Thousands of puzzle enthusiasts have indicated their eagerness for this second series of cross words. This book, like the first volume, is edited and compiled by the Cross Word Puzzle Editors of the New York World, the undisputed leaders of the gentle art. Every effort has been made to safeguard the technical perfection of the puzzles. This time they are arranged in the order of their difficulty, beginning with fairly easy ones, and ranging to the most intricate formations, calculated to baffle Houdini himself. Beauty of design, accuracy of definition, complete interlock, and the minimum number of unkeyed letters—these elements have all been considered in selecting the puzzles. We are confident that they will prove as absorbing, as entertaining,—yes, as exciting,—as the first fifty.
The Publishers. [[5]]
PREFACE
By William A. Stern, 2nd Cross Word Puzzle Champion of the World
Two years ago I saw a friend of mine earnestly studying a checkered diagram in the magazine section of a Sunday newspaper. Curiosity impelled me to ask him whether he had taken up cross-stitching, because the pattern he so zealously pored over resembled closely that of an old-fashioned sampler. When he explained that he was attempting to solve a puzzle I laughed, because in my ignorance I believed that puzzles were childish time-wasters. I snorted my disdain at this sort of balderdash and, angered, he challenged me to try my hand at it.
I confidently predicted that I would easily solve the foolish enigma and after he had explained the manner of solution I set to work. A few minutes later I started asking questions. What was one supposed to do? My friend explained a second time and I was all at sea. Finally I understood what to do, but was shaky on how to do it. I finished that puzzle the next day. I gave little thought to food and rest; in the end I triumphed.
Since that time I have solved many cross word puzzles but on none have I consumed as much time as on that first heart-breaker. I used to blame my slowness on the fact that the method was never properly explained, but I now believe that my friend who gave me my first cross word baptism was an adequate instructor. The chief difficulty which the uninitiate [[6]]meets lies in the struggle to concentrate on the explanation. In their simplest terms here are the rules and technique of cross word puzzling:
The primary object of the game is to fill up the blank spaces in a cross word design with letters which spell out words. The solver guesses the words from their definitions. By looking at a pattern we can tell how many letters are in a word to be guessed. Suppose, for example, you were asked for a six letter word meaning unsteady. You would go through all the synonyms for unsteady that you could recall. You would discard unstable, shaky, tipsy, tottering and rocky because none of these words has the proper number of letters. You would accept groggy or fickle. Now apply this system to the solution of a puzzle.
The definitions of the words are shown in two divisions: one division is captioned Horizontal, the other Vertical. Before each definition is a number which indicates that the word defined has its first letter in the square of the same number on the pattern. For example, in the puzzle on the jacket of this book (which is Number 1 in the book itself), we see under Horizontal, “1. stout.” This means that the word is read horizontally and starts in the space numbered “1” on the pattern. The answer is “plump.”