In 1942, the world of wordsmithing was decidedly completely different. The Times’s crossword puzzle was meant to be more “newsy” than those printed by opponents, meant to mesh effectively with its canvas. Despite having no apparent theme, the first puzzle was loosely spun collectively around of-the-era information content material. In it, you’ll discover references to cannons, naval bases, protection stamps and not one but three matter-of-fact mentions of the Nazis, such as 103-Down: [Port on Zuider Zee, occupied by Nazis], the clue for AMSTERDAM.
According to Shortz, Farrar wasn’t truly fond of the instructions she obtained to make the puzzle half and parcel of the newspaper’s journalism.
“When no one was looking, she started to downplay the amount of news and increase the number of literary references and other things,” he said. It’s an ethos he still follows, sprinkling in clues and solutions that characteristic film titles, sweet manufacturers and web slang, for instance. “Nowadays, everything in life is fair game for a crossword,” he said. While Farrar preferred to keep away from any references to death, illness and taxes, Shortz believes one or two references to severe issues are permissible in the puzzle. Ultimately, though, “you do want the crossword to be upbeat and to leave people with a good feeling,” he said.
Among the many variations in the debut grid, Shortz factors out that it is chock-full of obscure names, prefixes and suffixes and odd varieties of phrases, like 87-Across’s REDENOTES — as in, [Designates again]. (An online search returns fewer than 1,000 hits for the time period.) To put an entry in a fashionable grid such as GENF at 98-Across — the German and Swiss-German spelling of Geneva — “would be desperation only,” Shortz said.
A Shakespeare reference that does not say it’s a Shakespeare reference would also most possible show to be a lure for in the present day’s solvers. That’s 81-Across: [“I am ___ Oracle”], the reply for which is a comment from “The Merchant of Venice” with not even a trace at its provenance. (The reply is SIR.)
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