Crossword Puzzles
If there were ever a "mother of all word puzzles", it would have to be the good old-fashioned crossword. It is a format of a word game that goes back for decades. And while you might have had your first experience with a crossword as a child, each time you start a new puzzle, its always fun and challenging. Each of us has our own approach to solving crosswords but over time, the little tricks you have developed have almost certainly evolved and gotten more sophisticated as well as more successful.
The crossword did not spring into existence all of a sudden or be "invented" by any one clever designer. It has been a format that has been evolving for centuries and will no doubt continue to take new forms and directions for centuries to come. The word square goes so far back into antiquity that we don't have a good idea when or where it originated. If we can give credit for "inventing" the crossword puzzle as we know it, that would go to Arthur Wynne who in 1913 put together the crosshatch design with some blocks blacked out that most of us are used to in a modern puzzle.
Since that format was created, the popularity of crossword puzzles has been nonstop. The puzzle has so become part of popular culture that we commonly see characters in plays, movies or television "doing the crossword". When a character is looking at a folded newspaper and asks another character, "What is a 5 letter word for…", we know exactly what that character is doing. We all react with pleasure thinking about our own times of wrestling and many times losing to a crossword puzzle. But something about a crossword keeps us coming back because even not being able to finish a crossword puzzle is still very fun.
When you start a new crossword puzzle, it’s a good idea to think about the theme of the puzzle. If the clues are all going to be about nuclear physics, that may be a puzzle to skip right up front. But if the theme is Beatles trivia and you happen to be an expert in that subject, you are in for some fun finishing that puzzle.
The theme of puzzles is just as much fun as the challenge of completing the grid. Even if you have to use a crossword puzzle dictionary (which is legal) thinking about the tiny bits of information included in the clues is both fun and fascinating. It challenges our mind, educates and entertains us all at the same time. That is a pretty good accomplishment for a little puzzle in your daily newspaper.