Book Read Free

The Crossword Century

Page 15

by Alan Connor


  The Long Green Gaze: A Crossword Puzzle Mystery (Fuller), 137

  Lord of the Rings trilogy (Tolkien), 34

  Los Angeles Reader (newspaper), 141

  Lottery, pay-to-play puzzles as, 17–18

  Love of language, crossword puzzles as, ix

  Mackail, Denis, 158

  Made-up language, 7, 34

  Mailer, Norman, 161

  Maleska, Eugene T., 33, 46, 56–58, 65

  Manley, Don, 44–45, 74

  Margaret (princess of England), 161

  Marital relationships, crosswording and, 52–53, 109–112, 116–117

  “Marrowskies” (aka spoonerisms), 69–70

  Mathers, Edward Powys (“Torquemada”), 73, 81, 134

  Mazes (puzzle format), 4, 21

  McElveen, George (Rev.), 14

  McGraw, Phil, 119

  Mental health, crosswording and, 97–102

  Merrell, Patrick, 65

  MI5 (British intelligence service), 129–131

  Miles, Josie, 14

  Millington, Roger, 176

  Milne, A. A., 160

  Mnemonics, 132. See also Acrostics (puzzle)

  Möbius strip, 169

  Monk (constructor), 34

  Moor, Edward, 48

  Moseley, David (“Gordius”), 57, 58

  Mudd (constructor), 83, 86

  Murder Across and Down (Resnicow), 137

  “Murder Mystery” (puzzle), 135

  Mussina, Mike, 103–104, 115

  Nabokov, Vladimir, 24

  Nader, Ralph, 63–64

  Names, ambiguity of misleading, 41–42

  The Nation, 88

  National Security Agency (NSA), 125

  The Neighbor’s Home Mail (newspaper), 162–164

  Newman, Stanley, 56–57, 122, 177

  Newsday (magazine), 56

  News of the World (newspaper), 17, 31

  New Wave crosswording (“the Newman ripple”), 56–57

  New York Post (newspaper), 4

  The New York Times

  cryptic puzzles, 88

  Eugene Maleska as puzzle editor, 33, 46, 56–58, 65

  maintaining good taste, 148–149

  Margaret Farrar as first crossword editor, 11

  overlapping puzzle with The Simpsons, 139–144

  puzzles expressing political views, 63–65

  puzzles using slang, 58–59

  reporting on faked Spoonerisms, 70

  Will Shortz as puzzle editor, 57, 107, 139–141, 146–147

  Will Weng as puzzle editor, 95

  Wordplay blog, 177

  New York World (newspaper), 4–5, 8–9, 11, 162

  Ninas, 30–35

  Notabili (constructor), 83

  Nottingham Evening Post, 16

  Obesity, crosswording and, 100

  Oddities and Curiosities of Words and Literature (Bombaugh), 177

  Old Testament (The Bible), 25

  Olsher, Dean, 176

  O’Malley, Christine, 176

  Orlando (constructor), 82, 85, 166

  Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle), 71

  The Oxford Book of English Verse, 111

  The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 70

  Oxford Guide To World Games (Augarde), 176

  Palindrome, 26–28

  Papalia & His Orchestra (musical group), 14

  Paul (constructor), 74, 81, 85, 87

  Pay-to-play puzzles, 17–18

  Pearson’s Magazine, 14

  “Penny-drop” moment of clarity, x, 98–99, 143, 151

  The People (newspaper), 17

  Perception (journal), 99

  Perec, Georges, 45, 53, 134

  Perkin, John, 57

  Perot, Ross, 63–64

  Personality, crosswording and, 172–173

  Petherbridge, Margaret. See Farrar, Margaret Petherbridge

  Plaza Publishing (alias for Simon & Schuster), 8

  Poe, Edgar Allen, 24, 134

  Politics, crosswording and, 31–32, 63–65, 87–88

  Predictions, crosswords making, 63–67

  “Predictors of Crossword Puzzle Proficiency and Moderators of Age-Cognition Relations” (Hambrick), 100

  Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (Balfour), 175–176

  Private Eye (magazine), 149

  Prostitution, crosswording and, 87–88

  Puck (constructor), 83

  Pulitzer, Joseph, 4

  The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life (Danesi), 177

  Puzzles of 1925 (musical revue), 13

  Quigley, Brendan Emmett, 32, 58, 79, 114

  Quixote (constructor), 85

  Rathvon, Henry, 116–117

  Reagan, Ronald, 65

  Reagle, Merl, 141–144, 148–149

  Rebuse (puzzle format), 4

  Renault, Gilbert (aka Colonel Rémy), 72, 177

  Resnicow, Herbert, 137

  Reversal clues, 84–85

  Rhombus (puzzle format), 12

  Ritchie, A. F. (“Arfit”), 37–39, 83–84, 177

  Robin, Christopher, 160

  Romano, Marc, 104, 107, 113–114

  Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel, 125–126

  Rubicon (TV series), 142

  Rubik’s Cube, 169

  Run-DMC (music group), 59

  Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook (Silverstein), 68

  Sanders, Al, 104, 106

  Sartre, Jean-Paul, 126

  Sayer, Dorothy L., 136–137

  Schuster, M. Lincoln (“Max”), 8

  Schwed, Peter, 177

  Secret messages. See Espionage; Hidden answers/messages

  Sedgewick, Stanley, 128

  75 Years of the Times Crossword, 175

  Sex, crosswording and, 87, 150

  Shirley (Brontë), 21

  Shortz, Will, 57, 63, 64–65, 107, 139–141, 146–147

  Sideways (movie), 109

  The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (Dexter), 138

  Silverstein, Shel, 68

  Simon & Schuster, Inc. (publisher), 8–10

  Simon, Richard L. (“Dick”), 8

  The Simpsons (TV series), x, 6–7, 139–144

  Sinatra, Frank, 160

  A Six-Letter Word for Death (Moyes), 137

  Smith, Michael, 177

  Solutionists, 11

  Something Fishy (Wodehouse), 159

  Sondheim, Stephen, 76–78, 125, 135

  Soundalike clues, 85–86

  “Sound Thinking” (game), 167

  The Spectator (newspaper), 18

  Spielmann, Marion, 24

  Spooner, Archibald [“the Spoo”] (Rev.), 69–70, 74

  Spoonergram, 73–74

  Spoonerisms, 7, 68–75

  Spying. See Espionage

  From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords (Olsher), 176

  Squires, Roger (“Rufus”), 80, 87, 123

  Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park (Smith), 177

  Stenography, 8

  Stewart, Jon, 103–104

  “Sticky Wickets at Blandings” (Wodehouse), 158

  Still Life (stage play), 109

  The Strand Magazine, 155

  The Strange World of the Crossword (Millington), 176

  Sudokus, 51, 100, 101, 167

  Suffolk Words and Phrases: or, An Attempt to Collect the Lingual Localisms of That County (Moor), 48

  Sugarhill Gang (music group), 59

  Summer Moonshine (Wodehouse), 153–154

  Sunday Graphic (newspaper), 17

  The Swimming-Pool Library (Hollinghurst), 95

&nb
sp; Sybil (Erythraean prophetess), 24

  Synonyms, 15–16, 51, 58, 85–86, 93, 101, 121

  Tabourot, Étienne, 26

  Tamsworth Herald, 15

  Tausig, Ben, 177

  Taylor, A. J. P., 134

  Teamwork/team spirit, crosswording and, 114–116

  Technology, crosswording and

  about future of, 164–168

  crossword construction, 121–124

  crossword solving, 119–121

  digital online puzzles, 106

  multi-dimensional formats, 169–171

  replacement of print, 168–169

  sudoku-solving, 118–119

  wartime code-breaking, 128–129

  “Telegraph Six,” 123

  Telekinesis puzzle, 62, 66, 178

  “The Riddler: Meet the Marquis de Sade of the Puzzle World” (Jerz), 177

  With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill (Hall), 137

  Times Crossword Championship, 34, 104–105, 150

  Times for the Times (crossword blog), 175

  Timeshift: How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword (film documentary), 177

  “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (Borges), 55

  Tolkien, J. R. R., 34

  The Torquemada Puzzle Book (Mathers), 73

  Tournaments and Championships

  American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, 74–75, 103–104, 106–108, 119–121

  “Citywide Crossword Tournament,” 140

  Times Crossword Championship, 34, 104–105, 150

  U.S. Open Crossword Puzzle Championship, 167

  Translations

  differing letter counts, 52–55

  multiple meanings of English words, 49–51

  “The Truth About George” (Wodehouse), 155

  Turning the Pages: An Insider’s Story of Simon & Schuster 1924–1984 (Schwed), 177

  The Two Ronnies (TV show), 73

  U.S. Open Crossword Puzzle Championship, 167

  “The Vane Sisters” (Nabokov), 24

  Veltman, Noah, 43–44

  The Victorians (Wilson), 134

  Victoria (queen of England), 22–23

  Virgilius (constructor), 81

  Vowels

  as nicknames, slang, and formulas, 58

  words starting and ending with, 43–44, 46

  words without, 47

  The Wall Street Journal, 88

  Weng, Will, 95

  Westbrook, Eric, 168–169

  West Side Story (Broadway musical), 76

  The West Wing (TV series), x, 52–53, 146

  Wheen, Francis, 149

  White, F. D., 11

  Whodunit mystery novels, crosswords and, 133–138

  Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (Christie), 136

  Wilson, A. N., 134

  Wodehouse, P. G. (“Plum”), 46, 148, 153–159

  Woolf, Virginia, 77

  “Word-Cross,” 7, 28, 162

  Word diamond (puzzle format), 28

  Wordplay (film documentary), 103–104, 106, 115, 139, 176

  Wordplay (New York Times blog), 141–142, 177

  Word search (puzzle format), 4, 51

  Word square (puzzle format), 4–6, 27–29

  Workshop of Potential Literature (Oulipo), 71

  The World (newspaper), 4–5, 8–9, 11, 162

  World War I, 20, 127

  World War II, 125–131, 157–158

  Wynne, Arthur

  about origins of “Word-Cross,” 3–7, 28, 162

  failure to patent idea, 11–12

  solution to first puzzle, 178

  Yale University, 14

  The Year of Magical Thinking (Didion), 62

  You Have the Right to Remain Puzzled (Hall), 137

  ACROSS

  1. TIMES (items anag.) 4. CHAMBERS (2 defs.) 8. SEGA (ages rev.) 9. TORQUE + MAD + At 10. PALIN + D + ROME 11. N + IN + A (& lit.) 12. RI(N)SE 14. B + LETCH + LE + Y 17. pUN(HIT)CHED 20. WYNNE (hom.) 21. ME + ET 23. WO(RDSQUA)RE (R + squad anag.) 26. WILL SHORTZ (shill warts spoonerism) 27. E + BBS 28. AT RANDOM (mandator anag.) 29. S + LICK

  DOWN

  1. sT(HEN)ATION 2. MI + A + MI 3. SATED (first and last letter swap in DATES) 4. CARROLL (hom.) 5. AC(UTES)T 6. BIMONTHLY (BLT, hominy anag.) 7. RAD + ON 13. SC(INT)ILLA 14. BlAH 15. bEND 16. ERNO RUBIK (I broke urn anag.) 18. CrOW(SHE)D 19. EARDRUM (murder a anag.) 22. EDICT (cited anag.) 24. SeIZES 25. UTERI (hid.)

 

 

 


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