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?"

OLLI crossword course2011

2012

300 1st crossword
First crossword puzzle, created by Arthur Wynne,
published in the New York World on December 21, 1913;
this re-creation uses different font and
fixes spelling in labels 4–5 and 9–25;
public domain via Wikimedia Commons

2013

2014

reagle
Merl Reagle by Michaelblake1,
CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons

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...
  • 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

supermega2016

2017

2018

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