CROSSWORDS: 1910s

Highlights | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 |
References: General, Oreo

Two Oreos
Two Oreo Cookies by Evan-Amos
public domain from Wikimedia Commons

Highlights

  • 1913: Wynne's "FUN Word-Cross" appears in New York World
  • 1916: cross-word in Pittsburgh Press; 1917: Boston Globe

1912

  • Oreo introduced by National Biscuit Company (Nabisco); 3/6/1912
  • OREO: popular vowel-rich, crossword 'filling' with same color scheme
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

1913

  • "FUN's Word-Cross Puzzle" (Sun, 12/21/1913) by Arthur Wynne
    in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World
  • The only directions:...
  • 33-34 clue: Aromatic plant (4 letters)=
  • N-8 clue: A fist (4 letters; 1 letter is N)=
  • 10-18 clue: The fibre of the gomuti palm (3 letters)=
  • "Four weeks after the puzzle first appeared,...
  • "Wynne asked The World to pay to patent the crossword,...
  • Wynne's 1st puzzle web version; 12/21/1913
  • Wynne's 2nd puzzle $; .pdf; NYT; 12/28/1913
  • National Crossword Day is Dec 21st
  • Jeopardy: Clues from the 1st Crossword video: 0:56; 6/8/2021
  • Word Cross Puzzle Morphs to Crossword Success US Copyright Office; .pdf; 4/2015
  • Crossword centennial: 2013 many articles & puzzles
  • Crossword inventor honored with puzzling Google doodle 12/20/2013
  • History of the Crossword Puzzle | Illuminating Moments in American History
    video: 2:13; How did Arthur Wynne go from musician and journalist to inventing crossword puzzles? 12/20/2013
  • Searching for the crossword inventor: a Clearwater connection 11/1/2013
  • Can You Solve the World's First Crossword Puzzle?
  • "Write a history of crosswords in the style of a conspiracy theorist." by ChatGPT (AI chatbot)
    "All right, here goes: The history of crosswords is a shadowy one, full of intrigue and deceit.
    It all began with a man named Arthur Wynne, who worked as a journalist for the New York World newspaper.
    But little did the world know, Wynne was not who he seemed. He was actually a secret agent,
    working for a shadowy organization that sought to control the masses through the use of mind-altering puzzles.
    In December of 1913, Wynne unveiled his latest creation: the 'word-cross' puzzle. It was published in the
    Sunday edition of the New York World, and it quickly became a sensation. But all was not as it seemed.
    Hidden within the puzzle were subliminal messages, designed to brainwash the unsuspecting public.
    The crossword craze only grew from there, with other newspapers jumping on the bandwagon and publishing
    their own versions of the puzzle. But make no mistake -- these were not mere games." more
  • "The first known crossword puzzle was published in The New York World in 1913.
    It was constructed by Arthur Wynne, a British-born editor, who called it 'Word-Cross.'
    The puzzle’s grid was shaped like a hollow diamond and had some unchecked squares;
    that is, some letters were part of a word in only one direction and not both.
    The first Across entry already had three letters written in the squares: F-U-N.
    The puzzle format became a regular feature in the 'Fun' section of the paper.
    At some point, an illustrator made a typesetting error and published the puzzle
    with the title 'Cross-Word.' The name stuck!

    Crosswords became increasingly popular in the early 1920s, but there weren’t many
    standardized rules. For instance, some puzzles had black squares, while others
    just had irregular shapes. Some had all-over interlock, while others had a grid
    that was divided into different sections by black squares. In the mid-1920s,
    the Amateur Cross Word Puzzle League of America worked to standardize crossword
    puzzles, making many of the rules that we still follow today.

    In 1942, Margaret Farrar became the first editor of the New York Times Crossword.
    She had worked with Wynne as a proofreader for The New York World and went on
    to edit its puzzles as well as puzzles for Simon & Schuster puzzle books.
    Over the years as an editor, Farrar ended up playing a huge role in the
    standardization of crossword puzzles. She required grids to be square in shape,
    with symmetrically placed blocks. She also banned two-letter words, specifying
    that all entries be at least three letters long. While Wynne is credited with
    the invention of the crossword puzzle, Farrar is a major figure who helped shape
    the 'Word-Cross' into the crossword puzzles we solve today."
    ~Christina Iverson, Easy Mode newsletter, 4/12/2024

1914

  • After constructing the World's first seven crosswords himself, Wynne solicited submissions
    from his readers. In February, Mrs. M. B. Wood became the first constructor given a byline.
  • Ambrose Bierce dies: journalist, satirist, writer.
    "Egotism, n:...
  • Tinkertoy Construction Set
  • World War I: 1914-1918

1915

  • Wynne used diamond-shaped grids, but the shapes were not standardized: in Jan. 1915,
    for example, one week’s grid was in the shape of an F; the next week, a U; finally, an N.
    "That spells FUN for every one of FUN's puzzle solvers" ~Arthur Wynne.
  • On March 7, 1915, Wynne painted a picture for his readers of the FUN flood of submissions:
    “The editor of FUN receives an average of twenty-five cross-words every day from readers.
    Considering that only one cross-word is published per week you can possibly imagine
    what the office of FUN is beginning to look like. Everywhere your eyes rest on boxes,
    barrels and crates, each one filled with cross-word puzzles patiently awaiting publication.
    However, the editor of FUN hopes to use them all in time. The puzzle editor has kindly
    figured out that the present supply will last until the second week in December, 2100."

1916

1917

crossword stampReferences

Oreo