VisibleLink #4: 8 Across: the world's most popular word game.

The First Crossword Puzzle

Crossword puzzles seem to be ubiquitous--what newspaper would dare not have a crossword puzzle? Even if Sudoku is now making headway into the hearts of puzzlers around the world, the crossword has long been a favorite.

But not for as long as you might think. Word puzzles in general go back centuries but the first crossword puzzle wasn't published, surprisingly, until 1913 in the New York World, by Arthur Wynne. Within a decade, puzzles were in every major newspaper in the US, delighting senior citizens and bored college students alike.

Crosswords are kissing cousins with word squares and acrostics. The earliest known acrostic word square is commonly called the Sator word square (a word square can be read horizontally or vertically):

S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S

Tony Augarde translates the Sator word square as reading "The sower, Arepo, guides the wheels with care." He argues that the Sator word square/acrostic/palindrome was actually used by persecuted Chrisitans, who needed a subtle way of identifying their brethren. He also writes, "The word tenet, at the centre of the acrostic, forms a cross and the acrostic's letters can be rearranged in that shape:

P
A
T
E
R
P A T E R N O S T E R
O
S
T
E
R

while the remaining letters (two A's and two O's) can be placed at the ends of the cross to represent the alpha and omega--the beginning and the end. the letters can also be arranged to make a prayer: 'Oro Te, Pater; oro Te, Pater; sanas'--'I pray to Thee, Father; I pray to Thee, Father; Thou healest.' "

Augarde, Tony. The Oxford Guide to Word Games. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1984.