Crossword Puzzle - The Most Common Word Puzzle in the World

The Crossword Puzzle is the most common word puzzle in the world but do you know where they came from?

The first "word cross" puzzle is credited to Arthur Wayne, who published his puzzle in the New York World on December 21, 1913. This puzzle, which can be seen here, contained most of the features as we know them today. It wasn't until later that the name was changed to "crossword puzzle."

As Wayne’s puzzle gained popularity, they became a weekly feature in the New York World. The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Simon and Schuster in 1924 and became an instant hit. In 1930, the term “crossword” first appeared in a dictionary.

Today, crossword puzzles appear in almost every published paper in the world. The most prestigious (and among the hardest to solve) are the puzzles published in the New York Times.

A popular variation of Wayne’s crossword puzzle is the British cryptic crossword which was first published in New York magazine in 1968. Until 2006, Atlantic Monthly published a cryptic crossword “puzzler” by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, which combined cryptic clues with clever variations on the construction of the puzzle itself. The intent of the puzzle authors was to entertain with novelty that resulted in no two puzzles alike.



A more complete history of the crossword puzzle, as well as a reprint of that very first crossword, can be found at a page maintained by New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz here.