Crossword Puzzles Turn 100: The History Of The Art Form And The Professional Standards Of Puzzle Makers

The weekend before Christmas will also be the 100^th anniversary of the crossword puzzle. More specifically (and also less specifically), Saturday will be approximately the 90^th anniversary of when the word game became popular, the Atlantic reported.

Arthur Wynne published the first one on Dec. 21, 1913 in the New York World, a major New York City newspaper from 1860 to 1931. Ten years later, the first crossword puzzle book was published, instantly becoming a best seller and eventually one of the top ten selling nonfiction books for the years 1924 and 1925, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Called a "word-cross" and organized by numbers instead of down and across in Wynne's original diamond pattern, the discipline has remained relatively unchanged.

The Atlantic's fascinating interview with Deb Amlen, operator of the New York Times' crossword blog, revealed how puzzles are constructed, the standards followed by professionals, the influence of technology, and how a single person could potentially find romance just by asking for a little help.

Amlen's answers were long, detailed, and portrayed the word game as an art form. She spoke about the delicate balance between software and manually fitting in words.

"Personally, I don't like puzzles that rely on the pre-programmed words and phrases and seem to be just churned out, although I know it exists," Amlen said. "You can hit a button that says 'autofill,' and if the grid is fillable, it fills. But that doesn't make it a good puzzle. And it's very obvious when someone has done that."

Relying exclusively on software, according to Amlen, produces words that may not be common, interesting, or relevant to puzzle solvers. Auto-fillers also make it difficult to abide by a theme, establish a trademark style, or avoid cardinal sins of the profession, such as too many abbreviations or fill in phrases such as "in the". ("Like the 'farmer _ _ dell,'" according to Amlen.)

As for crossword's role in pick up attempts, Amlen only used that as a counter example against the activity's reputation as a solitary pursuit. Still, it's worth a shot.