Although crossword puzzles are the most popular word puzzle in the world, they have a relatively short history. They were first created in the 19th century in England. They were patterned after the word square. See note at right.

On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne from Liverpool published the first crossword puzzle in the New York World. It looked much different from the crosswords used today and had no black squares. Arthur Wynne is credited with being the inventor of the very popular crossword puzzle.

It was originally called a word-cross puzzle, which evolved into the current "crossword" puzzle.

At first, only the World carried the new puzzle as a weekly feature. But in 1924, a small publishing firm published the first collection of World crossword puzzles in book form. The craze began, and Simon and Schuster's success was launched.

Interestingly enough, the New York Times was one of the last newspapers to publish a regular crossword puzzle.

During the 1920's there was a huge crossword puzzle craze with everything from clothing to jewelry being sold featuring crossword puzzles.

Crossword puzzles developed even further with the introduction of "themes." Not every crossword puzzle has a theme, in fact most don't. But many crossword puzzle constructors gained popularity with puzzle lovers by introducing themes into their puzzles.

A major breakthrough in crossword puzzle development came with the personal computer. Software was developed to allow a person to construct their own crossword puzzles.

Several doctoral papers have been written on the subject, some of which claimed it was impossible for a computer to create a crossword puzzle! The mathematical strain on a computer is enormous, more difficult even than programming a computer to play chess.

The first software was pretty primitive, but today, the software has greatly advanced. In 1997 a US company called Variety Games Inc. was issued the first US patent (5,677,438) on using a computer to create crossword puzzles. Their software (Crossword Weaver) allows you to make standard publication style crossword puzzles with a theme. This allows anyone the ability to create crossword puzzles, whereas historically they were created only by a few people.

The crossword puzzle also developed into what is commonly referred to as the "free-form" style or "skeleton" puzzle. There are no black squares, and puzzles are very loosely put together. This allows the constructor to use only their words in making the puzzle. This puzzle style is popular in educational institutions, as anyone can make one themselves. (Note: there are some very good programs out there that can make these for you as well, saving teachers valuable time!)

Crossword puzzles have been developing now for a century, but they are still the most popular word puzzle on the planet. Over 40 million people in the US solve a daily crossword, some of them in ink!

Crossword puzzles are used all over! Open any newspaper, and you are likely to find a crossword. You may even come across one at a bridal or baby shower, a wedding reception, a party, or as a gift.

Crossword puzzles are here to stay!