She tried her hand at creating crossword puzzles, submitting some samples to Margaret Farrar, the first crossword puzzle editor at The New York Times, who rejected her offerings but offered some constructive suggestions for future improvements.
After injuries suffered in a 1971 car accident restricted her activities for a year, she began constructing puzzles while recuperating.
She worked at New York for more than three decades until her retirement from the publication in 2011, publishing a puzzle that she created on a weekly basis without missing an issue for 30 years; in the year before she retired, she began submitting puzzles in alternating weekly issues with Cathy Allis creating puzzles in the other weeks.
[3] She listed some of her crossword puzzle construction techniques as starting the puzzle from the top left with simpler clues and answers that invite participation, as well as avoiding two obscure answers crossing each other.
[3] Born Maura Bandler in Brooklyn in 1926, she graduated from Hunter College at the age of 19 and became a teacher.