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| Camouflage or crossword? |
I was thinking about that recently when I found a source that claimed that the "modern crossword" puzzle (called a "word cross" puzzle at first) was invented in 1913.
That date seems surprisingly recent, and I wonder if it's accurate There had been earlier British attempts in the 19th century, but its US-based originator was a British-born journalist named Arthur Wynne, whose first puzzle appeared in the New York World on December 13, 1913. It was comprised of white squares in which to print the answers, but there were no black ones.
That purported birth year of the crossword puzzle was the same year as the notorious Armory Show in New York, which introduced Cubism, Futurism and other forms of European Modern Art to the American public. It was met with great derision, and for cartoonists it was an occasion to make fun of abstraction using cubes. I wonder if that event (and the riotous joking that followed) was among the factors that fed the popularity of the crossword puzzle. And then of course in the following year, there was the official adoption of wartime camouflage by the French army in World War I, which some people claimed (and many still insist) was a direct off-shoot of Cubism.
By 1920, one year after the war ended, there was what is sometimes called a "Cross Word Craze" which apparently spread into interior design (checkerboard floors)—and camouflage-like clothing design, as shown at the top of this blog post.
Five years later, a book of crossword puzzles came out. Authored by Torquemada (Edward Powys Mathers) and titled Cross-Words in Rhyme for Those of Riper Years, it was published in London by George Routledge and Sons. The style of its cover could no doubt be called "cubist-like. And in subsequent pages, its cleverness goes even further, since it offers crossword puzzles (as shown below), in which the titles and the overall patterns are indicative of the content. One titled The Swan is shaped like a swan, and another is titled Ballet Russe. We've had great fun with the Ballet Russes, as is evident here.
That purported birth year of the crossword puzzle was the same year as the notorious Armory Show in New York, which introduced Cubism, Futurism and other forms of European Modern Art to the American public. It was met with great derision, and for cartoonists it was an occasion to make fun of abstraction using cubes. I wonder if that event (and the riotous joking that followed) was among the factors that fed the popularity of the crossword puzzle. And then of course in the following year, there was the official adoption of wartime camouflage by the French army in World War I, which some people claimed (and many still insist) was a direct off-shoot of Cubism.
By 1920, one year after the war ended, there was what is sometimes called a "Cross Word Craze" which apparently spread into interior design (checkerboard floors)—and camouflage-like clothing design, as shown at the top of this blog post.
Five years later, a book of crossword puzzles came out. Authored by Torquemada (Edward Powys Mathers) and titled Cross-Words in Rhyme for Those of Riper Years, it was published in London by George Routledge and Sons. The style of its cover could no doubt be called "cubist-like. And in subsequent pages, its cleverness goes even further, since it offers crossword puzzles (as shown below), in which the titles and the overall patterns are indicative of the content. One titled The Swan is shaped like a swan, and another is titled Ballet Russe. We've had great fun with the Ballet Russes, as is evident here.
One other detail: As I looked at these pictorial crossword patterns (which look like cross-stitch patterns to me), I was also reminded of vintage newspaper puzzles, including a so-called "cubicow" that we've blogged about before at this link.
