Ep 42: From Code to Crosswords: Aimee Lucido on Puzzles, Trivia, and Creative Curiosity
In this episode of Trivia Tangents, I chat with Aimee Lucido — a former software engineer who turned her love of puzzles and trivia into a dream career writing games for Bloomberg and crosswords forThe New Yorker, and The New York Times.
Aimee shares how she made the leap from tech to creative writing, how a pandemic hobby with trivia flash cards snowballed into her role as Bloomberg’s Quizmaster for Pointed, and why she believes the best trivia questions have a game hidden inside them. We talk about her time on game shows, our shared obsession with Codenames, and the release of her new book Words Apart, which explores the relationship between two sisters through poetry, crosswords, and art.
This episode is full of insight, laughter, and the kind of tangents that make trivia so much fun. Aimee reminds us that sometimes the boundaries that keep us stuck are the ones we’ve built ourselves — and that curiosity really can lead you anywhere.
Topics Discussed:
🧩 How Aimee transitioned from software engineering to creative writing
🧠 The puzzle-like logic behind great trivia questions
🎧 How pop culture and current events inspire her work
🎮 Her experiences competing on game shows
🎲 Why Codenames is the ultimate friendship test
📚 The inspiration behind her new book, Words Apart
Find Aimee Lucido here:
