The History of the Crossword Puzzle

Books are filled with them, you can find them in any newspaper, but what are they? They are crossword puzzles. This article offers a brief look into the history of the crossword puzzle.

The first crossword puzzles appeared in nineteenth century England, but they were much different. These puzzles were more like a group of words that could be arranged so the letters could spell words both horizontally as well as vertically (Source: www.crosswordtournament.com). This form of crossword puzzle was most often found in children's books, but occasionally they did appear in adult periodicals. On December 21, 1913, journalist Arthur Wynne printed the first crossword puzzle to appear in a newspaper which was the New York World. During the 1920, other newspapers picked up on Mr. Wynne's idea and within a decade all newspapers where producing their papers with crossword puzzles. And on February 1, 1930 the New York Times produced its first crossword puzzle. To see and play the first crossword puzzle visit www.earlyamerica.com/crossword/ to print and solve (yes, the solution is included).

A.F Ritchie and D.S. Macnutt set the governing rules for crossword puzzles, thus allowing both publishers and players to be able to play and produce puzzles interchangeably. However, most consider the crossword puzzles are far more difficult than the American version.

There are five different variations of the crossword puzzle and those variations include (Source: www.wikipedia.com):

Cipher: This puzzle is more commonly known as a cryptogram. The objective is to determine the proper letter for each cell. Twenty-six numbers serve as the chipper for the letters. No two numbers share a letter. Determine the letter/number combination to solve the puzzle.

Diagramless: also known as skeleton or carte blanche. This puzzle has no grid as in traditional puzzles, only the outer dimensions. The player not only has to solve the clue given, but also must determine where the answer goes within the boundaries of the playing board.

Fill-in: also known as crusadex or cruzadex. This puzzle only gives the player a grid and a list of words in varying lengths. The player must determine which word goes where in the grid and must use all the words.

Cross Number: also known as Cross Figure. This puzzle is the numerical version of the traditional crossword puzzle where in place of clues; the player must solve mathematical problems to obtain the appropriate answer for the grid.

Acrostic: This is a two part puzzle. The first part of the puzzle is the most common version of the crossword puzzle; the player completes this puzzle, by solving clues and placing the answers into the grid. The second part of the puzzle is contained within the grid. In the grid there are circled letters, the player must rearranged those letters to obtain the final answer to the puzzle. Some puzzles include a clue as to the final answer.

No matter which version is play, the crossword puzzle is a good way to relax and keep the mind nimble no matter the age.