Mark MacLachlan is an accomplished chemistry professor and Dean of Science at the University of British Columbia, and while he’s not juggling his academic tasks, he’s taken a long-time hobby and turned it into something most have never considered.

“This is what I do in my vacation time and evenings and weekends when I can find 15 or 20 minutes that I can apply to relaxing,” said MacLachlan in an interview with CityNews.

“I started doing crosswords in about 1999, and really enjoyed doing them, and after a few years, I wondered who makes these crossword puzzles? So, I looked into it and found that anybody can submit a crossword puzzle to the New York Times.”

It sparked a new interest for MacLachlan, sending his first puzzle off for consideration in 2007.

While he faced rejection with the

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