Crossword puzzles compiled by a man accused of plagiarism will no longer be published in the American daily newspaper USA Today.
According to a statement issued by his syndication agent, Universal Uclick, Timothy Parker will not return to USA Today as its crosswords editor. Nor will his work appear in any publication owned by USA Today’s parent company, Gannett.
The decision came after an investigation into plagiarism which followed a report by the website FiveThirtyEight in early March.
It revealed clues that more than 60 crossword puzzles by Parker had copied elements from puzzles in the New York Times.
Other similarities were discovered between his Universal Crossword puzzles and those in the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Universal Uclick stated that its investigation had confirmed “some” of the plagiarism allegations. It said Parker would now take a three-month leave of absence as editor of its Universal Crossword puzzle.
In its original report, FiveThirtyEight said duplicated puzzles were revealed through a database created by Saul Pwanson, a software engineer from Seattle.
The report also suggested that Parker had reused his own previous Most were republished under fake names, said the report.
A New York Times report on the matter said efforts to reach Parker on had been unsuccessful.
