“It’s just a hobby,” insists Brendan Quigley, the British Columbia scientist whose crosswords have landed in The New York Times. For most of us, hobbies mean abandoned jigsaw puzzles or that stationary bike currently doubling as a coat rack. But Brendan? He moonlights by crafting word puzzles that make coffee drinkers across North America sweat before 9 a.m.

By day, he’s immersed in serious scientific research. By night, he’s stringing together clues that transform perfectly normal words into devious traps. Somewhere in between, he manages to have a life, though possibly one spelled entirely in anagrams.

Quigley shrugs off the achievement with Canadian modesty, but let’s be honest: this is like saying you “dabble” in hockey and then getting drafted by the NHL. Proof that hobbies aren’t just about macramé or beer brewing, they can be brain-bending, grin-inducing exports. Salmon, lumber, maple syrup… and now, crossword mischief.