CROSSWORDS: Why Do We Solve Puzzles?

Summary | Why Crosswords During a Pandemic? |
Quotes | References: General, Covid


existential
"Existentialist Crossword Puzzle. No clues.
No correct answers. No hope of ever solving puzzle.
Meaningless. Just like life itself."

by LittleRoamingChief is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Summary

  • Humans find meaning and inspiration in
  • being puzzled and curious
  • making connections
  • finding and solving patterns and problems
  • filling in the blanks
  • creating order in the world and universe
  • They're popular -- "more than 50 million Americans solve crosswords at least occasionally,
    according to a recent survey by Dean Olsher commissioned for his book
    From Square One: A Meditation, With Digressions, on Crosswords"
    ~Talk to The Times: Crossword Editor Will Shortz, NYT, 7/19/2009

Why Crosswords During a Pandemic?

  • learn new vocabulary: covid, coronavirus, pandemic, distancing, mask shaming, etc.
  • many solve crosswords alone: for fun, distraction
    -- or together: for comfort, companionship; Refs: Covid

Every day, the print edition of The Times is divided into multiple sections.
For some, though, there are really only two parts: the crossword and everything else.

"People feel stressed — we all feel stressed — and puzzles are a great way to relieve that.
They make you feel better. You feel in control of life when you’ve finished a good puzzle.”
~Will Shortz, who has been the crossword editor at The Times since 1993.

“There are very few things in life these days where you can find the answers.”
~Nancy Coughlin

The puzzle page will not even contain the word 'coronavirus'
-- to be uplifting and to divert attention from the pandemic.
This will be the one coronavirus-free part of the newspaper" ~Will Shortz

Even if you don’t end up solving a puzzle, the consistency of receiving a distraction
every day can be reassuring in itself. The puzzle expansion isn't the first time the
newspaper is adding games as a response to somber news. The [NYT] crossword was
introduced in February 1942, months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
~NYT: More Puzzles to Pass the Time

Quotes

References

Covid, Pandemic