{{short description|American mathematician}} '''Derrick Corson Niederman''' is an author, mathematician, game designer, and national squash champion. His most recent game, 36 Cube,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thinkfun.com/36cube/index.html |title=36Cube Homepage |access-date=2008-12-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219205115/http://www.thinkfun.com/36Cube/index.html |archive-date=2008-12-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> has been described by Reuters as "a wolf in sheep's clothing"<ref name="Reuters">[https://archive.today/20130201222152/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS144246+19-Nov-2008+PRN20081119 Reuters]</ref> because its simple design belies the sophisticated mathematical intuition required for the solution. He received a B.A. in mathematics from Yale and a Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307419569 |title=RandomHouse.ca {{!}} Books {{!}} What the Numbers Say by Derrick Niederman and David Boyum |website=www.randomhouse.ca |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306030028/http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307419569 |archive-date=2012-03-06}} </ref> Dr. Niederman is a math professor at the College of Charleston.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://magazine.cofc.edu/2012/06/12/derrick_niederman/|title=Put Together: The Enigmatic World of Derrick Niederman|date=12 June 2012}}</ref> In 2025, Niederman founded Wordsmith Games. The flagship game is called Tosswords. <ref>https://wordsmithgames.com/about-us/</ref>

==Published games== thumb|36 Cube '''''The New York Times Magazine'' Sunday Crosswords'''

Niederman has created a number of crossword puzzles and cryptic puzzles for ''The New York Times Magazine'' since the early 1980s. His October 5, 1997 crossword puzzle "Baseball by the Numbers" is often included in crossword puzzle anthologies.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09DtD5EP41AC&q=derrick+niederman+baseball+by+the+numbers&pg=PT52 | title=The New York Times Supersized Book of Sunday Crosswords: 500 Puzzles| isbn=9780312361228| last1=Shortz| first1=Will| last2=Maleska| first2=Eugene T.| date=2006-09-19}}</ref>

'''Puzzle and Game Books'''

Dr. Niederman has also published other game and puzzle books.

* ''The Puzzler's Dilemma'' (2012) * ''Math Puzzles for the Clever Mind'' (2006) * ''Hard to Solve Math Puzzles'' (2006) * ''Classic Brain Twisters'' (2005) * ''Mind-Stretching Math Puzzles'' (2005) * ''Sit & Solve Brainteasers'' (2003) * ''Hard-to-Solve Math Puzzles'' (2001) * ''Giant Book of Whodunit Puzzles and Giant Book of Puzzles for Young Einsteins'' (2001) * ''Pocket Puzzlers: Whodunits'' (2000) * ''The Little Giant Book of Math Puzzles'' (2000)

'''36 Cube''' The 36 Cube is a puzzle that requires the arrangement of "towers" in a 6x6 square block so that each color appears only once in each row and column, all the same height. The completed puzzle will then be a cube.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thinkfun.com/36cube/instructions.html |title=Instructions |access-date=2008-12-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211113604/http://www.thinkfun.com/36Cube/instructions.html |archive-date=2008-12-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Jerry Slocum, a puzzle historian and one of the world's top puzzle collectors, finds 36 Cube one of the most engaging puzzles in his extensive collection. "My first impression was that it was quite a beautiful puzzle. Its three-dimensional character and colors are very striking. Out of the 30,000 puzzles I own, it's quite distinctive and unique."<ref name="Reuters"/> Dr. Niederman came up with the idea while writing a book on whole numbers, after unearthing a mathematical supposition from the 18th century. "It struck me as the basis for a potentially great 3-D puzzle, and what eventually became 36 Cube."<ref name="Reuters"/>

'''Wordsmith Games'''

Niederman founded Wordsmith Games in early 2025; its flagship game, called Tosswords, began production in the fall of that year.<ref>https://wordsmithgames.com/</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niederman, Derrick}} Category:Living people Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American non-fiction writers Category:American male squash players Category:20th-century American mathematicians Category:21st-century American mathematicians Category:Puzzle designers Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Yale University alumni Category:MIT School of Science alumni