On December 21, 1913, the New York World pioneered the world’s first crossword puzzle, which had been created by journalist Arthur Wynne. In 1924, the New York Times would denounce crosswords in an editorial, calling them a “sinful wastes” of time and “a primitive sort of mental exercise.”
But in the midst of World War II, after the devastation and chaos of Pearl Harbor, New York Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger made an executive decision to start printing crosswords in the paper to give readers an opportunity to relax.
Seventy-five years later, the crossword is prospering under the guidance of Will Shortz. He follows in a short line of puzzle editors, which started with the legendary Margaret Farrar, who is often remembered for raising the rigor of the crossword to an unprecedented level and impeccably editing each Sunday crossword for 27 years.
After Farrar retired in 1969, previous Metropolitan Editor Will Weng took over, and started to add more humor and wordplay to the puzzles. After him came Eugene Maleska in 1979, who incorporated more cultural motifs and answers into the crossword.
In 1978, a 25-year-old Shortz premieres the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut, which becomes the largest crossword event in the world and is still hosted annually. Shortz then takes over the New York Times crossword in 1993, and starts to elevate its status by raising the pay and increasing the number of contributors.
Today, many still solve Times crosswords puzzles to relax. According to clinical psychologist Helen R. Friedman in an interview with the times, “In difficult times, when life begins to feel out of control or when faced with an emotional dilemma, working on something that has finite answers can provide a sense of securities.”
Perhaps in a time that’s still uncertain for many, solving a crossword would be a good choice. So let’s all settle down and solve a crossword, celebrating the 75th year of the most rigorous crossword puzzle in the world.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/crosswords/crossword-solving-search-for-connection-answers-psychology-emotions.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/14/crosswords/new-york-times-crossword-timeline.html?_r=0
Danny,
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting and thoughtful post. I think it's interesting that you highlight a somewhat obscure part of American History, but an integral part indeed. I think a huge part of Crossword Puzzles are their importance of our culture in that our society and many in our society have been ingrained with getting up in the morning and going to do a crossword puzzle.
I love the historical context your blog post provides, but disagree with the call to action. Crossword puzzles are rather out of date -- few get any print paper anymore, and there are games online with much more entertainment value than any crossword puzzle. Simply put, the amount of print paper readers has massively declined in the last decade, and the relevance of the crossword puzzle has declined with it.
ReplyDeleteVery informative post! I didn't realize how long crosswords had been a part of the New York Times. I like how you incorporated some psychology into your paper. I wonder if the fact that you mention (people wanting to solve something with finite solutions) is the most common motivation for avid crossworders.
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