Crossword puzzles–we’ve all done one or at least tried. They’re in the paper, they’re used by teachers to teach us vocabulary terms and they make tiny books of them to sell in grocery store checkout lines.

If you can complete the entire crossword puzzle from Sunday’s New York Times, then you have something major to brag about.

Since the crossword has been around since before we all were born, there is a good chance that we take it for granted. We don’t know who invented it (Arthur Wynne for New York World).

We don’t know when the first crossword was published (December 21, 1913) or what it was originally called (“Word-Cross,” but a few weeks into its run the words were transposed to make “Cross-Word”). 

We don’t know about the ridiculous craze it caused that swept the nation in 1920s (a man shot his wife because she refused to help him with his crossword).

Therefore, I wholeheartedly urge you to read this wonderful piece from Neatorama called “The Origins of the Crossword Puzzle” to find out more about this cherished American pastime.

Image: PO Way USD

Tags: Arthur Wynne, The New York Times, New York World, Crossword puzzle, Word-Cross puzzle, Neatorama

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