A Fair Trade Book
Title: Cruciverbalism
Title: Cruciverbalism
Publisher: Harper Collins
Date: 2006
ISBN: 978-0-06-089060-5
Length: 142 pages
Quote: “Crosswords should be fun,
they should be challenging, and they should be enjoyed by any
reasonably literate person.”
Are there rivalries and controversies
even in the weird little world of constructing crossword puzzles?
There are. Stanley Newman proudly presents himself as part of a “new
wave” of puzzlers (cruciverbalists) who were, among other things,
tired of “crosswordese” words like adit,
agar, alee,
eer, nene,
and olio. And not
averse to puns: “Don't be ashamed, don't be a sheep—the crossword
world will accept ewe.”
Tips for solving
Newman's kind of puzzles? Don't be ashamed of using
“performance-enhancing reference works.” Feel free to use an
erasable pencil or pen (Newman assumes you have those lying about).
For Newman and like-minded puzzle constructors, the easiest puzzles
usually appear on Monday, and the level of difficulty rises steadily
toward the weekend.
Newman also
provides some historical trivia. Early crosswords were “magic
squares” of a few words of the same length, not linked together
into full-sized puzzles. “Word-squares” were found in
first-century Pompeii. Crossword puzzles in their modern form are a
twentieth-century invention. Brand names were banned from most
newspapers' puzzles into the 1960s or 1970s; now they're staples.
Doing crossword
puzzles, Newman cheerfully reports, has been shown to reduce the risk
that people will develop Alzheimer's Disease. The
electronics-obsessed younger generation don't seem to be discovering
the joys of cruciverbalism. Aging baby-boomers are, however, pushing
themselves to solve a puzzle a day.
The
position of this web site is of course that anyone who can spare the
money should subscribe to at least one printed newspaper. One reason:
I have actually encountered employers who, given a choice among
qualified candidates for a job, chose the one who read lots
of newspapers. (I thought the
Post, Times, City Paper, Gazette, Pennysaver,
and Pregonero made a
respectable reading list in Washington; the person who was hired also
subscribed to New York, Baltimore, and Atlanta dailies.) Another
reason: Although the headline news in big city papers can sound like
an overdose of alarm and despondency if you think of yourself as
young, poor, and helpless, these newspapers are edited for solid
citizens who can help.
Another reason: there are actually a lot of uses for old newsprint,
which can drastically reduce your use of other paper products, and
when your supply exceeds your needs you can sell the excess newsprint
to recyclers. And also, far down the list of subsidiary reasons: when
you buy a newspaper, you can work the crossword puzzle. (If the
writing device on your desk is not erasable, write small neat letters
you can cross out if necessary.)
What kind of person
constructs crossword puzzles? Some of the best known “constructors”
are certified word-nerds, like Margaret Petherbridge Farrar (married
to the publisher), Will Shortz, Fred Piscop, and of course Stanley
Newman. On the other hand, “a healthy portion of crossword
puzzles...are created by...'guests of the state,' as the saying
goes...These guys have plenty of time on their hands, obviously, plus
convicts are perhaps the only people around to whom the 50 bucks or
so that they'd receive for their hours of labor actually looks like a
handsome reward.”
Despite their
popularity in penal institutions, crossword puzzles are supposed to
reflect a rather nice and genteel world. “You're not likely to see
anything more serious than the FLU in a puzzle. CANCER is just an
astrological sign in our world. And we've won the war on drugs: OPIUM
is just a pricey fragrance.”
On the other hand,
although Newman repeatedly denounces the use of the word “esne”
(one layer in the feudal servile class) and similar “crosswordese”
cliches, in some ways his rules are looser than the rules that were
generally followed prior to the mid-1980s. Answers consisting of more
than one word no longer have to be specially marked in their clues.
Newman feels that “commonly understood words from other languages
can spice up the grid.” Cute clues (“Bachelor's last words: I
DO”) are often positively encouraged.
Slightly misleading
clues are also encouraged these days: “constructors love anything
that distracts or disorients solvers—and, of course, solvers like
it too, because that's a substantial part of the fun,” and so
Newman particularly likes “Half of AD: ANNO.” And clues with two
perfectly good answers: “Actress Thompson” could refer to EMMA or
SADA; “German river” could be SAAR or RUHR; “old French coin”
could be SOU or ECU.
What does it take
to be an excellent cruciverbalist? In addition to a good vocabulary,
Newman says, it takes a good base of general knowledge (of pop
culture as well as the classics), curiosity, the mental flexibility
to work out that “Champion rider” might refer to GENEAUTRY,
and...practice. And, of course, this being the yuppie generation,
social networking can't hurt..."Crossword University Cruises" are scheduled at Newman's web site.
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