THE PUZZLE MAKERS

WHAT WERE LEISURELY BREAKFASTS AND TRAIN JOURNEYS BEFORE THE INVENTION OF THE CROSSWORD? MEET THE WOMEN WHO MADE THE PUZZLE INTO A PHENOMENON

Words: ANNA SHECHTMAN

BRIT Vs US CROSSWORDS Arthur Wynne, the crossword's inventor, was British, though migrated to the States in the late 19th century. Early clues were mostly definitional. However, in 1925, The Daily Telegraph published the first 'cryptic' crossword (and then had an almost unbroken lineage of female crossword editors until 2009). Each cryptic clue has a logic that directs you to the type of wordplay required to discover its solution: such as anagrams, inversions, deletions and homophones. These are called 'British crosswords' to differentiate them from US crosswords, which can contain a mix of related definitions, word play and trivia. The history of the crossword is indebted to women – as constructors, editors, solvers and even polemicists. Mrs M.B. Wood can claim the first crossword ever published under a byline, in 1914. In…

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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, July 2024

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