First crossword
Punch cartoon mocking cross-word mania
December 21st 1913: First crossword puzzle
On this day in 1913, the New York World published the first modern crossword puzzle, devised by English journalist Arthur Wynne. While various forms of crossword had appeared in print as early as the eighteenth-century, Wynne’s design is the closest to the modern crossword, and launched the popularity of the puzzle. Wynne was an onion farmer in England before he became a journalist and emigrated to America, eventually becoming editor of the New York World. Seeking to fill a spare space in the Christmas edition of the paper, Wynne designed a puzzle which he called a ‘word-cross’. The puzzles continued in the paper, and steadily became more popular, leading Simon and Schuster to publish the first book of crosswords in 1924. Crosswords arrived in British newspapers in the 1920s, prompting what Punch magazine jokingly called a ‘cross-word mania’. Some sceptics in newspapers scorned what they saw as childish games rather than genuine intellectual challenges, and hoped that crosswords were a short-lived fad. They were, however, sorely mistaken, for crosswords remained a popular puzzle. Indeed, during the Second World War the crosswords in The Daily Telegraph caused a national security alarm when codenames related to the D-Day plans appeared as solutions. Crosswords continue to be popular, and have since evolved into more difficult incarnations, including the cryptic crossword.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário