International Financing Review Asia April 4 2020 21For daily news stories
visit http://www.ifre.comHe harms eggnog mixture (7,6)
3IXûACROSSû%IGHTûLETTERSû-OVEMENTûOFûFUNDSû
into and out of a business? The answer is
CASHmOWû4HEûNEXTûONEûISûWHATûISûCALLEDûINû
crossword vernacular a cute clue, meaning
it is meant to deceive but entertain. Fortune
reader? The answer is CEO.
Readers of the New York Times would
NOTûORDINARILYûEXPECTûTOûSEEûAûSMATTERINGû
of business jargon in their daily crossword,
although that would come as less of a
surprise if they knew the compiler was an
investment banker.
Mangesh Ghogre, 40, who heads
Nomura’s India equity capital markets
team, has spent the past decade
moonlighting as a crossword compiler
for the New York Times and Los Angeles
4IMES ûTHEûlRSTû)NDIANûNATIONALûTOûDOûSOû
Maybe less surprisingly, he also compiles
them for The Wall Street Journal.
Ghogre started trying to solve crosswords
as an undergraduate student in an effort to
improve his English. Now, in addition to
HISûPUBLISHEDûPUZZLES ûHEûISûTHEûlRSTû)NDIANû
judge at the annual American Crossword
Puzzle Tournament in New York, the Davos
of the cruciverbalist world.
Such is his devotion to the sport, he even
named his daughter, Eva, after his favourite
crossword answer.
“It starts with a vowel, it ends with a
VOWELûANDûITSûTHREEûLETTERSûLONGû)TûlTSûVERYû
easily in most of the places,” Ghogre said.
“It also stands for giver of life and for mecrosswords have become life. I realised by
that time one of the reasons I was born was
to enjoy crosswords.”GMAT PREPARATION
Ghogre began trying to solve crossword
puzzles with a group of classmates as they
were preparing for the verbal reasoning
section of the GMAT, a pre-requisite for any
aspiring business school applicant.
One by one the other classmates dropped
out. But Ghogre stuck with it even as he
STRUGGLEDûATûlRST ûWITHûHISûMOTHERûTONGUEû
being Marathi, a language spoken in
Western India.
“I just became addicted to it for someREASONûEVENûTHOUGHû)ûWASûNOTûABLEûTOûlLLûOUTû
AûSINGLEûANSWERûFORûTHEûlRSTûSIXûMONTHS vûHEû
SAIDûh)ûREMEMBERûTHEûlRSTûLETTERû)ûSTARTEDû
lLLINGûOUTûWASû@SûWHENûTHEûCLUEûSAIDûTHEû
answer was plural and that remains my
favourite letter to this day.”
Ghogre’s passion for crosswords grew asHEûlNISHEDûUNIVERSITYûANDûBUSINESSûSCHOOLû
and started work in investment banking –
lRSTûATû(3"#ûANDû%DELWEISS ûBEFOREûJOININGû
Nomura in 2016.
He sees parallels between his ECM work
and the puzzles.
“As an investment banker, as someone
who is at the mercy of movements in the
capital markets, being able to spot patterns,
like how I would spot patterns when I am
COMPILINGûORûlLLINGûOUTûAûCROSSWORD ûISû
crucial,” he said.
“For an issuer, it’s my job to know when
they are likely to come to the capital
markets and what is the genesis of their
decision. Similarly, there are so many
investors who have patterns with what
they will or will not buy.”‘HOLY GRAIL’
Crosswords vary the world over, but a
standard crossword grid is 15 squares by 15
and symmetrical. Most quizzes, although
not typically those published on Friday or
Saturday, have a theme, which is usually
hidden in the longer word answers. The
crosswords published in major newspapers
become harder as the week progresses.
About a decade after starting to solve
puzzles, Ghogre made the switch to
COMPILINGûTHEMû(EûPUBLISHEDûHISûlRSTû
crossword in the LA Times in March 2010
ANDûHISûlRSTûINûTHEû.EWû9ORKû4IMESûINû
September 2013.
Ghogre said the latter was the “holy
grail” of the crossword world. The puzzles
are harder to solve and the acceptance rate
for compilers is lower than most other
newspapers. To this day, they only accept
submissions as hard copy.
With banks facing stiff competition
nowadays from Silicon Valley for top
talent, the concept of work-life balance is
SOMETHINGûMANYûlRMSûAREûPROMOTINGû
Ghogre said one of the joys he gets from
crosswords is bringing different people
together.
)Nû/CTOBER ûFORûEXAMPLE ûHEûPUBLISHEDû
a puzzle in the New York Times
commemorating Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th
birthday, which he said was one of his
proudest achievements.
There are parallels with that and his
investment banking role too, he reckons.
“If you think about what an equity
capital markets professional does, the job is
essentially to bring people together. There
are relationship bankers that cover the
corporates and the sales team that speaks
with the investors. I’m somewhere in the
middle. I’m the bridge.”
THOMAS BLOTT“I remember the first letter I
started filling out was ‘s’ when
the clue said the answer was
plural and that remains my
favourite letter to this day.”Profile: Mangesh Ghogre
B 3 HRSOHDQG 0 DUNHWVLQGG