December 21 commemorates the birth of a challenging word game enjoyed by millions around the world. It’s Crossword Puzzle Day!
The first crossword puzzles were published in England in children’s books and other publications. They were simple word games derived from the word squares where letters were arranged in a square so that the words read the same across and down.
The object of a crossword puzzle is to fill in the white spaces of a grid with the correct words from the hints provided alongside the grid. The black spaces separate individual words. The clues to more challenging puzzles are more like riddles, making the game more complex.
Many tout the benefits of crossword puzzles. Not only are they fun, but challenging crossword puzzles may help delay the effects of dementia or sharpen the brain for problem solving. They can also increase vocabulary and even relieve the mind from the stress of the day by focusing on something other than worldly problems.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Buy a crossword book or find one online. Use #CrosswordPuzzleDay to post on social media.
HISTORY
Journalist Arthur Wynne from Liverpool is credited as the inventor of word game we know today. He created what is considered the first known published crossword puzzle. The puzzle appeared in the December 21, 1913, edition of the New York World newspaper.
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