Crossword Puzzles

Research Paper # 102843

Anthropology > Cultural
English > Misc
History

Crossword Puzzles

This paper examines the nearly 100 year old history and popularity of the crossword puzzle.

955 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses that crossword puzzles can be found in almost every newspaper in almost every country and in magazines and book dedicated solely to these puzzles. The author points out that crossword puzzles have inspired other gridded word games, like acrostic, cryptic and diagram-less puzzles, and board games, such as Scrabble. The paper relates that the predecessors of today's crossword puzzles is the 19th century British acrostic puzzle designed specifically for children, such as "Lewis Carroll's doublet puzzle". The author relates that the first known word square, called the Sator Square, was carved in stone and dates from the first century A.D. in Pompeii. The paper concludes that, although crossword puzzles provide a form of constructive entertainment during leisure hours, some people claim that puzzle solving is a human instinct.

From the Paper:

"Puzzles have been around since the beginning of history. "One of the earliest surviving manuscripts of human civilization is, as a matter of fact, a collection of mathematical puzzles", known as the Rhind Papyrus. In the ancient world, the first puzzles were in physical form, or labyrinths. According to Denasi (2002), "the biblical kings Solomon and Hiram were renewed for organizing riddle contests." The word 'puzzle' probably derives from the Middle English word poselet, meaning bewildered or confused. The crossword is the most common variety of word puzzle in the world, yet it is one of the few types of puzzles that do not have an ancient origin."

Sample of Sources Used:

Millington, P. Crossword Puzzles: Their History and Their Cult. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc., 1974
Danesi, M. The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002
"Crossword" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Feb. 2007. 20. march 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossword_puzzle