Editing Sam Loyd (section)

==Reputation==
Loyd is widely acknowledged as one of America's great puzzle writers and popularizers, often mentioned as ''the greatest.'' [[Martin Gardner]] featured Loyd in his August 1957 [[Mathematical Games column]] in ''[[Scientific American]]'' and called him "America's greatest puzzler". In 1898, ''[[The Strand Magazine|The Strand]]'' dubbed him "the prince of puzzlers". As a chess problemist, his composing style is distinguished by wit and humour.

He is also known for lies and self-promotion, however, and he has been criticized on these grounds—Martin Gardner's assessment continues "but also obviously a hustler". Canadian puzzler Mel Stover called Loyd "an old reprobate", and Matthew Costello called him "puzzledom's greatest celebrity... popularizer, genius", but also a "huckster" and "fast-talking [[snake oil]] salesman".<ref>{{Citation
| publisher = Courier Dover Publications
| isbn = 978-0-486-29225-0
| last = Costello
| first = Matthew J.
| title = The Greatest Puzzles of All Time
| date = 1996-09-16
| page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZpUCdrMdKN4C&pg=PA45 45] (Sam Loyd and the Vanishing Puzzle)
}}</ref>

He collaborated with puzzler [[Henry Dudeney]] for a while, but Dudeney broke off the correspondence and accused Loyd of stealing his puzzles and publishing them under his own name. Dudeney despised Loyd so intensely that he equated him with the [[devil]].<ref>[[Alex Bellos]], ''Alex's Adventures in Numberland'' (2010)</ref>

Loyd claimed from 1891 until his death in 1911 that he invented the [[15 puzzle|fifteen tiles in the box and one space puzzle]].<ref name=":0" /> This is false, as Loyd had nothing to do with the invention or popularity of the puzzle, and the craze was in the early 1880s, not the early 1870s.<ref name="slocum-sonneveld">''The 15 Puzzle'' ({{ISBN|1-890980-15-3}}): by Jerry Slocum and Dic Sonneveld</ref> The craze had ended by July 1880 and Loyd's first article on the subject was not published until 1896.<ref name="slocum-sonneveld"/> Loyd first claimed in 1891 that he had invented the puzzle, and he continued to do so until his death.<ref name="slocum-sonneveld"/> The actual inventor was Noyes Chapman, who applied for a patent in March 1880.<ref name="slocum-sonneveld"/>

An enthusiast of [[Tangram]] puzzles, Loyd popularized them with ''The Eighth Book Of Tan'', a book of seven hundred unique Tangram designs and a fanciful history of the origin of the Tangram, claiming that the puzzle was invented 4,000 years ago by a god named Tan. This was presented as true and has been described as "Sam Loyd's Most Successful [[Hoax]]".<ref name=":0">{{cite web| url = http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/overview/puzzle_docs/Sam_Loyd_Successful_Hoax.pdf| title = Sam Loydʼs Most Successful Hoax| date = December 6, 2013}}</ref>