I sit down regularly for a session of crossword puzzle solving. I never really give much thought to who created the puzzle and how it became so easy for me to get my daily fix. Just the other day, I thought to myself, where do crosswords come from? What is the history and origin of the crossword puzzle? Is a crossword puzzle based on an ancient formula, or did someone just come up with it in their spare time? I must admit before I became addicted to crossword puzzles, I probably wouldn’t have cared.
All I have really cared about in the past is solving the puzzle in front of me, but now it matters to me! If you have ever wondered about the history of crossword puzzles, you are about to find out.
The history and origins of crossword puzzles:
- The very first crossword puzzle was issued in 1913 in the USA.
- The creator, Arthur Wynne, was born and raised in England.
- At first, crossword puzzles were called Word-Cross.
- The name Word-Cross was later changed to Crossword.
- The first crossword puzzles were diamond-shaped.
- Crossword is inspired by a game called Word Squares.
- Newspaper publications started publishing the crossword puzzle shortly after 1913 in both the USA and the UK.
- The world’s very first crossword puzzle book was published in 1924 in the USA.
- The first computer crossword game became available in 1997.
So, there you have it. As it turns out, we have Arthur Wynne to thank for the convenient access we have to crossword puzzles. I have never heard of him before, and if you are a newbie (or even an avid puzzler), you might not have heard of him either. I, for one, am very grateful he created the puzzle game as I find crosswords to be mentally challenging, and they give me a sense of purpose and achievement.
If you are just as uninformed as I was up until now, you might want to learn a bit more about the history and origins. Read on below to find out a bit more on each of the abovementioned pointers.
How Crossword Puzzles Came to Be
The history of crossword puzzles is not particularly complex. In fact, when you read through the history and origins below, you will come to realize that Arthur Wynne created the game for fun and because of his love of a good word puzzle (or brain teaser).
It seems that Arthur Wynne was quite the puzzler in his youth, and because he got a taste for the joy of solving challenging puzzles, he wanted to create one of his own. Perhaps creating crossword puzzles was Arthur Wynne’s ultimate puzzle in the end. Let’s jump right in to learn a bit more:
1. The very first crossword puzzle was issued in 1913 in the USA.
Something you might have wondered is when the very first crossword puzzle was ever created and published.
The very first time anyone ever saw a crossword puzzle was in a newspaper called the New York World, in the United States, of course. It was the Sunday edition on 21st December 1913 that featured it. It was published by a journalist called Arthur Wynne – you already know this. But why, you ask? The editor had asked Wynne to provide the Crossword for the edition as a feature in the entertainment section. And as you know, Arthur obliged.
2. The creator, Arthur Wynne, was born and raised in England.
Some think that the inventor of the crossword puzzle was actually American, but that is not true. Arthur Wynne was born in Liverpool, England, but only invented the crossword puzzle after he had relocated to the USA. While the creator of the crossword puzzle is British, the puzzle itself is actually from American origins.
3. At first, crossword puzzles were called Word-Cross.
Was the Crossword always called a crossword? No, actually, it wasn’t. When the game first appeared in the New York World newspaper, it was called “Word-Cross”. In the early days of crossword puzzles, everyone referred to it as Word-Cross, but that didn’t last too long at all.
4. The name Word-Cross was later changed to Crossword.
It almost seems as if the name “Word-Cross” was not meant to be and soon the name was changed to “crossword”. The change in the name was not on purpose. In fact, it was the result of a typo that involved leaving out the hyphen and switching the words around. The misprint calling the puzzle a “crossword” seemed to stick. And that is the very reason why we call it a crossword puzzle today instead of Word-Cross.
5. The first crossword puzzles were diamond-shaped.
If you always thought that crossword puzzles look like they do now, you are mistaken. In fact, the first crossword puzzles created and published were diamond-shaped. To many, the idea of the crossword puzzle being a diamond shape seems weird, but it’s really not, as it appeared it was a variety of shapes at that time.
The shape of the crossword puzzle appears to be something that Arthur Wynne played around with, as in addition to his initial diamond shape design, he also created vertical and horizontal puzzles. A while later, he added blank black squares to create separations in the puzzle grid.
6. Crossword is inspired by a game called Word Squares.
At this point, I wasn’t quite satisfied with what I had found out about the history of crossword puzzles. I wanted to find out more and you might be wondering a few things too. You might be wondering how on earth Arthur Wynne came up with the crossword puzzle? I certainly did! Did he just think it up one day?
After a bit of research, I found out that this is not quite the case. Arthur Wynne did have some inspiration for his creation. In fact, he based his puzzle game on a game he was exposed to in his youth, called Word Squares.
Word Squares (specifically Sator Square) is a game that was found in ancient Pompeii. This game was not exactly like crossword puzzles. Instead of having to solve clues to fill the squares on the grid, players were provided with a list of words to use. They were required to place the worlds on the grid in such a way that they read the same both up and down. That, of course, is not how a crossword puzzle works. It’s clear that crossword puzzles are not “based” on Word Squares, but rather inspired by it.
7. Newspaper publications started publishing the crossword puzzle shortly after 1913 in both the USA and the UK.
It was through newspaper publications, after the initial release in the New York World that made crossword puzzles as popular as they are today. Without appearing weekly in the New York World newspaper, crossword puzzles may never have been as popular as they are right now. After that first publication, the crossword puzzle started making its way to other publications. According to Alan Connor’s “Crossword Century”, It then appeared in the Pearson’s Magazine in England in 1922. After that, the very first New York Times crossword puzzle was published in 1942.
8. The world’s very first crossword puzzle book was published in 1924 in the USA.
The next thing to wonder about is crossword puzzle books. How did they come about? Who created them, and are they computer-generated crosswords? Initially, it didn’t add up for me. First, there was Arthur Wynne, creating his own crossword puzzles, which were then shared with the New York World readership. And then other publications in the United States and the United Kingdom started publishing them, but how did complete crossword puzzle books come about?
The very first book of crossword puzzles called “The Cross Word Puzzle Book” was published in 1924 in the United States. This book currently features in the Guinness World Records. This first publication was nothing new, so to speak. Instead, it was a collection of all the crossword puzzles that had already appeared in the New York World. The book was such a success that it spurred the publishing company on to be the renowned company it is today. Of course, the publishing company involved still publishes compilations of crosswords today, and these books are extremely popular.
9. The first computer crossword game became available in 1997.
Another question you might have is how crossword puzzles made the jump from newspapers and compilation books to computerized games and mobile apps. You might find it interesting to know that the very first computerized version of crossword puzzles was only made available in 1997 and was created by a software company called Variety Games. The game itself, you might know it, is called “Crossword Weaver”. Nowadays, there are a multitude of crossword puzzle apps that you can play on your phone.
Make Crossword Puzzles a Part of Your Current & Future Life
While crossword puzzles have a history that is uncomplicated and interesting, there’s no reason to get stuck on the past. Instead, look to the future. Solving crossword puzzles can relieve stress, promote cognitive thinking, and provide a worthy way to spend your time. If you don’t already put time aside for solving crossword puzzles, think about making it a part of your life now and in the future.
(Last Updated On: April 23, 2019)
Everyone’s taken a stab at a crossword puzzle at some point in their lives. But have you ever stopped to think about where these puzzles came from in the first place? Who created crosswords, and what made them so popular? These are all great questions that will be answered in this short history of crossword puzzles.
Word games have basically been around since words were invented, but crossword puzzles are actually a relatively modern invention. While the exact origins are often disputed, the first iteration of what we typically consider the first crossword puzzle dates back to December 21, 1913.
In 1913, a Sunday newspaper titled The New York World tasked staff writer Arthur Wynne with creating a brand new game to include in the paper. The result was a diamond-shaped, early version of the crossword puzzle, initially called a “word-cross.” Instead of the typical rectangle shape with scattered black boxes throughout, the puzzle included no black boxes and a strange numbering system. Despite this unusual format, the puzzle became a hit almost instantly.
Throughout the next several years, Wynne transformed the word-cross puzzle into the format that we all know and love today. He began altering the diamond shape to include horizontal and vertical rectangle puzzles. Wynne also eventually introduced the concept of the black squares to provide a more coherent layout.
Even the name went through some transformations, with some being intentional and others not. Soon after the name “word-cross” was introduced, the editors decided to change it to “cross-word.” Then, through a fortunate, but now historic spelling mistake, the hyphen was left out and the game was henceforth known as a “crossword.”
The Craze Spreads
It was not long before other newspapers, and even other countries, began recognizing the value of the crossword puzzle. The first crossword published in Britain came in February, 1922, in an issue of Pearson’s Magazine.
Arguably, one of the most well-known iterations of the crossword puzzle is the edition in The New York Times. However, The New York Times was actually one of the last major publications to participate in the game’s initial wave of popularity. They actually viewed the crossword puzzle as a “primitive mental exercise” that would only last a few years before dying out. It was not until February 15, 1942, that The New York Times published its first edition of the crossword puzzle.
Interestingly, the reason for their change of heart was a direct response to the devastating bombing of Pearl Harbor, which occurred only a couple of months earlier. They believed their readers might find solving puzzles a welcomed (if not necessary) distraction from the tragic world events unfolding around them.
The New York Times soon realized the true potential of the crossword puzzle and decided to start including daily crossword puzzles on November 11, 1950. Long before that, other publications were already diving head first into the opportunities presented by crossword puzzles. The first collection of crossword puzzles was published as early as 1924.
Major Crossword Milestones
Over the past few decades, crossword puzzles have transformed into the cultural phenomena that we know today. During that journey, there have been many important milestones.
In 1978, the first ever American crossword puzzle tournament was hosted in Connecticut. It was organized by none other than the unofficial crossword king, Will Shortz, the longtime editor of The New York Times crossword. But back then he was just an up-and-coming 25-year-old puzzle maker.
Other major milestones include the first crossword puzzle ever published online. This occurred on January 22, 1996. There was also the largest crossword puzzle ever published, happening in Japan on June 30, 2016. It was made up of an astonishing 66,666 clues!
Did you know you can play free crossword puzzles on Sporcle? Click here to start playing today!
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Can doing crosswords really help you stay happier and healthy for longer?
Sir John Gielgud believed so. The star of Arthur, Chariots of Fire, The Power of One and The Portrait of a Lady solved a crossword every day until he died, aged 97, with a completed crossword by his bedside.
He used to say, “Completing the crossword is the only exercise I take.” And the Shakespearean actor spent every spare moment on set doing his beloved crosswords.
The Queen, who has just celebrated her 90th birthday, also enjoys a good crossword. Actress Betty White, 94, is also passionate about her crosswords. “I do mental exercises. I don’t have any trouble memorising lines because of the crossword puzzles I do every day to keep my mind a little limber.”
- What is it like creating puzzles for a living?
- Trivia test: how many of these fascinating facts do you know?
- Six ways to keep your mind sharp
Ever wondered how the crossword was created?
Newspaper man Arthur Wynne was originally from the UK and moved to New York in 1905. While he was working at the newspaper The New York World as editor of the ‘fun’ section in 1913, he created the ‘word-cross puzzle’. This diamond shaped word game was derived from the ancient game of acrostics and wordsquares, which was a Victorian past-time. There were 31 simple clues and it was published on Sunday December 21, 1913.
The recreation of the first crossword puzzle, created by Arthur Wynne, published in the New York World on December 21, 1913
Due to its popularity and newly named the ‘crossword’ Wynne’s creation was published in the newspaper for ten years before a pair of Harvard graduates came up with the idea to publish a book of crosswords (as their Auntie Wixie was a fan). A publishing phenomena was born!
So, how does doing crosswords help you? Of course, we all know, they are a great (healthy) escape from the demands of everyday life. They also make you think and provide much needed mental exercises, which may keep the brain healthier, for longer.
Did you know crosswords were created 103 years ago?
Crosswords also improve your vocabulary – new words, new meanings, and new understandings of words. They teach organisational skills. After all, it’s often necessary to work back and forth between the Across and Down clues to solve the puzzle. Your spelling skills also get a workout and you pick up all sorts of general knowledge.
M. Lincoln Schuster (R) and Ricahrd L. Simon (L) created the first book of crossword puzzle – an instant success! (Image via simonandschuster.biz)
So you can feel good about the time you spend wrestling with clues – you’re improving your memory and sharpening your brain. Love crosswords? The first 500 readers who apply with be sent a free copy of Christine’s BIG Crossword Magazine.
Mindfulness and puzzles
One of the buzz words in today’s world of mental health is mindfulness. Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist meditation principles. It is especially helpful for people who worry about the past, or the future.
When solving a crossword, you may find that your mind is totally focused on the clues and answers, to the extent that you are not particularly aware of anything else. You might say it’s a form of meditation, except that in meditation the aim is to have no thoughts at all, which is not an easy stage to achieve.
When solving crosswords you are keeping your mind engaged, which means you are not thinking of the past or the future, so you are giving that part of your brain a rest. This is fine as long as you are not crosswording while driving or minding a toddler!
The world’s biggest crossword ever created had 3,149 clues across and 3,185 clues down
Puzzles can be wonderful ‘companions’
“Our Lovatts puzzlers often write in to tell us that our crosswords and puzzles are invaluable companions and our puzzle magazines are well-travelled too. Many of our correspondents also say that their memory and word skills have improved since taking up puzzle-solving – especially if they don’t settle for easy puzzles but tackle the more challenging ones,” says passionate puzzler, Christine Lovatt.
Solving crosswords keeps your mind engaged
“Crosswords and other word puzzles use the right side of the brain whereas Sudoku or other logic puzzles use the left side. So if you can do both, you are giving your brain a total workout,” she adds.
Want to delve into a daily dose of cruciverbalism, decipher a logic puzzle or test your trivia knowledge? WYZA® and Lovatts are offering a free puzzle magazine for the first lucky 500 readers who apply. Click here to get your FREE copy of Christine’s BIG Crossword Magazine!
Happy puzzling!
What are your favourite puzzles or word games? Let us know by commenting below.
Quiz
While the formatting is a little different, the concept of the brainteaser remains the same
- Published: 16:10, 30 Nov 2017
- Updated: 16:11, 30 Nov 2017
CROSSWORDS have been baffling the British public for more than a century.
The first ever puzzle of this type, which was originally called word-cross, was created by Arthur Wynne.
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The crossword inventor launched his brainteaser on December 21, 1913.
While the boxes on the puzzle look a bit different to modern day examples, the principle of the challenge remains the same.
Instead of being told a word is «across» or «down», the clues tell you where the term starts and ends.
So will you be able to solve it?
Can you solve the first ever crossword? Here are the clues you need
2-3 What bargain hunters enjoy
6-22 What we all should be
4-5 A written acknowledgement
4-26 A day dream
6-7 Such and nothing more
2-11 A talon
10-11 A bird
19-28 A pigeon
14-15 Opposed to less
F-7 Part of your head
18-19 What this puzzle is
23-30 A river in Russia
22-23 An animal of prey
1-32 To govern
26-27 The close of a day
33-34 An aromatic plant
28-29 To elude
N-8. A fist
30-31 The plural of is
24-31 To agree with
8-9 To cultivate
3-12 Part of a ship
12-13 A bar of wood or iron
20-29 One
16-17 What artists learn to do
5-27 Exchanging
20-21 Fastened
9-25 To sink in mud
24-25 Found on the seashore
13-21 A boy
10-18 The fibre of the gomuti palm
Most Read in Fabulous
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How many did you manage to fill in?
If you struggled, you might want to check out our tips and tricks that help you solve the most cryptic of crosswords.
Or why not give today’s speed crossword a go.
Only four per cent of people get the answer to this tricky logic puzzl
Why is Crossword So Popular: How did it All Began?
Crossword is the magical game of words where players are provided with clues and the number of letters.
They then have to fill the grid boxes thinking of the right words. Liverpool journalist, Arthur Wynne invented the first crossword puzzle.
This game is believed to be derived from another game called magic squares that was played in ancient Pompeii.
And in that game, the word square consisted of words having an equal length and they could be read either way, horizontally and vertically.
The Evolution of Crossword Puzzles
First Crossword Game Creator
Born on June 22, 1871, in Liverpool, England, Arthur Wynne migrated to the United States at the age of nineteen.
He first lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and worked in the Pittsburgh Press newspaper. He was a great violinist in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
[Arthur Wynne. Picture Credits: Google]
Something more about the Inventor
After some time, he shifted to Cedar Grove, New Jersey, and began to work with New York City-based newspaper-“The New York World”.
The first-ever crossword puzzle he created was published in the same newspaper on Sunday, December 21, 1913.
How did it begin?
In 1913, one fine afternoon, Arthur Wynne was thinking about a new type of game to be featured for the Christmas edition and then he came up with something unique that was adapted from “word squares”.
This game was a challenging one since there were a number of words to work on. The “across” words were different from the “down” words. Initially called “word-cross”, the game was well-received by the audience.
The puzzle Wynee puzzle was very different from today’s crossword as it was in the shape of a diamond having no internal black squares.
As it became a huge hit, the editor asked Wynne to invent a new game weekly for the Sunday entertainment section.
The world’s first crossword puzzle
By Arthur Wynne, December 21, 1913
from The New York World
By Arthur Wynne, December 21, 1913| 2-3. | What bargain hunters enjoy. | 6-22. | What we all should be. |
| 4-5. | A written acknowledgment. | 4-26. | A daydream. |
| 6-7. | Such and nothing more. | 2-11. | A talon. |
| 10-11. | A bird. | 19-28. | A pigeon. |
| 14-15. | Opposed to less. | F-7. | Part of your head. |
| 18-19. | What this puzzle is. | 23-30. | A river in Russia. |
| 22-23. | An animal of prey. | 1-32. | To govern. |
| 26-27. | The close of a day. | 33-34. | An aromatic plant. |
| 28-29. | To elude. | N-8. | A fist. |
| 30-31. | The plural of is. | 24-31. | To agree with. |
| 8-9. | To cultivate. | 3-12. | Part of a ship. |
| 12-13. | A bar of wood or iron. | 20-29. | One. |
| 16-17. | What artists learn to do. | 5-27. | Exchanging. |
| 20-21. | Fastened. | 9-25. | To sink in mud. |
| 24-25. | Found on the seashore. | 13-21. | A boy. |
| 10-18. | The fibre of the gomuti palm. |
The Zig-Zag Change for the Better
Four weeks after the puzzle was published, typesetters at The New York World newspaper inadvertently transposed the title to read “Cross-word”. For some reason, the name got stuck and so did the puzzle.
After a few months when the editor of the newspaper tried to drop this new name later, readers were so hostile that the newspaper had to stick with the name making puzzle the permanent edition.
Although it was quite popular with the readers, the editors of other newspapers never tried their hands on crosswords.
So, for the next ten years, if you wanted to solve a crossword, you had to buy “The New York World”.
Meanwhile, in England, crosswords took a little longer to catch on. Crossword Tournament states that Pearson Magazine in Feb 1922 was the first to publish and The Manchester Guardian followed it by publishing it on Sunday Express 1925.
To add more twist, England developed the cryptic and super cryptic crosswords as well.
First-Ever Crossword Puzzle Book
Despite gaining so much popularity, “The New York World” was the only newspaper that printed puzzles until 1924 when a fledgling publishing house planned to come out with a collection of the newspaper puzzles in the form of a book.
[Image Source: Google]
[Image Source: Google]A young Columbia University Graduate named Richard L. Simon visited his Aunt’s one day.
Being a “The New York World” newspaper crossword lover, her aunt inquired where she would find a book of crossword for her daughter.
Simon, who was planning to enter into the publishing world will college friend M.Lincolon Schuster, answered her by saying there are no such books available in the market.
From there came the idea, and both the friends visited the “The New York World” office the very next day to make a deal with the crossword puzzle editors.
The deal got finalized and they were allowed to pick the best crossword puzzles from the newspaper and pay $25 apiece for the rights to publish.
Hot off the Press
Contrary to their belief, it was an overnight success and crossword lovers flocked to the stores to get copies.
By the end of that year, more than 300,000 books were sold out. Tables turned around and they became major publishers. Crossword became a way of life in the 1920s.
All this inspired a Broadway band known as Games of 1925 and the hit song, “Crossword Mama, you puzzle me” came into existence.
The sales of dictionaries soared and libraries experienced huge foot traffic. Black and white check fabric clothes were the rage.
To add more, the B&O Railroad placed dictionaries on its trains for crossword lover commuters.
As per the Guinness Book of World Records, this crossword book helped them to establish publishing giant Simon & Schuster, who still publish the crossword book till today.
Today Simon & Schuster own the largest U.S. publishing house and are the second-largest publishers on earth.
First Crossword Game
Patented by Variety Games Inc., Crossword Weaver was the first computer game created in 1997 that has crossword puzzles.
The New Kick Start
The New York Times hired Margaret Farrar away from Simon and Schuster and made her the crossword editor.
She was in this position until she got retired in 1969. The first crossword appeared on February 15.1942 in the Sunday magazine.
Later weekday puzzles were added (September 1950). Under the direction of Margaret Farrar, the crossword constructors turned more innovative and developed an elaborate style.
Instead of giving hints like “stinging insect (bee)” they started phrasing them as “nectar inspectors”.
The Times clever style single-handedly ushered in the crossword renaissance as the newspaper became popular.
Today, more than 90% of newspapers across the globe have crossword puzzles inside them, and 26% of people reading newspapers regularly attempt to solve them.
Setting the Pace
The New York Times puzzles have set a high-benchmark that is followed by other puzzles.
Today crosswords are one of the most popular and widespread word games in the world as they have developed into a serious adult pastime.
According to the Alzheimer Association, a daily dose of crossword puzzles is a great way to keep the brain active and sharp when you grow older.
In addition, it also promotes collaborative cruciverbalism as it improves the speed of thinking.
If you are lonely, depresses, anxious, bored, go for the online crossword, and divert your mind. You will be hooked in no time.
Crossword Today
Over the years, ingenious hands have created more and more techniques for making their players sweat.
Lately, the crossword world has managed to achieve huge fame beyond the confines of its practitioners with the death of Araucaria, The Guardian’s renowned setter.
If you are planning to tackle puzzles, you may try the best online crossword games and get going anytime, anywhere.
Crossword never-ending obsession
Nature abhors a vacuum. When you see the empty black & white grid, you get an urge to fill it.
In general, Monday and Tuesday puzzles are quite straightforward having a particular theme.
Wednesday and Thursday crosswords have wordplay and are a bit tricky. Friday and Saturday puzzles have long answers and Sunday puzzles are the most difficult ones having a challenging vocabulary.
Surprisingly, Monday puzzles are the hardest as compared to other weekday puzzles.
Puzzlers like things that tease and joggle their brain. Puzzles are always fun and you can always find the level of skill you want.
Love it, Play it!
Here are the different types of puzzles that were created over the years:
a) The Power-Packed Blocked Grid Puzzles
The grid-type having words end and the spaces between them are marked by one of the squares being filled in a block form.
Usually, there are 15 squares by 15 squares and 20-32 words but this isn’t obligatory.
b) The real brainteaser Barred Grids
Word endings and different divisions are marked by bars. 12×12 is the standard size but higher letter proportion is cross-checked by the crossing answer.
Smart people know how to solve the smartly packed puzzle. Even while having a smaller grid, the puzzle has 32-35 answers and the vocabulary is more recondite.
c) Themes Based-This is a little different
This one is theme-based as the clues have added twists related to the answer in wordplay. Theme based crossword is a bit steep but has an exhilarating learning curve.
d) Codeword crossword-The Technical one
Here there are no clues to follow, a number replaces alphabets. You have to figure out which letter has what number by deciphering the numbers.
e) Word Search-The easy-peasy word search
Gridded squares with random letters are word searches. In the bottom or at the side, there are clues that have to be located within the squares. You have to search upwards, downwards, diagonally, or even backward.
OMG! 100+ Successful years & still counting
Crosswords have completed 104 years, puzzles have become instrumental and alive.
Will Shortz, the editor of The New York Times crossword column has single-handedly made the crosswords interesting with the cultural references and slangs that captivates the audience.
He always keeps on selecting creative interns who help him fresh his column.
[Image Source: Google]
Online crossword puzzles are a buzz among the crossword lovers. There hasn’t been much change in the audience. Cluing has become more democratic but puzzles gravitate that way.
Online games have made crossword more accessible as people can play them on their smartphones anytime, anywhere. The average puzzle solver is a college adult, graduate, or someone in their sixties.
Apps have become the future of crosswords and everyone has realized this eventually. According to a Pew report, tablet usage has crossed over 65% with 27% of senior citizens owning a digital device and 18% owning a smartphone.
The New York Times, The Guardian and Crossword Classic have ventured into the digital world and are arguably the leading crossword in the puzzling world.
Crossword Classic which is a product of Stand Alone Inc. is the highest searched and downloaded crossword app.
Wondering why Crossword Craze still continues?
While crosswords may be associated with the elderly, lonely or nerd type, solving one is a social activity.
Solvers sometimes reach out to family members and friends to get the context for the clues. People are solving on their laptops, phones, tablets, anywhere and everywhere they can get a fix.
Some are speed lovers who like to time themselves to see how fast they can solve.
Googling a clue is not a good practice as it is considered as cheating because you are competing for a tournament.
It’s your puzzle, solve the way you like it but in a healthy manner. Learn new things from it and have a good time.
Get a wiggle on
If you are a crossword aficionado, you have already experienced the twists and twirls of the wonderful game.
You will agree that the puzzle game intrigues and entices one to dive into the impeccably crafted words world.
The way how hints make way for an intense brainstorming session is simply amazing. However, with the oh-so-busy lifestyle, you don’t have enough time for yourself.
Having technology and the Internet around, anything and everything is possible. Agree? If you still haven’t spilled the beans for yourself, give a major shout out to the coolest and free online puzzles games around.
Settle into a comfortable chair once a week at least, have coffee by your side, and start solving a puzzle.
A game that not only helps you get the best time of your life but also gives freaking awesome prizes to take home.
Pull up your socks, put on your puzzling shoes, sign in at a website and you are all geared up to extract the most impeccably designed crossword puzzles games online.
Devotees of all kinds of crossword (cruciverbalists, some people coyly call them) will today be saluting the memory of a Liverpool man who emigrated to the United States, abandoned onion farming for journalism, became editor of the New York World, and on 21 December 21, 1913 filled a spare space in his paper with a device that he called a word cross, thus ensuring his name would be honoured today as the inventor of crosswords.
Only curmudgeons would point out at this moment that this claim is a little dubious. Arthur Wynne himself was quick to acknowledge that the idea was as old as the language, and the origins of the puzzle that he created can be plausibly shown to go back at least as far as Pompeii. And though his New York World puzzles continued, it was not until two young men called Simon and Schuster, whose publishing house would go on to give us Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald, put puzzles into a book 11 years later that they really caught on.
The first newspaper in Britain to use them seems to have been the Sunday Express in 1925. The then Manchester Guardian followed four years later, 13 months ahead of the Times.
But it also has to be said that crosswords today bear about as much resemblance to Wynne’s pioneering number as does the Goldberg Variations to Chopsticks. Wynne’s puzzle was shaped like a diamond. All you had to do was to fill in the answers to questions like «the plural of is» (3) and «what artists learn to do» (4) – even if one or two demanded more erudition («the fibre of the gomuti palm», the answer to which was «doh».)
Today’s familiar black squares were in those days unknown. The art form has evolved in different ways in different countries, but here there are now essentially three varieties: the quick (as in today’s Guardian Review,) the cryptic, below the weather on the penultimate page of this section, and the supercryptic, for ace solvers only, like Azed in tomorrow’s Observer.
The quick is sometimes thought to be simple but that isn’t always the case: a clue may simply say «draw», but that’s a word whose alternative meanings command a whole column in any thesaurus.
It’s the cryptic and supercryptic, though, that are serious business. Over the years, ingenious hands have developed more and more techniques for making their solvers sweat. The Observer was the pacemaker here, unleashing on its customers first Torquemada and, after him, Ximenes, both named after Spanish inquisitors. Ximenes was Derrick Somerset Macnutt, who taught me Greek at Christ’s Hospital school, not a happy experience for either of us. He was one of a school that favoured strict rules for crosswords, which he embodied in a book call Ximenes On the Art of the Crossword, published in 1966.
Some setters still stick to these rules. Others favour the far more libertarian style embodied in the work of John Graham, Araucaria of the Guardian, who died in November. John was an orthodox Anglican minister, but in crossword terms he was a joyous heretic, who, strict Ximeneans might have considered, deserved to be burned at the stake. Most of his Guardian faithful will tell you there never was, and never will be, a setter to match Araucaria. But some of the younger setters, who revere him as the master, take even greater liberties from time to time.
That’s not to say they don’t observe rules. It is still the case, in most instances, that a clue will contain a definition, equivalent to the word or words you need to install, and a cryptic variation to point you towards it. Or often, at first, away from it: since this is a world in which fiendish is a term of approval and the work of its best protagonists is admired for a phenomenon, rare in most trades, that might be called honest deception. In his 2003 book Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8), Sandy Balfour describes his girlfriend’s struggles to get him to solve cryptic crosswords. «That,» she says, rejecting a proffered solution, «is what they want you to think it means.» A clue may include the words «Greek character», which will usually indicate the presence of such letters as mu, nu or pi. Yet the letters you need in this case may make up the name Plato.
Some of the tricks of the trade are now ancient. The use, for instance, of anagrams, whose presence is often indicated by words such as mangled, messy or mutilated. Hugh Stephenson, the Guardian’s crossword editor, has three pages listing such devices in his book Secrets of the Setters. Some enthusiasts disparage the anagram, yet it helps the solver to get the game under way, and at its best can be an enrichment of life – as when carthorse yields orchestra, or Manchester City becomes synthetic cream (they were playing that way at the time), or Britney Spears, Presbyterians. There are also standard cliches which solvers soon spot – a soldier may give you RE, or perhaps GI; an L may give you a learner (as in L plates for learner drivers), although it might also mean left, large, lake or Latin. Hugh Stephenson lists these, too.
One quickly learns to distrust a word like flower, which may mean a daisy or daffodil, but may mean a river (rivers flow: geddit?)
Yet what makes a good setter is above all, ingenuity and invention; so brand new tricks are entering the language of crosswords all the time. And it’s when a setter comes up with a clue that baffles you for 45 minutes and makes you gasp when you solve it that the pleasure of crosswords reaches its peak. There were several in the Guardian prize crossword a week ago, concocted by Paul, a devout Araucarian. For instance, the unXimenean «Tommy Cooper» (1, 4, 2, 7, 4) the answer to which I can say, since the competition is closed, is «a name to conjure with». Our hero today, Arthur Wynne (born Everton 1871, died Clearwater, Florida 1945) would surely have marvelled at that.
Ten favourite clues
1 Amundsen’s forwarding address (4)
2 Bar of soap? (6,6)
3 HIJKLMNO? (5)
4 Ie what oil sheik said cheekily unto girl in gin palace (4,2,1,4,4, 4,3,5,2,1,5,4,4,2)
5 I say nothing (3)
6 (7)
7 O (8,6)
8 O hark the herald angels sing the boy’s descent which lifted up the world (5,9,7, 5,6,2,5,3,6,2,3,6)
9 Poetic scene with chaste Lord Archer vegetating (3, 3, 8, 12)
10Silent film star’s scene at Little Bighorn, as delivered by Spooner (6, 6)
Answers:
1 MUSH. (What Amundsen the polar explorer said to his dogs) – Bunthorne
2 ROVER’S RETURN (the pub in Coronation Street) – source not found; picked out by Colin Dexter, creator of the crossword-loving Morse – source not found
3 WATER (H to O = H20) – source not found
4 WHAT IS A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS, EH? (anagram) – Bunthorne
5 EGO (I=Ego; say= eg; nothing= 0) — Enigmatist
6 MISSING. (Ie, the clue is missing) – source not found. This has also been used to give the answer «clueless».
7 CIRCULAR LETTER. Source not found
8 WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT ALL SEATED ON THE GROUND (anagram) – Araucaria
9 THE OLD VICARAGE, GRANTCHESTER. Occurs in poem by Rupert Brooke: «chaste Lord Archer vegetating» is an anagram for it. The then recently disgraced Lord Archer lived there. – Araucaria
10 BUSTER KEATON: which Dr Spooner, who allegedly mixed up opening consonants, might have registered as «Custer beaten.» – Paul
Araucaria, Bunthorne, Enigmatist and Paul are Guardian setters.
Published December 20, 2013
Arthur Wynne is usually credited with inventing the crossword. His first puzzle, called a word-cross, was published in December 1913 in the New York World. But there may have been other predecessors to the crossword: in England in the 19th century and an Italian version called per passare il tempo, which means “to pass the time.”Word crosses eventually became known as crosswords, and their creators became known as cruciverbalists. (They are also called constructors, setters, and compilers.) The word cruciverbalist comes from the Latin word crux, which means “cross,” and the word verbum, which means “word.” Crosswordese seems like a term that could refer to crossword terminology. But in fact, it is used to describe words that frequently appear in crossword puzzles, but are rarely used in daily life. Mead, which means “honey wine,” and etui, which means “a woman’s ornamental case,” are two examples of crosswordese. Oslo, the capital of Norway, is another.
Speaking of crossword terminology, the horizontal and vertical lines of white cells are called entries or answers. Lights is another word used to refer to the white cells.
Missed our interview with NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz? Here’s the first installment.