By the end of that fall, in 2007, he was cocky enough to send one of his creations to Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor of the New York Times. An assistant wrote back, politely passing.
But Fagliano (pronounced FAH-lee-anno) kept at it, turning out about 10 or so more crosswords over the next two years, until he heard from Shortz himself last September. He had a sale.
A month later the boy's puzzle ran - on a Thursday, no less. Monday's puzzles are easiest, Saturday's the hardest. But Thursday's are not the sort of thing people do in pen. Unless you're Fagliano. "It's not overconfidence," he says, twisting a lock of his dark hair. "I just don't like using pencils."
He kept the news of his success to himself the morning his puzzle ran. In math class he was called to the office, and there he learned his mother had e-mailed about everyone she could think of, including his principal.
Fagliano walked into his classroom to find his puzzle showing on the smart board. "Everyone was like, 'Wow, that's awesome.' "
Since that morning Fagliano has had three more puzzles accepted by the Times - and two bought by the Los Angeles Times syndicate.
All before his 18th birthday.
"That's an extraordinary achievement," says Shortz, who has edited the Times crosswords since 1993.
A lot of crossword puzzles favor words that are more often seen than heard. Words like erne, stoa, inil, and anoa.
"You can read widely for years and never run across these words," Shortz notes.
In comparison, he says, Fagliano puzzles people with clever clues and familiar language.
The middle son of an epidemiologist and a grant writer, Fagliano uses a $49 computer program called Crossword Compiler to write his puzzles in the family den.
First he thinks of a theme, then works on the architecture of the puzzle. Writing the clues is the easiest part, he says. "I use Google."
