The New York Times Celebrates 75 Years of Crosswords!

Dear Commons Community,

For those of us who enjoy doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, yesterday was its 75th anniversary.  To celebrate, a website has been established by the Times showing a brief history of crossword puzzles.  Here is a blurb on how the puzzle got started at the Times:

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a New York Times editor made a decision: “We ought to proceed with the puzzle.”  The puzzle in question was a crossword. Despite decades of popularity — and the endorsement of Arthur Hays Sulzberger, then the publisher of The Times — crosswords had yet to appear in the newspaper. (A Times editorial had called the puzzles a “sinful waste” of time.)

Responding to an audience in need of relaxation, the paper moved in a new direction.

Seventy-five years later, people continue to turn to The Times’s puzzles for comfort and distraction.

Tony

 

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