CROSSWORDS: 2010s

Highlights | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | References

Highlights

• 2011: CROSSWORDS and YOU course, Maya's Mix crossword program
• 2013: 100th anniversary of Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", with many commemorative puzzles
• 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019: NYT Super Mega

2010

• iPad and mobile crossword apps; e.g., Crosswords
• Rubicon (TV show): Episode 1: Will Travers, an intelligence analyst at the American Policy Institute (API), spots
  related crossword answers [Java; NYT] in multiple newspapers involving the government, suicides, conspiracies, ...
• Top 10 crosswords in fiction, no 5: Rubicon Guardian; 7/12/2012
• How I Met Your Mother TV series;
  Robots Versus Wrestlers [S5E22], the pseudo-intellectual Ted is thrilled when he discovers at a high society
  cocktail party that one of the guests is Will Shortz, and Ted is burning to ask Shortz about the use of Ulee's Gold
  in the puzzles. This piece of puzzle subculture becomes fodder for the puzzle reference on the show.
  Ted suspects it is due to the combination of vowels, and in an amusing cameo, Shortz confirms Ted's hypothesis.
• A Way With Words (song) (video; 5:49) by Amanda Yesnowitz and Brian Cimmet at ACPT 2010:
  article & lyrics: "I love words. I love words. I love glorious, uproarious, notorious words
  Wouldn't that be natural for someone like me -- A dame whose name goes literally from A to Z."; NYT
• Monday's Crossword (song) by Drew Citron, album Drew Citron; MayasMix @ 68:50
• Crossword (jazz) by Crossover Jazz Trio & Tino Tracanna, album 3 Words; MayasMix @ 03:20
• Crossword (movie): "On a significant day in her life, a lonely woman who finds solace in the daily crossword
  finds that the answers to the clues are all around her. Is it magic, coincidence or something else entirely?"

2011

• "Sacked News of the World staff... buried a host of insults
  directed at Rebekah Brooks in the final paper's crossword.
  Answers included 'deplored', 'tart', 'stench' and 'disaster.'"
  ~15 Fascinating Facts About Crosswords: #14
• CROSSWORDS and YOU (this course) first offered in Ashland and Medford
• Maya's Mix Crossword program on Apr 29 (radio show) on KSKQ-LP 94.9 FM (Ashland);
  Maya's Mix on Facebook; note: "MayasMix @ mm:ss" references are to start times to this program;
  audio no longer publicly available
• OLLI LINK crossword: "An OLLI Olio: Ooh La La" puzzle: interactive, print (Nov 2011)
• Puzzled by People (song) (video; 3:10) by The Streets, album Computers and Blues; MayasMix @ 07:45;
  lyrics: "I'm pretty good at puzzles but puzzled by people / Sometimes you never find the answer
  We never had a crossword (crossed word) / My words got lost and you never heard
  I'm 2 (too) down you're one across the room / Beginning with I and ending in U"
• Mrs Parker & the Vicious Crossword (movie); "Mrs Parker was told by her beau
  that by solving a crossword, which he compiled, she'd know his true feelings.
  One hitch - she's stuck on the last clue, and God isn't helping."
• Crossword poem; Sally Bliumis-Dunn; Art Beat; PBS; 9/19/2011
• King Of The Crosswords (song) (video; 2:57) by David Mead, album Dudes;
  lyrics: "Give him that pen and the New York Times /
  And his hands would start movin' in a blur
  Even without a dictionary he'd be done in five / He's the king of the crosswords"
• The Hour TV series
• BBC's 'The Hour': A Cold War enigma, layered in '50s style
  "the professor had a side hobby of submitting crossword puzzles to newspapers,
  which, when printed, seemed to be delivering coded messages to certain readers";
  WaPo; 8/16/2011

2012

• Red (song) (video; 4:02) by Taylor Swift, album Red;
  lyrics: "Fighting with him was like trying to solve a crossword and realizing there's no right answer"
• The Computer's Next Conquest: Crosswords "Dr.Fill" (AI) at ACPT 2012; NYT; 3/17/2012
• Crossword Puzzle Stirs Controversy in Venezuela Neptali Segovia,
  a veteran crossword writer, is accused of hiding a coded message urging
  the death of President Hugo Chavez's brother; NYT; 5/11/2012
• Crossword poem; Lloyd Schwartz; 12/20/2012
• A.C.P.T. 2012: Inside the Judges' Room 3/17/2012
• 2012 Orca Awards, Nominees annual celebration of creativity in crossword construction and editing

2013

• "In January 2013, the Guardian's Araucaria,...
  who has been writing their crosswords for 50 years, told readers that
  he was dying by saying 'he has 18 down (cancer) of the 19 (oesophagus),
  which is being treated with 13 15 (palliative care)'"
  ~15 Fascinating Facts About Crosswords: #15
• Crossword Maker for Cruciverbalists released iPad
• On Oreo's 101st Birthday, 13 Facts About The Cookie
  That Will Blow Your Mind 3/6/2013
• 100th anniversary of Arthur Wynne's "word-cross"
  -- many commemorative articles and puzzles
• "Word conundrums
  Vertical Horizontal
  O Arthur Wynne!" ~Puzzling Haiku
• Puzzazz: Anniversary Puzzles [list]; Articles; Twas the Nite Before Crosswas [poem]
• 100th Anniversary Roundup! articles, puzzles; 12/26/2013
• Google Doodle: 100th Anniversary of the Crossword Puzzle interactive puzzle by Merl Reagle; 12/21/2013
• 100 Years Later, the Crossword Is Still the King of Puzzles Wired; 12/21/2013
• Happy 100th Birthday to the Crossword Scientific American; SciAm; 12/21/2013
• The Crossword Puzzle Turns 100: The 'King of Crossword' on Its Strange History
  Merl Reagle spills on the strange origins of the puzzle
  -- and his own favorite memories from decades of creating his own clues; 12/21/2013
• Quite a Milestone, as Milestones Go Wordplay blog; NYT; 12/20/2013; .puz; $
• Google Celebrates 100 Years of Crossword Puzzles Slate; 12/20/2013
• The Shape Of Clues To Come: The Crossword At 100 Ben Tausig; The Awl; 12/20/2013
• I Volunteer as Tribute Andy Kravis; .pdf, .puz; 12/20/2013
• What Did We Learn About the NSA This Year?
  crossword centennial puzzle in honor of NSA 'word games'; EFF; 12/20/2013
• A Special Centennial Puzzle .pdf; Orange County Register; David Steinberg; 12/20/2013
• Centennial: puz.pdf, sol.pdf Newsday; Stanley Newman; 12/20/2013
• Up, Up and (when I catch my breath) Away Patrick Merrell; .pdf, .puz; 12/20/2013
• 100 years of crosswords: the first appeared in New York on 21.12.1913
  Arthur Wynne left Liverpool for the US, left farming for journalism and then left millions
  delighting in solving his invention; Guardian; 12/20/2013
• Crossword Puzzles Turn 100: The History Of The Art Form And
  The Professional Standards Of Puzzle Makers 12/20/2013
• Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Crossword with a GWR Puzzle!
  Guiness World Records; 12/19/2013
• Will Shortz on the crossword's 100th anniversary CBC; audio: 13:12; 12/19/2013
• The 100th anniversary of the crossword puzzle with Merl Reagle
  Radio Times; audio: 51:45; 12/19/2013
• 100 Years Of Solvitude: A Reported Crossword Puzzle NPR; 12/19/2013; .pdf, .puz
• The New York World 100th anniversary crossword original crossword publisher; 12/19/2013; puzzle
• Word Up: Youth Fills in the Blanks as Crosswords Turn 100 Finn Vigeland; 12/20/2013
• The Crossword Turns 100 (Across) John Chaneski; AMA theme; 12/21/2013
• Celebrating 100 years of cr_ssw_rds Al Jazeera; Francis Heaney; 12/18/2013; puzzle; solution
• Who invented crosswords?
  Many people did, though Arthur Wynne did more than anyone; Economist; 12/19/2013
• What's a 9-Letter Word for a 100-Year-Old Puzzle? Smithsonian; 12/16/2013
• LA Times solution; 12/12/2013
• The crossword is 100 years old and thriving Toronto Star; 12/6/2013
• "A Winning Combo": a commemorative puzzle by Steve Weyer; interactive, print;
  Puzzle (on right) is a mashup of Wynne's diamond-shaped original (in center), with 4 corner puzzles.
  It could also be thought of as a time capsule with its inner original words and clues (a few with notes
  for solvers of our era); the outer contemporary sections describe the puzzle (who, where, why, when,
  what), along with words/clues that would not have been known to solvers of that era; 3/20/2013
• "Crunch Time" latcrossword, crosswordkathy Reagle; 97th anniversary, featuring OREO; 12/19/2010
• Dad's Crossword by Duane Keiser artwork;
  "I don't think he [Dad] even reads the news anymore in the paper -- he pulls out the crossword and throws the rest away."
• Murder by Meta Kickstarter effort; features 8 meta crosswords
• 2013 Orca Awards annual celebration of creativity in crossword construction and editing

2014

• A Mini History of Our Mini Crossword The Times's little crossword puzzle started out as a big experiment.
  We never expected that the form would find a devoted following all its own; NYT; 3/26/2019
• 'Crosswords make my life': Puzzle innovator celebrates her 100th birthday
  Bernice Gordon; first centenarian to have a grid printed in NYT; rebus pioneer; 1/13/2014
• 2014 Orca Awards: Best Crossword, Gimmick, Freestyle, Sunday-sized,
  Easy, Nominees annual celebration of creativity in crossword construction and editing

2015

• Bernice Gordon, died 1/29/2015
• Merl Reagle, January 5, 1950 - August 22, 2015 prolific, punny cruciverbalist; NYT; 8/22/2015;
  Wikipedia: Merl Reagle
• Brooklyn 99 TV series;
  The Mattress [S3E7], Jake and Amy discuss their relationship with their buttoned-up and intellectual commander,
  Captain Holt. Amy admits that she almost ended their relationship when she discovered that Jake
  was unfamiliar with Will Shortz. Captain Holt is flabbergasted that anyone could be unaware of Shortz,
  and this interchange positions Amy and Captain Holt in positions of intellectual superiority over Jake.
  
  The Puzzle Master [S5E15] (2019) incorporates the New York Times crossword more deeply into the plot when
  Jake and Amy must solve a set of arsons connected to a well-known puzzle author. Will Shortz has a cameo
  as a rival crossword puzzle author, which is a nod to his sense of humor about the puzzle's position in popular culture.
• Crossword Puzzles, Pinball, & Chess origins of three popular games worldwide; 0:30
• "A 15-year-old boy... won the Italian crossword championship in 2015.
  He was the youngest winner in the event's history.
  He defeated 162 other solvers, including four former national champions,
  to win the tournament's gold cup." ~NYT Puzzle Mania, p. 11, 12/17/2017
• 2015 Orca Awards: Best Crossword, Clue and Constructor, Gimmick, Meta,
  Freestyle and Tournament, Sunday-sized, Easy annual celebration of creativity in crossword construction and editing

2016

• NYT Super Mega: 50 x 50, 728-clues; 12/18/2016; clues (.png), answers (.pdf)
• And the Winners Are ... NYT; 1/4/2017
• The story behind The New York Times' largest and most ambitious crossword puzzle
  Verge; 12/18/2016
• Puzzle Mania! Will Shortz's Inside Look podcast: 11:25; special 16 pp. NYT paper-only section:
  Super Mega; Sudoku; Acrostics; Word games; Visual puzzles; NYT; 12/16/2016
• Watch ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Unveil a New (Crossword) Puzzle Format video; 6/7/2016
• A.C.P.T. 2016: Missing Merl Reagle and Going Into the Finals the "MERL" award; 4/3/2016
• 2016 Orca Awards annual celebration of creativity in crossword construction and editing

2017

• The New York Times Celebrates 75 Years of Crosswords a brief history; NYT; 2/14/2017
• NYT Super Mega: 53 x 53; 12/17/2017; puzzle (.pdf) ; answers (.pdf)
• And the Winners Are: Part I: The Winners of the 2017 Super Mega Crossword Contest;
  Part II: Report on the 'Hidden Contest' NYT; 1/5/2018
• Crosswords with Friends from Zynga
• The Riddle of the Sphinx (Inside No. 9) TV; Wikipedia;
  Nina is a young woman seeking answers to the Varsity cryptic crossword;
  Professor Nigel Squires pseudonymously sets the crossword using the name Sphinx.
• The Year in Crosswords twilliamcampbell; 2017
• 2017 Orca Awards annual celebration of creativity in crossword construction and editing

2018

• Forever comedy series; Fred Armisen’s character is frequently seen working
  on crossword puzzles, although he's not particularly good at them
• And the Winners Are, Part 1: Report on the 'Super Mega' Crossword Contest
  50 x 50 in 12/2018; spoiler alert; solution; NYT; 1/11/2019
• SuperMega includes link to .jpz file; 12/16/2018
• Introducing The New Yorker Crossword Puzzle 4/30/2018
• The Crossword Mentality in Modern Literature and Culture by Adrienne Raphel.
  .pdf; Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences;
  2020 book: Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords
  and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them
• The Puzzlemaker: Murder Is Only A Word Away by Brian Christopher;
  After 10 years' service as a cryptographer with MI6 during the cold war, the extremely shy and reclusive George Withers
  becomes editor and compiler of the Sunday Times crossword. 30 years later and now in his 60's, an old MI6 colleague
  asks him to place a code within the Sunday Times cryptic crossword puzzle. George is totally unaware the code is a catalyst
  for a number of gruesome deaths around the world. The Serbian father of one of the victims discovers the puzzlemaker
  had something to do with his son's death, and goes on the hunt. Georges' quiet world of puzzles changes into a nightmare
  hunt through the streets of London. While on the run he tries to decipher that last fatal cryptic code in the puzzle
  he got from his friend, who has now disappeared, and hopefully save his own life and others near to him.
• Crossword Two people have a difficult time talking about sensitive subjects and a crossword puzzle
  seemingly with a mind of its own leads the couple down the path of discovery; 0:09
• The Year in Crosswords twilliamcampbell; 2018
• 2018 Orca Awards annual celebration of creativity in crossword construction and editing

2019

• NYT Puzzle Mania, incl. Super Mega 50 x 50; 12/15/2019
• And the Winners Are: The 'Super Mega' Crossword Contest NYT; 1/11/2020
• And the Winner of the 2019 A.C.P.T. Is ... NYT; 3/24/2019
• The New York Times Tops 5 Million Subscriptions as Ads Decline
  in 2019, 3.5 million digital-only news customers, ~1M crosswords and cooking; NYT; 2/6/2020
• The Crossword Mysteries: Hallmark Mysteries (TV series); a brilliant crossword puzzle editor (Chabert)
  finds her life turned upside-down when she is pulled into a police investigation after several of the clues in her
  recent puzzles are linked to unsolved crimes. Proving her innocence means leaving the comfort of her sheltered world
  and working with a tough police detective (Elliott), puzzling through clues together in order to crack the case,
  as the two are fish out of water in each other's worlds.
• Lacey Chabert launches a new Hallmark mystery movie series executive producer: Will Shortz; 3/6/2019
• Crossword Mysteries: A Puzzle to Die For A crossword is found on the murdered owner of a burglarized art gallery.
  Tess, a Sentinel crossword editor, finds clues in crosswords. Eventually, detective Logan accepts her clues and help.
  Tess is also running a crossword tournament; 3/10/2019
• Crossword Mysteries: Proposing Murder Tess and Logan are back solving mysteries as an old friend of Tess's
  is found dead just before he was going to propose to his girlfriend. Codes, cyphers, and crossword puzzles
  all lend a hand at finding the killer as Tess and Logan try to find a way to work together to decipher the clues; 10/13/2019
• How Crosswords Came of Age in the 2010s
  discussion of increased diversity of constructors in gender & age;
  Ten of the decade’s favorite entries speak to the color and comprehensiveness of modern puzzles:
  MEME, SIM, SEXT, TWEET, N.L. EAST, NICKI MINAJ, LGBT, LOL, BARISTA, EDIBLE UNDERWEAR;
  Smithsonian; 12/30/2019
• The Decade in New York Times Crosswords and Games
  new people, diversity, crossword community, crossword formats, other games;
  Shortz's contribution of pop culture and vernacular made the Crossword more interesting;
  "they require less dictionary-type knowledge and more creative thinking;"
  "embrace of vernacular-- I love the conversational long answers.The clues and answers are often so timely.
  I love being up-to-date with the latest slang and rap stars. I have a lot more trivia in my head";
  Increases in pay rates for puzzle makers; Technological Advances Make the Puzzle More Accessible; NYT; 12/27/2019
• The Year in Crosswords twilliamcampbell; 2019
• 2019 Orca Awards annual celebration of creativity in crossword construction and editing

References

• The Year in Crosswords: 2017, 2018, 2019
• Wikipedia: 2010s
• The Decades That Invented the Future: Part 12: The Present and Beyond
  Discovery of Earth's Twin planet; Autonomous Cars; Wearable Technology; Growing the Visual Funnel (optics);
  Wide-Area Surveillance; AR (augmented reality), 3D printing; device convergence; Internet Memes; Kim Dotcom;
  Prosthetic Athletics; "Pluto Switch" (specialized hardware); Healthcare; Wired; 2/8/2013