- 1 Lowest form of life
- 12 Product of coal or pine
- 18 Opponent
Vertical
- 1 Gustated
- 2 Divine nourishment
- 3 Before
- 4 Indefinite number
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| 12 | |||||
| 18 | 20 | ||||
| 30 | 32 | 33 | |||
[[12]]
The solver, then, looks the puzzle over. Aha! a friend. 12 horizontal, three letters long—“product of coal or pine.” Triumphantly the solver writes TAR in the spaces and proceeds with this clue. 2 Vertical is defined as “Divine Nourishment.” It links with TAR at the second letter. A moment of thought and MANNA appears as the only possible solution. He turns to 1 vertical, the second letter of which is the first of 12 horizontal—T. The definition is “gustated,” and the word is of three letters. Why hesitate? ATE goes into the space. “A cinch!” reflects the solver, and joyously writes ENEMY in 18 horizontal, defined as “Opponent.” 3 vertical is defined as “Before,” and with -RE staring him in the face he would be dull indeed who did not write ERE. And now 1 horizontal stands revealed. “Lowest form of life,” eh? AMEBA goes down. 4 vertical is “Indefinite number.” Well, A-Y cannot be anything but ANY—and there is the corner complete, with three clues to the words in other sections.
| 1 A | 2 M | 3 E | B | 4 A | |
| 12 T | A | R | N | ||
| 18 E | N | E | 20 M | Y | |
| N | |||||
| 30 | A | 32 | 33 | ||
So far the sailing has been fairly easy. But trouble waits just around the corner. There are other definitions which [[13]]are not so simple as “product of coal or pine.” In the far reaches of the puzzle to which the above corner belongs may be found such definitions as “Vexation (Provincial British),” “Humorous figure of speech,” “One-sided headaches” and “Droning dung-beetles.” Is the solver prepared to state that he can fill the spaces represented by those words without the assistance of the linked horizontals or verticals?
It is here that one of the greatest charms of the crossword puzzle lies: the discovery of new words by the process of building them, though entirely ignorant of their actual spelling. Consider another portion of Mr. Burgess’ puzzle. The construction of the provincial form of “Vexation” and “Humorous figure of speech” fortunately come in juxtaposition; they illustrate at once the vocabulary-building feature of the cross word puzzle and a constructional weakness which may lead to non-solution.
The definitions surrounding this precious pair are as follows: Horizontal, “Series of games,” “Self,” “Means of sustenance,” and “Surface of fibres”; Vertical, “Drinking vessel” and “Body of cavalry.” When these words are solved one finds: