Great things can come out of hard times — take Scrabble. During the Great Depression, architect Alfred Mosher Butts couldn’t find work. So he decided to create a board game that required the vocabulary skills of anagrams and crossword puzzles but also had an element of chance. Butts hand-drew the original board with architectural drafting equipment.
There are plenty of crossword puzzles in publications across the country, but when we think of the pinnacle of puzzledom (Not officially a word, but, perhaps, it should be?), the purveyors of the most preeminent puzzles, we bow to The New York Times (NYT). For more than 75 years, the NYT crossword puzzle has been stumping readers with its clever clues and then sending them …
How much do we love the New York Times crossword puzzle? Let us count the ways … never mind, we can’t count that high. We can, however, count on it to continually challenge us with its sagacious clues and delight us when we discover the astute answers that fit just right. While each puzzle offers something unique, with aha moments aplenty, some of their clues …
You can tell a lot about a person by their daily habits. Do they make their bed every day? Do they eat the same lunch special? Maybe they’re a bit of a rebel and take each experience as it comes. How about something a little more puzzling. What does your crossword puzzle solving style say about you? Believe it or not, crossword solvers are a …
Are you a cruciverbalist? A lover of crosswords? If you can immediately recite a long list of obscure words with an excessive amount of vowels, you’re probably an avid crossword solver. And, this set of vocabulary that is full of words more likely to fill in your morning crossword puzzle rather than your everyday conversation is commonly known as crosswordese. Crosswordese words are used by …
What do good parties and crossword puzzles have in common? Besides being fun, most of them have themes. The difference, however, is that while a party’s theme is usually announced via the invitation, a crossword’s themes are up to you to figure out on your own. There are two types of themes when it comes to crossword puzzles—overarching themes that are unique to each puzzle …
You’re plodding along, filling in the squares in your crossword puzzle like a champ, when you see something a bit foreign … literally. It could be a clue containing a non-English phrase or, perhaps, the answer requires knowledge about a far and distant land. In any case, it doesn’t seem to be in your vocabulary. Unless you’re a polyglot or frequent globetrotter, such clues …
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 …
Here is the final installment of our interview with Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times’ Crossword Puzzle and NPR’s Puzzlemaster. Find out his favorite crossword word and why English is the best language to make crosswords in. Dictionary.com: What are your general ideas about the relationship between language and crosswords? Will Shortz: The English language may be the best language in the …
We had the opportunity to sit down with Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times’ Crossword Puzzle and NPR’s Puzzlemaster. Learn about the history of the crossword and how it’s intertwined with the dictionary.
Are you passionate about Sudoku? The number puzzle is so popular that its origin and the meaning of its name deserve some attention. (Don’t confuse the word “sudoku” with “sodoku,” which is a bacterial zoonotic disease known as “rat-bite fever.” Basically, sodoku has more in common with the Ebola virus than any puzzle game.) Sudoku is similar to types of European puzzles that were played in