08-25-2023, 02:09 AM
America's affair with crossword puzzles is about 100 years old. . Originated 110 years ago.
The first crossword was published in a New York World supplement in 1913, and gained a steady following until Simon and Schuster published America's first crossword puzzle book. Suddenly, crossword fever swept the nation. The puzzles were so popular in the 1920s that songs were written about them.
or->https://time.com/5811396/crossword-history/
In stressful times, solving a crossword is not just a diversion but a necessary solace. In fact, the crossword puzzle was born in December 1913, on the eve of World War I. Arthur Wynne, an editor at the New York World, needed a new game for that paper’s FUN section. So he printed a blank word-search grid, devised clues so readers could figure out the letters, and called it “FUN’s Word-Cross Puzzle.” A typographical error a few weeks later transposed the puzzle’s title to “Cross-Word,” and the puzzle was permanently re-christened. New solvers became rabid cruciverbalists—that is, crossword fans––practically overnight, latching onto the grid as a refuge from chaos.
As the war progressed and headlines in the World became increasingly bleak, the paper’s advertising efforts to point solvers to the puzzle also dialed up, with banners on the front pages directing readers straight past the dire news and to the crossword for an anchor in increasingly uncertain times.
And as World War I ramped up, so did cruciverbal production, and the activity’s popularity only grew after the Armistice. During the 1920s, the crossword boomed: from crossword-patterned stockings to crossword-themed musicals to comic strips like “Cross Word Cal,” the puzzle was everywhere. However, crosswords themselves were all over the map in terms of their form and content. Though some puzzles were carefully edited and regulated, others were much more freewheeling, all shapes and sizes and riddled with errors.
The first crossword was published in a New York World supplement in 1913, and gained a steady following until Simon and Schuster published America's first crossword puzzle book. Suddenly, crossword fever swept the nation. The puzzles were so popular in the 1920s that songs were written about them.
or->https://time.com/5811396/crossword-history/
In stressful times, solving a crossword is not just a diversion but a necessary solace. In fact, the crossword puzzle was born in December 1913, on the eve of World War I. Arthur Wynne, an editor at the New York World, needed a new game for that paper’s FUN section. So he printed a blank word-search grid, devised clues so readers could figure out the letters, and called it “FUN’s Word-Cross Puzzle.” A typographical error a few weeks later transposed the puzzle’s title to “Cross-Word,” and the puzzle was permanently re-christened. New solvers became rabid cruciverbalists—that is, crossword fans––practically overnight, latching onto the grid as a refuge from chaos.
As the war progressed and headlines in the World became increasingly bleak, the paper’s advertising efforts to point solvers to the puzzle also dialed up, with banners on the front pages directing readers straight past the dire news and to the crossword for an anchor in increasingly uncertain times.
And as World War I ramped up, so did cruciverbal production, and the activity’s popularity only grew after the Armistice. During the 1920s, the crossword boomed: from crossword-patterned stockings to crossword-themed musicals to comic strips like “Cross Word Cal,” the puzzle was everywhere. However, crosswords themselves were all over the map in terms of their form and content. Though some puzzles were carefully edited and regulated, others were much more freewheeling, all shapes and sizes and riddled with errors.