The New York Times
Still Time to Make Things Right
5 min · · A woman takes puzzle-solving lessons learned from her mother into adulthood. · Shared by 81, including Jane, Liv 😷
paw.princeton.edu
Crossword Constructors Are Mostly Male. Here’s How We Fix That.
3 min · · I know I’m not alone among PAW readers in being a regular solver of crosswords, although I suspect I solve more of them than almost all readers of this magazine — except Dan Feyer ’99, who · Shared by 78, including Liv 😷, Jane
eve.substack.com
In a Messy World, Word Games Are Neat
2 min · · Things are more chaotic than ever, but the crossword puzzle is elegant and finite. As I methodically fill in the blank squares with letters, tapping into the well of knowledge I’ve acquired from every… · Shared by 87, including Jane
The Paris Review
A Brief History of Word Games
8 min · · Ever since we’ve had language, we’ve played games with words. · Shared by 336, including Christian Surchi, Esther Schindler, Liv 😷, Jane
The Atlantic
The Hidden Bigotry of Crosswords
6 min · · The popular puzzles are largely written and edited by older white men, who dictate what makes it into the grid—and what is kept out. · Shared by 19, including Jane, Christina Hoff Sommers
The New York Times
Here’s Looking at You, Grid: A History of Crosswords and Their Fans
5 min · · In “Thinking Inside the Box,” Adrienne Raphel offers a cultural and personal history of America’s favorite word puzzle. · Shared by 63, including Jane
The Washington Post
Puzzling over language: A computational linguistics researcher crafts a crossword for Johns Hopkins
· A graduate student in cognitive science at Johns Hopkins University helped the school create an unexpected holiday thank-you message. · Shared by 8, including Jane
The New York Times
How to Make a Crossword Puzzle
10 min · · In Part 1 of this Wordplay series, two New York Times constructors, Ben Tausig and Finn Vigeland, demystify the process of developing a theme set. · Shared by 14, including Joe Germuska, Jane, Merkstatt@troet.cafe 📯
The Sydney Morning Herald
Lunch with David Astle: How he creates his notoriously tricky crosswords
8 min · · Australia's best-known crossword compiler, word nerd and riddle fiend has loved words since he was a child, since before he could read. · Shared by 9, including Jane, Liv 😷
Nieman Lab
Solving the crossword puzzle: Rebuilding a print habit on digital devices » Nieman Journalism Lab
5 min · · Shared by 11, including Jane, Esther Schindler
The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand
Study reveals what it takes to become a cryptic crossword expert
5 min · · Shared by 5, including Jane
The New Yorker
How Crosswords Put Your Brain Into Hyperdrive
2 min · · The idiosyncratic logic of a puzzle forces the brain to stop and undo its underlying assumptions, creating a different kind of connection that makes every word pop out afresh. · Shared by 8, including Jane
The New Yorker
The Woman Behind the Crossword-Puzzle Craze
5 min · · Margaret Farrar is probably the most important person in the world of the crossword puzzle. · Shared by 7, including Jane
The New York Times
What 74 Years of Crossword History Says About the Language We Use
13+ min · · The world may have become more globalized, but the venerable puzzle now relies less on international words and place names. · Shared by 8, including Jane
j-source.ca
Local newspaper crossword at a cross paths
6 min · · The Peterborough Examiner now has two crosswords to offset the loss of the puzzle they had through Postmedia.Read More Continue Reading Local newspaper crossword at a cross paths · Shared by 5, including Jane
The New York Times
Will Shortz: A Profile of a Lifelong Puzzle Master
8 min · · The New York Times’s crossword editor discovered his interest in puzzles as a child. Now he counts at least one former president among his fans. · Shared by 6, including Jane