Crosswords, Broken Down By a Professional
Will Shortz, the puzzle mastermind behind the NY Times Crossword Puzzle, is revealing his strategies to the Atlantic. He goes through the whole process—fishing the right crossword from the submission...
View ArticleThe King of the Word Nerds
Via Longform.org, a must-read ten-year-old New Yorker piece on the rarefied world of elite crossword-puzzle solvers.Warning: unless you are mentioned by name in the article, you will probably have to...
View ArticleWhat’s a 5-Letter Word for “Sexism”?
Months ago, we blogged about a mind-blowing New Yorker story on the crazy world of high-level crossword puzzle competitions.For crossword coverage that isn’t multiple years old, check out this Hairpin...
View ArticleThe Crossword Puzzle Turns 100
Word nerds, it’s time for a celebration: the crossword puzzle turned 100 years old over the weekend.See if you can solve the first one ever published—it was shaped like a diamond and called a...
View ArticleA Puzzling Gender Gap
When I was twenty, I submitted a puzzle that [Will Shortz] rejected. He cited MALE GAZE among the entries he found unworthy of publication. I don’t doubt that a woman or a younger editor might have...
View ArticleOn Crossword Puzzles and Writing
Over at The Millions, author Christopher J. Yates discusses his affinity for crossword puzzles and how it affects his use of language in his writing:It feels to me that staring at the blank page is a...
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