That's correct, the first modern crossword puzzle was published on this very day, back in 1913, in the New York World newspaper (and it was the very one you see pictured above!). According to Inside the Apple, the paper was owned by Joseph Pulitzer at the time, who "raised its circulation through sensational news coverage, stunt reporting, and a focus on distractions and pastimes." Enter: the crossword! Or as it was called back then, the "word-cross." It was created by Arthur Wynne, and ran in the Sunday Fun section of the paper—where it became an instant hit... among most. Oddly enough, the New York Public Library and the New York Times both criticized the game.
In 1921, the NYPL reported that crosswords were "the latest craze to strike libraries," but frowned upon the fans, noting that "the puzzle 'fans' swarm to the dictionaries and encyclopedias so as to drive away readers and students who need these books in their daily work, can there be any doubt of the Library's duty to protect its legitimate readers?" Just three years later a NY Times editorial called crosswords "a primitive form of mental exercise"—they didn't publish their first until 1942.
Try out the original puzzle above, unless you're one of the haters. (Psst... the answers are over here.)
