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Riddle »The cross with the words« by CUS from the »SZ-Magazine«.
He was known to his fans by his acronym »CUS«.
That his true identity was a mystery somehow fitted his life's work.
Because Curt Schneider had designed more than 1,600 puzzles for the »SZ-Magazine« in his life.
Now the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" announced that Schneider died on October 7th.
Since the first issue of the SZ-Magazine in 1990, Curt Schneider has filled the popular column "The Cross with the Words" with puzzles.
His crossword puzzles were characterized above all by a certain ambiguity.
»Curt Schneider was a grand master of wordplay, of reinterpretations, of new creations«, the »SZ-Magazine« praises him, he devised his riddles with a wild, overflowing, boundless imagination.
We mourn him »as a colleague, as a friend, as a surprise guest, as a genius for puzzles.
But above all as a person.«
Curiosities and ambiguities
In an interview with the "taz", when asked how he came up with his riddles, CUS once said: "First of all, you have to be surprised about things that other people don't notice.
With every film I watch, the brain is always reconciling, looking for oddities and ambiguities.
And here we have another specialty: there is often an obvious solution and a difficult hidden one.
But maybe in the end the simple one is the right one?
You just have to crack it.«
He told the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung", which Schneider once called "Germany's best-known riddle maker": "A good riddle is one that you solve after a tough struggle.
Or after a flash of inspiration in the shower.« He prefers the forehead-slapping questions.
So questions from everyday life that anyone can answer - and after the solution you slap your forehead because they were actually so obvious.
Curt Schneider died in a mountain accident in the Bavarian Alps.
He was 62 years old.
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