Crosswords - What Are They?

It is thought that one of the first crossed word puzzles dates back to the Rotas-Sator Square from before 62 AD.

The phrase "cross word puzzle" was first written in 1862, in the Our Young Folks children's magazine. Puzzles similar to crosswords featured in magazines in the late-19th century.

On 21 December 1913, British-born journalist Arthur Wynne published a "word-cross puzzle" in the New York World newspaper. This is often credited as the first crossword puzzle, with Wynne cited as the inventor. An illustrator reversed this to "cross-word".

Crosswords quickly spread to other newspapers, with the Pittsburgh Press and The Boston Globe featuring them soon after.

The first crossword puzzle book was published in 1924 by Simon & Schuster.

The New York Times first published a crossword puzzle on 15 February 1942, as it was assumed the puzzle could be a distraction from the news of World War II. Originally edited by Margaret Farrar, later editors of the NYT puzzle were Will Weng, Eugene T. Maleska and Will Shortz.

Arrowwords, also spelled as Arrowords or Arrow Words are a variant of crossword, where clues replace the black squares, and arrows in the grid indicate the direction which the word is placed. Sometimes, clues are replaced by pictures.

Arrowwords are very popular in Europe. They are often called 'Swedish or Scandinavian Crosswords', as they are thought to be invented in Sweden.

Codewords are a variant of crossword, where each square is given a number from 1-26, which represents a letter. Using starting letters, the solver must finish the puzzle by decoding the other letters. Every letter occurs in the puzzle at least once.

Common ways to solve these puzzles include locating where "QU" must appear (and another vowel afterwards), determining common letters ("e" is the most common letter in English) or looking for common endings, such as -ing, -s or -ed.

Criss-Cross (alternatively spelled Kriss-Kross) or Fill-in is a variant of crossword, similar to a wordsearch, where a list of words or number sequences (e.g. 12345) ordered by length need to be placed into the grid.

The grid is often not symmetrical, as this can lead to more flexibility with the answers.

Criss-crosses are deemed easier than crosswords, as no prior knowledge is required.

When starting a criss-cross, the best way is to start with the lengths with the lowest number of answers in the grid. For example, if "6" had two answers, start with that.

Cryptic Crosswords are a common variant of crosswords, using complex clues rather than simple definitions. Cryptic crosswords often use the British-style of crosswords, having originated in the United Kingdom.

Cryptic crossword clues are formed of a "definition" part (direct definition to the answer) and a "wordplay" part (how to piece words together). If this sounds confusing, here is an example:

7A) A mode of transport finally gone wrong

A (literally) + mode of transport = BUS + finally gone = E (last letter of gone); wrong = ABUSE (definition).

Cryptic crosswords are often seen as one of the hardest to complete; here is a guide on how to do them: https://thunderguy.com/bennett/2020/05/02/how-to-do-cryptic-crosswords/

Diagramless, Skeleton or similarly named "Bare Bones" crosswords are a variant where the grid has most of the black squares and clue numbers missing. This makes them tricky, as the crossword solver must work out the answers to the clues, as well as where the other clue numbers and black squares go.

However, existing clue numbers in the grid may be helpful, as the square before an across or down clue must be a black square (unless it is against the edge).

Diagramless crosswords usually feature a degree of symmetry, sometimes with higher symmetry patterns. This can be an advantage to the solver.

Jigsaw crosswords or Piecewords feature a completed crossword grid which has been divided into 3x3 blocks. To solve the puzzle, you need to use the clues to piece together the blocks (like a jigsaw puzzle).

The grid may be numbered by row, as this corresponds to the "across" clues given. Occasionally, there are two "across" clues given for the same number, such as:

6 Quiz site • Double

For this example, on the 6^th row, you could find the two answers as "JETPUNK" and "DUO". Using these clues, you need to find the blocks which would create "JETPUNK" and "DUO" on the 6^th row.