“On the one hand, the
crossword is trivial. It’s literally a game. But, on the other hand, it also
has a weighty cultural capital. It’s a place where the language is being forged
and tested. It’s a way to patrol the borders of common knowledge. What is ‘puzzle-worthy’
— what words, names and phrases are determined to be relevant or well known
enough to include in a puzzle — is ultimately a question of what should be
known.”—Crossword-puzzle creator and author Anna Shechtman quoted by Cornelia
Channing, “Expanding the Puzzle World Across and Down,” The New York Times,
Mar. 27, 2024
(The image accompanying
this post, an American-style crossword grid, was created May 21, 2006, by
MeekMark.)
No comments:
Post a Comment