Editing Crossword (section)

== History ==
[[Image:First crossword.png|thumb|upright|Recreation of [[Arthur Wynne]]'s original crossword puzzle from December 21, 1913]]
The phrase "cross word puzzle" was first written in 1862 by ''[[Our Young Folks]]'' in the United States. Crossword-like puzzles, for example Double Diamond Puzzles, appeared in the magazine ''[[St. Nicholas (magazine)|St. Nicholas]]'', published since 1873.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.childrenslibrary.org/library/books/d/dodstni_00362329/book/page0066.html |title=St. Nicholas. September 1875, page 66. |publisher=Childrenslibrary.org |access-date=2013-11-26}}</ref> Another crossword puzzle appeared on September 14, 1890, in the Italian magazine ''Il Secolo Illustrato della Domenica''. It was designed by Giuseppe Airoldi and titled "''Per passare il tempo''" ("To pass the time"). Airoldi's puzzle was a four-by-four grid with no shaded squares; it included horizontal and vertical clues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crucienigmi.it/Storia_delle_parole_crociate.htm |title=Storia delle parole crociate e del cruciverba |language=it |publisher=Crucienigmi |access-date=August 28, 2009 }}</ref>

Crosswords in England during the 19th century were of an elementary kind, apparently derived from the [[word square]], a group of words arranged so the letters read alike vertically and horizontally, and printed in children's puzzle books and various periodicals.

On December 21, 1913, [[Arthur Wynne]], a [[journalist]] born in [[Liverpool]], England, published a "word-cross" puzzle in the ''[[New York World]]'' that embodied most of the features of the modern genre. This puzzle is frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. An illustrator later reversed the "word-cross" name to "cross-word".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/crosswordhome.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030302082052/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/crosswordhome.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2003-03-02 | title=The Crossword Puzzle | publisher=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] | date=August 1997 | access-date=2010-12-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/crossword.htm | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717035047/http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/crossword.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 17, 2012 | title=The History of Crossword Puzzles | first=Mary | last=Bellis | publisher=[[About.com]] | access-date=2010-12-18 }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/crossword-became-american-pastime-180973558/|title=How the Crossword Became an American Pastime|last=Amlen|first=Deb|website=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |language=en|access-date=2020-01-06}}</ref>

Crossword puzzles became a regular weekly feature in the ''New York World'', and spread to other newspapers; the ''[[Pittsburgh Press]]'', for example, was publishing them at least as early as 1916<ref>{{cite news |title=Cross-Word Puzzle|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=djft3U1LymYC&dat=19160611&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|newspaper=[[The Pittsburgh Press]] |date=June 11, 1916}} Comic section's fifth page.</ref> and ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' by 1917.<ref>''The Boston Globe'', April 8, 1917, p. 43 contains a puzzle and a solution to a previous week's puzzle.</ref>

[[File:A crossword fanatic ringing up a doctor in the middle of the Wellcome V0011518 (detail).jpg|thumb|upright|A 1925 ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' cartoon about "The Cross-Word Mania". A person phones a doctor in the middle of the night, asking for "the name of a bodily disorder of seven letters, of which the second letter must be 'N'".]]
By the 1920s, the crossword phenomenon was starting to attract notice. In October 1922, newspapers published a comic strip by [[Clare Briggs]] entitled "Movie of a Man Doing the Cross-Word Puzzle", with an enthusiast muttering "87 across 'Northern Sea Bird'!!??!?!!? Hm-m-m starts with an 'M', second letter is 'U'&nbsp;... I'll look up all the words starting with an 'M-U&nbsp;...' mus-musi-mur-murd—Hot Dog! Here 'tis! [[Murre]]!"<ref>"Movie of a Man Doing the Cross-Word Puzzle", by "Briggs", ''Morning Oregonian'', October 3, 1922, p. 14; also published in several other newspapers.</ref> In 1923 a humorous squib in ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' has a wife ordering her husband to run out and "rescue the papers&nbsp;... the part I want is blowing down the street." "What is it you're so keen about?" "The Cross-Word Puzzle. Hurry, please, that's a good boy."<ref>"There Goes My Crossword Puzzle, Get Up Please". ''The Boston Daily Globe'', October 1, 1923, p. 7.</ref> In ''[[The New Yorker]]''{{'s}} inaugural issue, from 1925, the "Jottings About Town" section observed, "Judging from the number of solvers in the subway and 'L' trains, the crossword puzzle bids fair to become a fad with New Yorkers."<ref>"Jottings About Town". ''The New Yorker'', February 21, 1925, p. 30.</ref> In 1922, the [[New York Public Library]] reported that "The latest craze to strike libraries is the crossword puzzle", and complained that when "the puzzle 'fans' swarm to the dictionaries and encyclopedias so as to drive away readers and students who need these books in their daily work, can there be any doubt of the Library's duty to protect its legitimate readers?"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=P_4aAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA24 ''Report of the New York Public Library for 1924'']; published by The Library, 1925</ref>

The first book of crossword puzzles was published by [[Simon & Schuster]] in 1924, after a suggestion from co-founder [[Richard L. Simon|Richard Simon's]] aunt. The publisher was initially skeptical that the book would succeed, and only printed a small run at first. The book was promoted with an included pencil, and "This odd-looking book with a pencil attached to it"<ref>{{cite book|title=Only Yesterday|url=https://archive.org/details/onlyyesterdayinf00alle|url-access=registration|author=Frederick Lewis Allen|year=1931|publisher=Harper and Row}}, p. 159 of 1964 Perennial Library paperback reprint</ref> was an instant hit, leading crossword puzzles to become a craze of 1924. To help promote its books, Simon & Schuster also founded the Amateur Cross Word Puzzle League of America, which began the process of developing standards for puzzle design.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite web| url=https://crosswordanswers911.net/meet-the-faces-behind-your-favorite-crossword-puzzles-worlds-best-crossword-writers/  |title= Best crossword puzzles Writers  }} Sunday, 22 August 2021</ref>

Not all of the attention drawn to the crossword puzzle fad was positive: A 1924 editorial in ''[[The New York Times]]'' complained of the "sinful waste in the utterly futile finding of words the letters of which will fit into a prearranged pattern, more or less complex. This is not a game at all, and it hardly can be called a sport&nbsp;... [solvers] get nothing out of it except a primitive form of mental exercise, and success or failure in any given attempt is equally irrelevant to mental development."<ref>"Topics of the Times". ''The New York Times'', November 17, 1924, p. 18</ref> A clergyman called the working of crossword puzzles "the mark of a childish mentality" and said, "There is no use for persons to pretend that working one of the puzzles carries any intellectual value with it."<ref>"Condemns Cross-Word Fad". ''The New York Times'', December 23, 1924, p. 17</ref> However, another wrote a complete ''Bible Cross-Word Puzzle Book''. Also in 1925, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine noted that nine Manhattan dailies and fourteen other big newspapers were carrying crosswords, and quoted opposing views as to whether "This crossword craze will positively end by June!" or "The crossword puzzle is here to stay!"<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719730,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122234751/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719730,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 22, 2009|title=Barometer|date=January 5, 1925|access-date=2008-08-05|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> In 1925, ''The New York Times'' noted, with approval, a scathing critique of crosswords by ''[[The New Republic]]''; but concluded that "Fortunately, the question of whether the puzzles are beneficial or harmful is in no urgent need of an answer. The craze evidently is dying out fast and in a few months it will be forgotten."<ref>Topics of the Times: Sees Harm, Not Education" ''The New York Times'', March 10, 1925, p. 20,</ref> and in 1929 declared, "The cross-word puzzle, it seems, has gone the way of all fads."<ref>"All About the Insidious Game of Anagrams", ''The New York Times'', December 29, 1929, p. BR3</ref> In 1930, a correspondent noted that "Together with ''[[The Times]]'' of London, yours is the only journal of prominence that has never succumbed to the lure of the cross-word puzzle" and said that "The craze—the fad—stage has passed, but there are still people numbering it to the millions who look for their daily cross-word puzzle as regularly as for the weather predictions."<ref>Richard H. (1930), "The Lure of the Puzzle". ''The New York Times'', February 4, 1930, p. 20</ref>

The term "crossword" first appeared in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' in 1933.<ref>[http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/44952?redirectedFrom=crossword& "crossword"]. ''OED Online''. March 2017. Oxford University Press. (accessed April 28, 2017).</ref>

''The New York Times'' finally began to publish a crossword puzzle on 15 February 1942, spurred on by the idea that the puzzle could be a welcome distraction from the harsh news of [[World War II]]. ''The New York Times''{{'s}} first puzzle editor was [[Margaret Farrar|Margaret Petherbridge Farrar]], who was editor from 1942 to 1969.<ref name=":2" /> She was succeeded by [[Will Weng]], who was succeeded by [[Eugene T. Maleska]]. Since 1993, they have been edited by [[Will Shortz]], the ''Times''{{'}} fourth crossword editor.

[[Simon & Schuster]] continues to publish the ''Crossword Puzzle Book Series'' books that it began in 1924, currently under the editorship of John M. Samson. The original series ended in 2007 after 258 volumes. Since 2008, these books are now in the Mega series, appearing three times per year and each featuring 300 puzzles.

The [[cryptic crossword]] variation originated in Britain in the mid-1920s. [[Edward Powys Mathers]] set the first crossword to use entirely cryptic clues, originally just for the enjoyment of his friends, one of whom, without permission, submitted it to the Saturday ''[[The Westminster Gazette|Westminster Gazette]]''.  The editors approached Mathers for more puzzles, and published eleven more of these novel cryptic crosswords.  Upon the demise of the Saturday ''Westminster'', Mathers began setting puzzles for ''[[The Observer]]'', beginning a series of 670 cryptic crosswords, which ended only with Mathers' death in 1939.<ref name=StrangeWorld>{{cite web|last1=Millington|first1=Roger|title=The Strange World of the Crossword (excerpt)|access-date=18 Feb 2024|url=http://www.crossword.org.uk/mathers.htm}}</ref> Mathers set his puzzles under the pen name of [[Tomas de Torquemada|Torquemada]], after the first [[Grand Inquisitor]] of the [[Spanish Inquisition]].  His successors as ''The Observer'' cryptic crossword setter followed his example.  [[Derrick Somerset Macnutt]], who took over at Mather's death, chose the pen name "Ximenes," an Anglicization of the surname of [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros]], a Grand Inquisitor in Castile.  The current ''Observer'' cryptic compiler, [[Jonathan Crowther]] sets under the name "[[Azed]]," a reversal of [[Diego de Deza|Deza]], another Grand Inquisitor. Cryptic crosswords are popular in Britain, some British Commonwealth nations, and in a few other countries. Many British newspapers publish both standard and cryptic crosswords.

The cryptic crossword was imported to the US in 1968 by composer and lyricist [[Stephen Sondheim]] in the [[New York (magazine)|''New York'' magazine]], but never became widespread.  From 1977 to 2006, ''[[The Atlantic]]'' regularly featured a cryptic crossword "Puzzler" by the husband and wife team of [[Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon]]. From 2006 to 2009, ''The Atlantic'' puzzler appeared only online. In 2010, Cox and Rathvon's efforts began to appear monthly in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''.<ref name="coxrathvon.com">{{cite web |last1=Cox |first1=Emily |last2=Rathvon |first2=Henry |title=Cryptic Puzzles by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon |url=https://coxrathvon.com |website=Cox Rathvon (Hex) |access-date=17 Feb 2024}}</ref>  The pair retired at the end of 2023, but the WSJ continues to offer a cryptic crossword each month.

In the [[United Kingdom]], the ''[[Sunday Express]]'' was the first newspaper to publish a crossword on November 2, 1924, a Wynne puzzle adapted for the UK. The first crossword in Britain, according to Tony Augarde in his ''Oxford Guide to Word Games'' (1984), was in ''[[Pearson's Magazine]]'' for February 1922.
[[File:Bryant Park Coffee and Crosswords (73780).jpg|thumb|Finalists competing in a crossword competition in New York City in 2019]]

The 2006 documentary ''[[Wordplay (film)|Wordplay]]'', about enthusiasts of ''The New York Times''{{'s}} puzzle, increased public interest in crosswords. It highlighted attendees of Will Shortz's [[American Crossword Puzzle Tournament]] and other notable crossword enthusiasts, including former US president [[Bill Clinton]] and comedian [[Jon Stewart]].<ref name=":2" /> Other crossword tournaments in the United States include [[Lollapuzzoola]] in New York City and Boswords in Boston.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://beyondwordplay.com/curiouser-and-curiouser-more-wordplay-in-puzzling-times-85b88716dace|title=Curiouser and Curiouser: More Wordplay in Puzzling Times|website=Beyond Wordplay|date=2020-08-24|last=Zimmer|first=Ben|author-link=Ben Zimmer|access-date=2024-09-15}}</ref>

=== World War II ===
{{main|D-Day Daily Telegraph crossword security alarm}}
In 1944, Allied security officers were disturbed by the appearance, in a series of crosswords in ''The Daily Telegraph'', of words that were secret code names for military operations planned as part of [[Operation Overlord]].

Some cryptologists for [[Bletchley Park]] were selected after doing well in a crossword-solving competition.<ref>''The Daily Telegraph – 80 Years of Cryptic Crosswords'', p. 44.</ref>

=== Records ===
According to ''[[Guinness World Records]]'', May 15, 2007, the most prolific crossword compiler is [[Roger Squires]] of [[Ironbridge]], [[Shropshire]], UK. On May 14, 2007, he published his 66,666th crossword,<ref>(Pat-Ella) [https://web.archive.org/web/20070516041322/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/14/nclue14.xml "Crossword setter hits puzzling landmark"], Richard Savill, ''The Daily Telegraph'', May 15, 2007</ref> equivalent to 2 million clues. He is one of only four setters to have provided cryptic puzzles to ''[[The Times]]'', ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', ''[[The Guardian]]'', the ''[[Financial Times]]'' and ''[[The Independent]]''. He also holds the record for the longest word ever used in a published crossword—the 58-letter Welsh town [[Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch]] clued as an anagram.

Enthusiasts have compiled a number of record-setting achievements in ''[[New York Times]]'' and other venues.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.xwordinfo.com/ |title=XWord Info |access-date=2020-04-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101085646/https://www.xwordinfo.com/ |archive-date=2020-01-01}}</ref>
* The lowest word count in a published weekday-size 15x15 puzzle is the June 29, 2013 ''The New York Times'' crossword by Joe Krozel, with just 50 words.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/29/2013|title=New York Times, Saturday, June 29, 2013|publisher=Xwordinfo.com |access-date=2022-04-29}}</ref>
* The fewest shaded squares in a 15x15 American crossword is 17 (leaving 208 white spaces), set by the July 27, 2012 ''Times'' crossword by Joe Krozel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/27/2012 |title=Friday, July 27, 2012 crossword by Joe Krozel |publisher=Xwordinfo.com |date=2012-07-27 |access-date=2013-11-26}}</ref>
* The record for most crosswords published in ''The New York Times'' is held by [[Manny Nosowsky]], who has had 241 puzzles in that outlet.
* A N Prahlada Rao, crossword constructor from India, has recorded in the ''[[Limca Book of Records]]'' in 2016 for constructing highest number of crosswords in Indian regional languages. In 2019 his name has mentioned in the ''Kalam Book of World Records''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Most Crosswords Created (Regional Language)|url=https://www.coca-colaindia.com/stories/most-crosswords-created--regional-language-|access-date=2021-06-28|website=The Coca-Cola Company|language=en-IN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kalamsworldrecords.com/world-records-2019/|title=World Records 2019 &#124; Kalams World Records}}</ref>

=== Female crossword constructors ===
Women editors such as [[Margaret Farrar]] were influential in the first few decades of puzzle-making, and women constructors such as [[Bernice Gordon]] and [[Elizabeth Gorski]] have each contributed hundreds of puzzles to ''The New York Times''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.xwordinfo.com/Thumbs?author=Elizabeth+C.+Gorski|title=Elizabeth C. Gorski|website=xwordinfo.com|access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref> However, in recent years the number of women constructors has declined. During the years that [[Will Weng]] and [[Eugene Thomas Maleska|Eugene Maleska]] edited the [[The New York Times crossword puzzle|New York Times crossword]] (1969–1993), women constructors accounted for 35% of puzzles,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://theamericanreader.com/puzzle-trouble-women-and-crosswords-in-the-age-of-autofill/|title=Puzzle Trouble: Women and Crosswords in the Age of Autofill|last=Shechtman|first=Anna|date=2014|website=The American Reader|access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.preshortzianpuzzleproject.com/|title=The Pre-Shortzian Puzzle Project|last=Steinberg|first=David|access-date=17 January 2014}}</ref> while during the editorship of [[Will Shortz]] (1993–present), this percentage has gone down, with women constructors (including collaborations) accounting for only 15% of puzzles in both 2014 and 2015, 17% of puzzles published in 2016, 13%—the lowest in the "Shortz Era"—in 2017, and 16% in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.xwordinfo.com/Women|title=Women constructors in the Shortz Era|website=xwordinfo.com|access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/puzzling-women/|title=Puzzling Women: Where are the female constructors?|last1=Kosman|first1=Joshua|last2=Picciotto|first2=Henry|date=2014|website=thenation.com|access-date=18 January 2017|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202074502/https://www.thenation.com/article/puzzling-women/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Several reasons have been given for the decline in women constructors. One explanation is that the gender imbalance in crossword construction is similar to that in related fields, such as [[Women in journalism|journalism]], and that more [[Freelancer|freelance]] male constructors than females submit puzzles on spec to ''The New York Times'' and other outlets.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tausig |first=Ben |date=21 August 2013 |title=The Crossword Puzzle: Where'd the Women Go? |url=https://thehairpin.com/the-crossword-puzzle-whered-the-women-go-c25dee229b3f |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422010202/https://thehairpin.com/the-crossword-puzzle-whered-the-women-go-c25dee229b3f#.ufszwy6ib |archive-date=22 April 2017 |access-date=17 January 2017 |website=[[The Hairpin]]}}</ref> Another explanation is that computer-assisted construction and the increased influence of computational approaches in generating word lists may be making crossword construction more like [[Women in STEM fields|STEM fields in which women are underrepresented for a number of factors]].<ref name=":0" /> However, it has also been argued that this explanation risks propagating myths about gender and technology.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ravishly.com/ladies-we-love/elizabeth-gorski-new-york-times-crossword-creator|title=Elizabeth Gorski: New York Times Crossword Creator|date=2014|website=Ravishly.com|access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref> Some have argued that the relative absence of women constructors and editors has had an influence on the content of the puzzles themselves, and that clues and entries can be insensitive regarding language related to gender and race.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/06/28/the_new_york_times_crossword_can_be_clueless_about_race_and_gender.html|title=Why Is the New York Times Crossword So Clueless About Race and Gender?|last=Graham|first=Ruth|date=2016|website=Slate.com|access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theoutline.com/post/1651/the-nyt-crossword-is-old-and-kind-of-racist|title=The NYT Crossword Is Old and Kind Of Racist|last=Jeffries|first=Adrianne|date=2017|website=The Outline|access-date=14 June 2017}}</ref> [[Margaret Irvine]] suggested that lack of confidence was a barrier.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Alan Connor |author1-link=Alan Connor |title=Crossword blog: meet the setter – Nutmeg |url=https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2017/apr/10/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-nutmeg |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=18 July 2023 |date=10 April 2017}}</ref> Several approaches have been suggested to develop more women in the field, including mentoring novice women constructors and encouraging women constructors to publish their puzzles independently.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://crosswordfiend.com/2014/03/06/women-and-crossword-construction-part-1-why-the-underrepresentation/|title=Women and Crossword Construction, Part 1: Why the underrepresentation?|last=Reynaldo|first=Amy|date=2014|website=Diary of a Crossword Fiend|access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

Crossword venues other than ''[[New York Times]]'' have recently published higher percentages of women than that puzzle. In the spring of 2018, Patti Varol and Amy Reynaldo organized and edited a pack of 18 puzzles constructed by women called "Women of Letters".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pattivarol.com/women-of-letters|title=Women of Letters|website=Patti Varol}}</ref> Inspired by this, Laura Braunstein and Tracy Bennett launched ''The Inkubator'', a "twice-monthly subscription service that will publish crosswords constructed by cis women, trans women, and woman-aligned constructors."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Gavin |first1=Hailey |title=The Inkubator Is on a Mission to Publish More Female Crossword Puzzle Constructors |url=https://slate.com/culture/2018/10/inkubator-aims-to-publish-more-female-crossword-constructors.html |website=Slate.com |date=23 October 2018 |publisher=Slate |access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref> ''The Inkubator'' raised over $30,000 in its initial Kickstarter campaign,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Inkubator – Kickstarter |url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/laurabrarian/the-inkubator/description |access-date=16 January 2019}}</ref> and began publishing puzzles on January 17, 2019. A book of 100 puzzles, ''Inkubator Crosswords: 100 Audacious Puzzles by Women and Nonbinary Creators,'' was published in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inkubator Crosswords |url=https://publishing.andrewsmcmeel.com/book/inkubator-crosswords-tracy-bennett/ |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=Andrews McMeel Publishing |language=en-US}}</ref> On February 8, 2023, they announced to subscribers that 2023 would be their final year as a subscription service.<ref>{{Cite web |title=the following announcement recently went to our subscribers: After much careful thought, the Inkubator team has made the decision that 2023 will be our last year as a subscription service + |url=https://twitter.com/InkubatorXWords/status/1625260056475320326 |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref>