| Crossword is a game. Modern crosswords take the form of a square grid of black and white squares; the aim is to fill
the white squares ("lights") with letters, forming words reading across and down, by solving clues which yield the words. The
black squares (commonly called "blanks") have no letters, and are used to separate words (all contiguous blocks of white squares
spell words). Squares in which answers begin are numbered, left to right, top to bottom. The clues are then referred to by these
numbers (ambiguities are resolved by the common practice of referring to clues by both number and direction – for example,
"1 Across" or "17 Down"); at the end of the clue the total number of letters is sometimes given for the convenience of the
solver.
Types of Grid
Crossword grids such as those appearing in most North American newspapers and magazines feature solid chunks of white squares,
and every letter is checked (that is, it is part of an answer reading across and another reading down). In such puzzles
black squares, used to separate answers, are traditionally limited to about one-sixth of the design. Crossword grids elsewhere,
such as in Britain and Australia, use grids with a higher percentage of black squares and many unchecked letters.
Another tradition in puzzle design (in North America particularly) is that the grid should have 180-degree rotational
symmetry, so that its pattern appears the same if the paper is turned upside down. In addition, many weekday puzzles such as the
New York Times crossword are 15x15 squares, while weekend
puzzles may be 21x21, 23x23 or 25x25.
Substantial variants from the usual forms exist. Two of the common ones are barred crosswords which use bold lines
between squares (instead of black squares) to separate answers, and circular designs, with answers to be entered either
radially or in concentric circles.
In 1968 and 1969, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim published an inventive series of crossword-like puzzles in
New York
magazine. The Atlantic Monthly regularly features a
crossword-like "puzzler" by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, which combines cryptic clues with diabolically ingenious variations on the construction of the
puzzle itself. In both cases, no two puzzles are alike in construction, and the intent of the puzzle authors seems to be to
entertain with novelty, not to establish new variations of the crossword genre.
Another crossword type is the diagramless crossword. The grid offers overall dimensions, but it is unnumbered and black
squares' locations are unspecified. A successful solver must deduce not only the answers to individual clues, but how to fit
together partially built-up clumps of answers into larger clumps with properly set black squares. Some of these puzzles follow
the traditional symmetry rule, others have left-right mirror symmetry, and still others have outlines suggesting other
shapes.
Free form crosswords have simple designs and are not symmetric.
Types of Clues
In some crosswords, often called straight or quick, the clues are usually simple definitions for the answers.
Some clues may feature anagrams, but these are usually explicitly described as such. Often, a straight clue is not in
itself sufficient to distinguish among several possible answers (often synonyms), and the solver must make use of checks
to establish the correct answer with certainty. Some examples:
- The clue "PC key" for a three-letter answer could be "ESC", "ALT", or even "DEL", but until a
check is filled in, giving at least one of the letters, the correct answer cannot be determined.
- The clue "Center" could be a noun meaning "the middle of something", the verb "to place something in a centered
fashion", or even "a well-known basketball player who plays the Center position". The solver has to figure out the correct
meaning that will give a word that fits in the available space.
Quiz crosswords
In quiz crosswords, the clues take the form of questions. These may be on general knowledge or on a single topic.
Indirect clues
In many puzzles, some clues are to be taken metaphorically or in some sense other than their literal meaning. Depending on the
puzzle creator or the editor, this might be represented either with a question mark at the end of the clue or with a modifier
such as "maybe" or "perhaps". Examples:
- The clue "Half a dance?" for a 3-letter answer might be CAN (half of CANCAN) or CHA (half of CHACHA).
- The clue "Pay addition, perhaps", without the modifier might be something akin to "BONUS". However, with the modifier,
the answer could be "OLA" (the addition of OLA to PAY is the word PAYOLA).
Cryptic Crosswords
In cryptic crosswords, often called cryptics for short, the clues are puzzles in themselves. A typical clue
contains a definition, located at the beginning or end of the clue, and wordplay, which describes the word indicated by the
definition, and which may not parse logically, but should be at least grammatical. Cryptics usually give the length of their
answers in parantheses after the clue. In cryptics, answers are given in all capitals, with certain signs indicating different
wordplay.
There are several types of wordplay used in cryptics. One is straightforward definition substitution using parts of a
word. For example, in one puzzle by Mel
Taub, the answer IMPORTANT is given the clue "To bring worker into the country may prove significant". The
explanation is that to "import" means "to bring into the country"; the "worker" is a worker ant; and "significant" means
"important." Note that in a cryptic clue, there is almost always only one answer that fits both the definition and the wordplay,
so that when you see the answer, you know it is the right answer, although it can sometimes be a challenge to figure out
why it is the right answer.
A good cryptic clue should exactly explain the answer, while at the same time giving a meaningful surface reading. In
our sample clue, a more exact wordplay phrasing would be "To bring into the country a worker may prove significant", since "ant"
follows "import:" IMPORT + ANT. Note however, that the surface reading is then not as smooth as the original. Some cryptic clue
devotees would also be upset by the extraneous words like may prove.
Another type of wordplay used in cryptics is homophones. For example, the clue
"Counts spots aloud (4)" is solved by ADDS. The definition is "Counts", meaning "adds". The solver must guess that
"aloud" here indicates a homophone, and so a homophone of a synonym of "spots" is the answer. In this case "spots" means
advertisements, or ads, in mainly British usage. ADS = "ADDS".
Another wordplay commonly used is the double meaning. For example, "Cat's tongue (7)" is solved by PERSIAN,
since this is a type of cat, as well as a tongue, or language.
Cryptics very often include anagrams. The clue "Ned T.'s seal cooked is rather
bland (5,4)" is solved by NEEDS SALT. The meaning is "rather bland", and the word "cooked" is a hint to the solver
that this clue is an anagram (the letters have been "cooked", or jumbled up). "Nedtsseal" (ignoring all punctuation, of course)
is an anagram for NEEDS SALT. In answer sheets, an anagram is commonly indicated by an asterisk.
Embedded words are another common trick in cryptics. The clue "Bigotry aside, I'd take him (9)" is solved by
APARTHEID. The meaning is "bigotry", and the wordplay explains itself, indicated subtly by the word "take" (since one word
"takes" another): "aside" means APART and I'd is simply ID, so APART and ID "take" HE (which is, in cryptic crossword usage, a
perfectly good synonym for "him"). The answer would be elucidated as: APART(HE)ID.
And then there is the oft-used hidden clue, where the answer is literally hidden in the text of the clue itself. For example,
"Made a dug-out, buried, and passed away (4)" is solved by DEAD. The answer is written in the clue: "maDE A
Dug-out". The word "buried" is there to indicate to the solver that the answer is literally embedded within the clue
somewhere.
Actually, there is no end to the wordplay found in cryptic clues. Backward words can be indicated by words like "climbing",
"retreating", or "coming down"; letters can be replaced or removed with indicators such as "nothing rather than excellence"
(meaning replace E in a word with O); the letter I can be indicated by "me" or even "one;" the letter O can be
indicated by "nought" or even "a ring" (since it visually resembles one); the letter X might be clued as "a cross", or
"ten" (as in the Roman numeral), or "an illiterate's signature", or even
"sounds like your old flame" (homophone for "ex"); and so forth.
With the different types of wordplay and definition possibilities, the composer of a cryptic puzzle is often presented with
many different possible ways to clue a given answer. Most desirable are clues that are clean but deceptive, with a smooth
surface reading. The Usenet newsgroup rec.puzzles.crosswords has a number
of clueing competitions where contestants all submit clues for the same word and a judge picks the best one.
In principle, each cryptic clue is usually sufficient to uniquely define its answer, so it should be possible to answer each
clue without use of the grid. In practice, the use of checks is an important aid to the solver. (Cryptic crosswords are not to be
confused with cryptograms, a different form of puzzle based on a substitution cipher.)
Translation Crosswords
In Translation Crosswords, the clue is given in a foreign language. This makes them an entertaining vocabulary trainer. An
example of Translation Crosswords (http://www.translationcrosswords.com) created by David Andersen, uses headlines from
newspapers as a part of the clue. This enables the user to see the word used in a context, while also being introduced to
newspapers in the language he/she wants to learn. A more basic kind of Translation Crosswords can be seen on the pages of
yourDictionary (http://www.yourdictionary.com/crossword/index.html).
Other puzzles
Any type of puzzle may contain cross-references, where the answer to one clue forms part of another clue, in which it
is referred to by number.
When an answer is composed of multiple or hyphenated words, some crosswords (especially in Britain) indicate the structure of
the answer, while others do not. For example, "(3,5)" after a clue would indicate that the answer is composed of a three letter
word followed by a five letter word.
An example
A small example of a quiz-style crossword, to illustrate the format:
Across
1. Sheep sound (3)
3. Neither liquid nor gas (5)
5. Humour (3)
Down
1. Road passenger transport (3)
2. Permit (5)
4. Shortened form of Dorothy (3)
The solution to this crossword is:
| 1B |
9A |
2A |
. |
. |
| 9U |
. |
9L |
. |
. |
| 3S |
9O |
9L |
9I |
4D |
| . |
. |
9O |
. |
9O |
| . |
. |
5W |
9I |
9T |
History
On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne published a puzzle in the New York World which embodied most of the features of the genre as we know it. This puzzle, which can be
seen at this website (http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html), is frequently cited as the first
crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor.
Crossword puzzles became a regular weekly feature in the World. The first book of crossword puzzles, however, did not
appear until 1924, published by Simon and Schuster. The book was an instant hit and crossword puzzles became the craze of 1924.
Crossword Puzzles in World War II
In 1944, Allied security officers were disturbed by the appearance, in a series of
crossword puzzles published in The Daily Telegraph, of words that happened to be secret code names for military
operations. "Utah" (the code name for one of the landing sites) appeared in a puzzle published on May 2, 1944. Subsequent puzzles included the words "Omaha" and "Mulberry" (the highly-secret artificial harbours)
On June 2nd, just four days before the invasion, the puzzle included both the words "Neptune" (the naval operations
plan) and "Overlord". That was the last straw, and the author of the puzzles, a schoolteacher named Leonard Dawe, was arrested
and interrogated. The investigators finally concluded that the appearance of the words was just a coincidence. The event has been
so described in histories, and has even been used as an illustration of how seemingly meaningful events can arise out of pure
coincidence.
According to National Geographic (http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature1/), though, in 1984 the schoolteacher revealed that one of his students had picked up the words while hanging around army
camps. When the teacher had asked his students to provide unusual words as ingredients for his puzzles, he had innocently passed
them on.
Notation
A notation has evolved to allow crosswords to be rendered compactly, and enjoyed by the blind or partially sighted.
It consists of giving the locations of the black squares in each row as letters (A=1,B=2, etc.), eg for the example crossword
above:
- D E
- B D E
-
- A B D
- A B
Although the numbering scheme could be consistently applied from
this information, it is customary to quote the starting square of each clue in (number-letter) format to assist the solver.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the Sunday Express newspaper published the first British crossword on November 2, 1924. Several crossword experts were recruited into code-breaking activities during World War II at Bletchley Park in England.
External links
See also: Scrabble, Upwords
(board games based on the crossword concept)
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