The first competitor completed the puzzle in 6 minutes 3.5 seconds, but was disqualified as he spelled a word incorrectly, while the winner took 7 minutes 57.5 seconds and was rewarded with a cigarette lighter. On 3 December 1941 after readers started writing to the paper to share their speeds at solving the cryptic crossword, The Daily Telegraph took up the challenge of seeing who could beat the time of 12 minutes and ran a competition.This resulted in 25 competitors being invited to the paper's newsroom to test their speeds. Roles in World War II – deliberate or accidental?
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The then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, was known to enjoy doing crosswords, as does the Queen – whose cipher ER is a frequent allusion in cryptic clues.īy the 1930s cryptic crosswords had become more sophisticated in design: clues can be full or partial anagrams, double meanings and clues leading to further words. The first crossword answers were just definitions and similes the first cryptic crossword was published on 30th July 1925 by The Daily Telegraph. This started a crossword craze during which even dresses and shirts were made of crossword puzzle material – to this day, you can buy toilet rolls impressed with crosswords for solving. The first British crossword was published in Pearson's Magazine in February 1922, and these versions were deemed harder than their American counterparts. The New York Times's crossword editor said: "Solving crosswords eliminates worries, they make you a calmer and more focused person". Recreation of Arthur Wynne's original crossword puzzle from December 21, 1913ĭuring the early 1920s other newspapers picked up on the pastime. His first crossword, or 'Word-Cross' as he called it, did not look like the present ones – it was diamond shaped with no black squares. It was invented by British journalist Arthur Wynne, who emigrated to the United States in the 1890’s. The first crossword was published on the 'Fun' page of The New York World on 21 December 1913. People do crosswords for many reasons – as a challenge to keep the mind active, to relax after a busy day or while commuting to work but how much do we really know about these brainteasers - and their enduring popularity? While The Lightbox is closed to the public and many of us are confined to our own homes, we've recruited the help of Rosemary and Richard, two of our beloved Heritage volunteers, to discuss topics relating to the home.Īccording to a surveyconducted by YouGov for magazine app Readly, Britons have downloaded 125% more online crosswords since lockdown began. "The nice thing about doing a crossword is you know there is a solution." – Stephen Sondheim
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