Crossword Puzzle Trivia: Surprising Facts and History
The Marlow Murder Club’s Judith Potts isn’t the first literary sleuth to enjoy a good word puzzle—Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse and Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey had a penchant for crosswords, too. But these puzzles are more than just a fun mental workout; they have a trivia-filled history that even their biggest fans might not know. Here are some fun facts about crossword puzzles.
- 1.
First Modern Crossword Published in 1913
Arthur Wynne's puzzle, published December 21, 1913 in New York World. The first crossword puzzle is generally credited to New York World editor Arthur Wynne, who cooked it up as an amusing new game for the paper’s Christmas edition. His “Word-Cross” debuted on December 21, 1913, with a diamond-shaped grid, no black squares, and the word “FUN” already placed on the grid to help folks get started. While readers quickly became hooked by these puzzles, they were tricky to print and prone to typos. As a result, for nearly ten years, the New York World was the only newspaper to publish them. Today, December 21st is officially Crossword Puzzle Day.
- 2.
The New York Times wasn’t Always Crossword Friendly
Although The New York Times crossword is now considered top-tier, the paper initially rejected the puzzles as silly. In 1924, it famously dismissed crosswords as “a primitive sort of mental exercise” and a “sinful waste,” refusing to publish them while other newspapers did. That stance changed soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when editors recognized the value of crosswords as a welcome distraction from wartime news. Enter Margaret Farrar in 1942, the paper’s first crossword editor, who helped turn the Time‘s puzzle into a daily ritual for millions.
- 3.
There’s a Name for Crossword Puzzle Lovers
Cruciverbalists are people “skillful in creating or solving crossword puzzles,” according to Merriam-Webster. The term began appearing in the 1970s as a way to describe people who regularly tackled or created crosswords. It combines the Latin cruci- (meaning cross) with the English verbalist, someone with a knack for words.
Cruciverbalists even have their own lingo. From cheater squares to bangits, there’s an entire glossary of crossword slang to explore.
- 4.
Types of Crossword Puzzles
Cryptic crossword in The Guardian (UK) newspaper, 2013. Crossword puzzles generally fall into three main types: fill-in, standard, and cryptic. Fill-in crosswords skip clues entirely. You’re given a list of words and have to play Tetris with them, fitting each into the grid based on its length and letter overlaps. Standard crosswords, the classic American style, offer more direct clues—definitions, synonyms, descriptions, and good old fill-in-the-blanks. Cryptic crosswords, popular in England, can be the trickiest. They combine a straightforward definition with wordplay like anagrams, hidden words, and homophones, which together, point to one answer.
- 5.
Crosswords Caused Alarm During WWII
Front page of The Daily Telegraph, May 20, 1944. During World War II, crosswords in The Daily Telegraph (UK) attracted MI5’s attention when they appeared to leak military secrets. Crossword editor Leonard Dawe, also a school headmaster, was interrogated after his August 18, 1942 puzzle included the answer “DIEPPE”—a day before the Allies raided this French port. Though that case was ruled an odd coincidence, fears resurfaced in May 1944 when D-Day code names like “UTAH” appeared in Dawe’s crossword. In the end, the explanation proved to be that Dawe invited crossword suggestions from his students and they had overheard the code words from soldiers at a nearby military camp!
- 6.
Crosswords Launched Simon & Schuster
First cross word puzzle book, published in 1924. N.Y. Periodical. Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/sv87054725/. The crossword puzzle was actually responsible for launching publishing giant Simon & Schuster. As the story goes, Dick Simon’s Aunt Wixie asked if there was a book of puzzles she could buy. Simon, looking to break into publishing with his friend M. Lincoln Schuester, saw an opportunity. The partners approached the New York World’s crossword editors and bought the rights to a selection of puzzles—at $25 each—to publish in book form. They invested their savings into printing 1924’s The Cross Word Puzzle Book but weren’t confident enough to put their names on it, using “The Plaza Publishing Company” instead. By year’s end, over 300,000 books had sold, “Simon & Schuster” went on the next edition, and the pals’ business was on the map.
You can page through an online scan of 1924’s original The Cross Word Puzzle Book at the Internet Archive.
- 7.
The New York Times Sunday Crossword isn’t the Hardest
The New York Times crossword edited by Will Shortz One of the most popular crossword series is published daily by The New York Times; it appears in the paper, is syndicated to over 300 other newspapers and journals, and is available online. Crossword clues get tougher throughout the week—Monday is the easiest, and perhaps surprisingly, Saturday the hardest. Sundays feature a bigger crossword puzzle, but with a midweek level of difficulty. Freelance constructors submit puzzles to crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz and his team. Shortz has held this editorial role since 1993—only the fourth in the paper’s history.
- 8.
Enigmatology: One-of-a-Kind College Degree
Will Shortz at a NYC book signing in 2004 (left); The 2006 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, founded by Shortz in 1978 (right) Will Shortz, The New York Times crossword editor, made up his own college major: enigmatology, or the scientific study of puzzles. He’s the only person known to hold such a degree. After that unique start at Indiana University, Shortz completed a law degree from the University of Virginia. But his passion for puzzles soon won out over the law. He founded major competitions, including the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1978 and two world competitions. In 1987, he became NPR’s Sunday puzzle master, and by 1993, had joined The New York Times. It all adds up to a brilliant career built on wordplay.
