Two years ago I saw a friend of mine earnestly studying a checkered
diagram in the magazine section of a Sunday newspaper. Curiosity
impelled me to ask him whether he had taken up cross-stitching, because
the pattern he so zealously pored over resembled closely that of an
old-fashioned sampler. When he explained that he was attempting to
solve a puzzle I laughed, because in my ignorance I believed that
puzzles were childish time-wasters. I snorted my disdain at this sort
of balderdash and, angered, he challenged me to try my hand at it.
I confidently predicted that I would easily solve the foolish enigma
and after he had explained the manner of solution I set to work. A few
minutes later I started asking questions. What was one supposed to do?
My friend explained a second time and I was all at sea. Finally I
understood what to do, but was shaky on how to do it. I finished that
puzzle the next day. I gave little thought to food and rest; in the end
I triumphed.
Since that time I have solved many cross word puzzles but on none have
I consumed as much time as on that first heart-breaker. I used to blame
my slowness on the fact that the method was never properly explained,
but I now believe that my friend who gave me my first cross word
baptism was an adequate instructor. The chief difficulty which the
uninitiate meets lies in the struggle to concentrate on the
explanation. In their simplest terms here are the rules and technique
of cross word puzzling:
The primary object of the game is to fill up the blank spaces in a
cross word design with letters which spell out words. The solver
guesses the words from their definitions. By looking at a pattern we
can tell how many letters are in a word to be guessed. Suppose, for
example, you were asked for a six letter word meaning unsteady. You
would go through all the synonyms for unsteady that you could recall.
You would discard unstable, shaky, tipsy, tottering and rocky because
none of these words has the proper number of letters. You would accept
groggy or fickle. Now apply this system to the solution of a puzzle.
The definitions of the words are shown in two divisions: one division
is captioned Horizontal, the other Vertical. Before each definition is
a number which indicates that the word defined has its first letter in
the square of the same number on the pattern. For example, in the
puzzle on the jacket of this book (which is Number 1 in the book
itself), we see under Horizontal, “1. stout.” This means that the word
is read horizontally and starts in the space numbered “1” on the
pattern. The answer is “plump.”
A word always runs from its first letter to a black square or to the
end of the diagram. Having the word “plump” written in, we now have
hints of a certain letter in each of four other words, because each of
the letters in this word, except the letter “L,” is used to form a word
which is read downwards. Under the heading Vertical may be found the
definitions of the words which read downwards. So we see that the
letters in plump are used in the words prove, up, map, and plant. The
letter “L” is called in cross word parlance an unkeyed letter because
it does not give the solver a key to another word. Well constructed
puzzles have few unkeyed letters. You will notice also that all the
words in the puzzle are joined together or interlocked so that after
guessing the first word the solver may decode the entire puzzle without
once being minus a hint of some sort.
I do not mean to infer that these puzzles must be so constructed that
the solver has a simple task. An object of crosswording is to puzzle,
but fairness to a hard working puzzler dictates certain laws for the
designer to follow. The first of these laws is the all-over interlock.
The second is that in obsolete, rare, and unfamiliar words no letter
should be unkeyed.
And now a few words as to technique. Of course I prefer my own method
to any other, but I do not claim for it greater merit than the systems
I will tell you about. When I get a puzzle to solve, my first move is
to read all the definitions. Among these I am sure to find some
familiar and overworked words which I can set into place and be off to
a flying start. Certain simple three letter words such as bog, fen,
pen, boa, emu, and roc, and other words in which vowels pre-dominate
such as opera and arena are used in hundreds of puzzles. I get these
out of the way in short order. My next move is to start working on that
part of the puzzle where I have filled in the largest number of words,
because it is there that I have the greatest number of hints. If I
strike a snag I immediately take up my work in some other place. And so
I work my way around to completion.
Some people obtain excellent results by another method. They first do
all the horizontal words which quickly come to mind. And then all the
vertical. Thus they get an excellent start from which to work. Some
solvers use the system of building up from the first word which they
can guess.
Just a few words of warning:
First—Beware of putting in certain words whose definitions do not
accurately define. Parts of the verb “to be,” personal pronouns,
exclamations, notes of the scale, prefixes, suffixes and prepositions
should not be filled in unless an interlocking word gives you a hint as
to what they are. They are so numerous that without a hint it is futile
to attempt to guess them.
Second—Beware of homonyms. A homonym is two words which have the same
sound, but have different meanings. The best illustration of a homonym
appeared in F. P. A.’s column, the Conning Tower, a few years ago.
According to my feeble memory the sentence ran, “If I should say that
you are prone to carp, I would not mean that you are lying face
downward to a deep sea fish.” How often does the solver struggle over
such a definition as “light,” believing all the while that he must find
a word meaning an illuminant, when the correct word is “airy”!
Third—Beware of sloppy printing and careless erasing. When you write in
a word, letter neatly. Do not make a P look like an R. And when you
find it necessary to erase be sure to obliterate every letter. Dangling
characters which rubber crumbs have failed to pick up have cost so many
wasted hours that experts in efficiency have taken up the matter in
executive session.
Whatever method you employ or whatever mistakes you make, you will reap
pleasure and profit for your time. You will increase your vocabulary,
give yourself mental discipline, and, above all, you’ll have fun.
I want to thank the Plaza Publishing Company, whose real name is Simon
and Schuster, for its work in getting out these Cross Word Puzzle
Books. Most of the puzzles are of the first rank and the variety of
design is amazing. In fact I feel so kindly toward the publishers that
I do not upbraid them for the time they made me lose by a few errata in
the first edition, which they promptly corrected in the later editions.
I can heartily congratulate any owner of this Cross Word Puzzle Book
and all the Cross Word Puzzle Books to follow on the days of real
pleasure that lie before him.
William A. Stern, 2nd.
New York City, June, 1924.