Finding Comfort in the Grid

In early February, a puzzle devotee in the comments section of the Guardian’s crossword blog jokingly noted that the word “coronavirus” is an anagram for carnivorous, referencing a PETA article that claimed eating animals facilitated the virus’s global spread. Just as the coronavirus has proliferated around the world, so, too, have a range of clues—both light and serious—pertaining to it in the beloved word puzzles. Alan Connor, author of The Crossword Century, notes that “a big national event usually appears in puzzle-form, if not in full-on themed crosswords, then via amusing references in clues.”

For many, the crossword has become a mainstay of social distancing. Though a number of countries have begun to slowly emerge from long months of lockdown, the United States recently marked 5 million cases of COVID-19. It seems, our era of social distancing is far from over. As we look to fill our time, and our thoughts, the crossword provides a brief respite from the overwhelming grief the pandemic has brought, and an escapist problem-solving activity.

As cases mount, newspapers remain loyal to their crossword-loving patrons, seeking to provide them with engaging and clever clues. “We are working harder than ever to offer a moment of fun, self-esteem, lightness and distraction to all those in need of it,” wrote the editors of La Settimana Enigmistica, a national pillar of Italian crossword enthusiasts. Also looking to support grid-lovers everywhere, the New Yorker added a “partner mode” feature to their Monday and Friday crosswords in April, allowing users to virtually solve puzzles together. And across the pond, the Guardian’s crossword blog editors invited readers to learn the beloved British crossword form, featuring the headline, “fancy learning cryptic crosswords during coronavirus lockdown?”

Working through a crossword may seem like a deeply solitary activity but it’s also a means of connecting with others. Connor argues that “crosswording is most often learned from another person, under the guidance of someone who happens to be around: It’s intimate, collaborative, and fun.” Whether you turn to a family member or friend for help with a confusing clue, the crossword builds community.

As it turns out, crosswords, the steadfast companion of word-puzzle enthusiasts around the globe, are no stranger to times of trouble, having been invented just ahead of World War I, and first gracing the pages of the New York Times during World War II.

The crossword made its debut in the 1913 Christmas issue of the New York World. The creator, Englishman Arthur Wynne, crafted a “word-cross puzzle”—a blank word search grid, originally diamond-shaped. Owing to an accidental mix-up, the illustrator changed “word-cross” to “cross-word” and the beloved puzzle we know today was born.

The Brits, while initially hesitant and disparaging of the crossword, were no match for its popularity amongst the masses. British crosswords quickly took off, challenging puzzlers with labor intensive cryptic crosswords—the clues themselves presenting a puzzle within a puzzle.

Each crossword is a product of its geographic surroundings and also its moment in time. With clues drawing upon the past and present and evolving with changing culture, individual puzzles are snapshots of history. For example, a crossword that appeared in the British Daily Telegraph in December 1944 was created as the Allies’ D-Day assault planning was well underway. So, it struck several MI5 members as strange that some of the answers to the clues corresponded with code words being used in the upcoming military operation, including the secret words for the beaches in Normandy, and Neptune—the word for the naval operation.

Crosswords, the steadfast companion of word-puzzle enthusiasts around the globe, are no stranger to times of trouble, having been invented just ahead of World War I, and first gracing the pages of the New York Times during World War II.

While the use of national secrets was a pure coincidence on the part of the British crossword editor, across the Atlantic a new development was taking shape for the American crossword—the puzzle finally graced the pages of the then-vehemently anti-crossword New York Times. In an entirely uncoincidental move, two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Times capitulated, recognizing the welcome distraction that the crossword could offer American citizens during dark times. Since it began running the popular puzzle in 1942, the Times crossword, and its beloved editor Will Shortz, has quickly become one of the most popular puzzles amongst crossword aficionados.

Despite its beginnings in the United States and Great Britain, as it spread across the world, crossword style and form shifted, adapting to the idiosyncrasies of local language. Remarking on the malleability of the crossword, Connor writes, “where it does appear, the culture of crosswords adapts to its environment…In South American puzzles, the clues live in the grid, printed in tiny type with arrows indicating the direction of the answers; the squares of the smaller Japanese grids each take one syllable rather than letter.” And crossword editors draw their clues and answers from their local geography and popular cultures.

This is not to say, however, that the crosswords’ adaptability is without room for growth. The New York Times crossword section came under fire from puzzlers for “systemic bias”—they argued that both the clues and answers of the crosswords cater toward their editors, many of whom, including Shortz, are older, straight white men. Readers and puzzle enthusiasts alike have signed a petition calling for a change in puzzle-editing to better reflect the diversity of the world the crossword inhabits. The petition, combined with recent scandals involving racist and sexist clues, points to the key role of crossword editors—who should seek to disavow racist language and publish more crossword submissions from women, people of color and LGBTQ people. As the arbiters of what does and does not fit into crossword culture, the editors may codify absences, reinforcing the silences and gaps of those whose stories are often left out. In an effort to address some of these gaps, in late 2018, crossword editors Laura Braunstein and Tracy Bennett created the subscription crossword puzzle the Inkubator which publishes crosswords by “cis women, trans women and women-aligned constructors.”

Nowadays, as we face continuing uncertainty, fear and grief, we are looking for ways to pass the time, sharing in our virtual links together. In an article for VICE, writer Drew Schwartz wrote about the difficulty of not being able to see his father during the pandemic, a situation made easier by the two solving crosswords together over the phone.

My grandparents were also avid crossworders. As a kid, I would usually spy them working together at the kitchen table completing the crossword puzzles from the Saturday edition of the Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail. My grandad would opt for the cryptic crossword, and my grandmother the regular. When my grandad passed away, though she was notoriously anti-cryptic, my grandma sometimes took up the challenge of the tricky British crossword. Perhaps it helped her through that difficult time then, just as the crossword will help us through now—and we will solve it together (virtually, of course).