all of the time)” but after meeting her it’s hard not to love her. Infectiously high energy, in this episode she shares her path from puzzle solver to puzzle creator, a passion started with a gift from her mother.

Today Wyna is a puzzle editor who is responsible for creating the New York Times Games’ “Connections” and also creates crosswords there, for The New Yorker and AV Club. When she’s not making her challenging, sharable and meme-worthy games she creates jewelry inspired by crystalline structures, often incorporating magnets pushed to the edge of their tension. Evan and Josh sat down with Wyna recently and learned about the origin of her love for puzzles and explored how they play into the jewelry and sculptures she creates. Wyna went to NYU’s ITP graduate program—Design Tangents co-host Josh Rubin is also an alum—and the two speak of how experiences there inform their work.

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Design Tangents is produced and edited by SANDOW Design Group. Special thanks to the podcast production team: Rob Schulte, Hannah Viti, and Rachel Senator and to Amber Lin for creating our show art. Discover more design podcasts from SURROUND at surroundpodcasts.com.