CROSSWORDS: 1980s

Highlights | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1987 | 1989 | References

xwd magic
"Crossword Magic" by MarkGregory007 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Highlights

  • 1981: Crossword Magic (software)
  • 1982: A is for Alibi (book; by Sue Grafton)
  • 1984: Crossword Puzzle (song; by Barbara Mandrell)
  • 1987: Inspector Morse (TV series)

1980

1981

  • Cardiac Arrest (song) (video; 2:54) (wikipedia) by Madness, album 7;
    lyrics: "Ten more minutes till he gets there / The crossword's nearly done. / It's been so hard these days /
    Not nearly so much fun / Think of seven letters / Begin and end in 'C' / Like a big American car / But misspelt with a 'D'."
  • Crossword Magic for Atari 800 and Apple II
    Crossword puzzle maker. Choose subject, words, and clues; program automatically connects words.
    Play on-screen or make printout. L&S Computerware manual
  • Top 10 crosswords in media, no 6: Madness's Cardiac Arrest Guardian; 6/28/2012

1982

  • 'A' is for Alibi (novel; first in 'alphabet mysteries' series) by Sue Grafton;
    her books appear in short crossword clues, e.g., 'Sue Grafton's "___ for Lawless"' (3);
    "My landlord, Henry Pitts, is a former commercial baker who makes a living now, at the age of eighty-one,
    by devising obnoxiously difficult crossword puzzles, which he likes to try out on me."
    ~Kinsey Millhone, fictional private investigator
  • United States Open crossword puzzle-solving tournament directed by Will Shortz, 1982-1986
  • the world's "largest crossword" by Robert Turcot.
    for even larger, later puzzles, see course section Terminology&Types: Size
  • Chapter and Verse (song) (video; 3:42) by Utopia (Todd Rundgren), album Utopia;
    lyrics: "I got the dictionary in my hand / But I can't seem to find the word I'm looking for
    I've checked every letter, now I'm up to Z / There just ain't anymore / I've got a million choices in my head"

1983

1984

1985

  • The Golden Girls TV series; 1985-1992
    Substitute teacher Dorothy (Bea Arthur) is often seen working on a crossword puzzle,
    which is an activity her roommates and mother do not find enjoyable.
    Rose: Oh Dorothy, what crossword puzzle are you doing?
    Dorothy: Sunday, New York Times... IN INK. [S6E20: Even Grandmas Get the Blues]
  • All That Is New Yorker poem: "a ghostly grille / Through which, as often, we begin to see /
    The confluence of the Oka and the Aare"; 5/13/1985
  • Train Of Thought (song) (video; 4:22) by A-ha, album Hunting High and Low; MayasMix @ 26:39;
    lyrics: "He likes to have the morning paper's Crossword solved;
    Words go up words come down; Forwards backwards twisted round"

1987

  • Inspector Morse TV series; "Morse has a very cryptic mind, he loves doing crosswords;
    we came up with the obvious idea -- his name is Morse and we use Morse code in the music"
    ~Barrington Pheloung (theme composer) obituary
  • Tin Men movie; His unutterably unhappy wife (Nora) does crosswords, waiting until 3 AM for
    Tilley to come home, obtuse and uncomprehending of her need for escape and fulfillment.

1989

  • "Split Decisions was invented...

References