Crossword Puzzles for Kids

It has proven long time ago that solving crossword puzzles are good for the mind. In fact, this is the best mental exercise that any people—regardless of age, status in life, gender, or nationality—can use to keep the mind in functioning properly.

Contrary to common belief that only older people play crossword puzzles, there is an emerging population of kids who are getting hooked into the game. These kids—usually influenced by parents or grandparents—are starting to love the game because they feel that they are more mature knowing that they can do stuff that are associated with older people.

BENEFITS ON THE KIDS

Just like in adults, solving crossword puzzles is a great intellectual stimulator for the kids. This is because at such an early age, kids are able to stretch their minds in looking for words with just mere clues on them. Aside from being a good mental exercise, the following are other benefits of solving crossword puzzles among kids:

1. It incorporates fun and learning. Playing is very important for kids. This is because it gives them to freedom to decide and also helps them to express their emotions as well as themselves. This is why it is very important for parents to choose games that are not only fun but can also aid to their learning as well. One good game to accomplish this is by introducing them to crossword puzzles. Here, children will have fun by just merely solving the words through clues and with every puzzle that is solved, you can ensure that they will learn a new word or two.

2. It instills the good spelling practice in kids. If children are exposed to as many words possible while solving crossword puzzles, there is a greater chance for them to develop good spelling skills as they grow older. Experts say the constant exposure to different words gives the kids familiarization with these and will easily spell it correctly.

3. It encourages kids to read. Since crossword puzzles is all about solving words with one common letter on them, kids will try to get into reading so they will learn new words. For some kids, solving crossword puzzles is a challenge so to be better equipped, they take it amongst themselves to read without realizing that they are also getting hooked on reading. The best reference materials for kids who love solving crossword puzzles would be kids almanacs, dictionaries and other easy to read stuff inside the house.

4. It strengthens the child’s vocabulary. Many child development experts agree that kids who have early and constant exposure to solving crossword puzzles have better vocabulary than those who don’t. why? this is because the constant exposure to words makes them more familiar with these and their usage as well through the clues given. Experts also agree that solving crossword puzzles are also considered as one of the best tools in strengthening word power of the child aside from his or her vocabulary knowledge.

5. It improves the child’s reasoning abilities. Since it encourages the mind to think, kids who solve crossword puzzles at an early age also develop better reasoning skills than those who don’t. This is because through the clues, the child is encouraged to think which are the words or letters that would fit the boxes. He or she will then try to reason out why this word is more appropriate than the other one.

June 18, 2009 · Filed Under Crossword Puzzles

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Cryptic Crosswords, a Unique Type

If you know your crosswords, then you know that there are different variations other than the usual stuff you see in the newspapers. And one that usually calls attention to is the one called cryptic crosswords, a unique type.

The main difference of cryptic crossword puzzles from any other kind of crosswords is the fact that the clues themselves are little puzzles that you need to solve. So unlike the ordinary crossword where all you need to do is read the clue and figure out the answer, in a cryptic puzzle, you will need to figure out what the clue is all about before you get to thinking of the possible answers. If you find the regular crosswords as hard to finish, attempting to fill out the boxes of a cryptic crossword would be a very daunting task.

This kind of crossword is not that popular in the United States, however, it has quite a following in its birth place, the United Kingdom. In fact, the crossword is sometimes referred to as “British-style” crossword puzzle in the US. It was around 1923, during when the crossword phenomenon was sweeping the globe that the cryptic kind of crossword puzzles came to be. At first the clues were not like today but rather the clues were composed more of anagrams, incomplete quotations, and, of course, wordplay.

Outside the UK, it seems that the crossword is also popular in Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Malta, and even in South Africa. A lot of daily newspapers in the UK and Canada carry cryptic crosswords.

Cryptic crossword has been further subdivided into two kinds. We have the basic or ordinary cryptic puzzle where the clues are mini-puzzles and we have the advanced version. In the advanced version which is also called variety cryptic crosswords, aside from the clue being mini puzzles, some or all of the answers have to be changed or altered based on certain rules that can be apparent to the solver or totally hidden and have to be discovered first.

Getting confused? Let’s break it down. In the basic cryptic crosswords you won’t get the answer from reading the clues and taking them literally. The clues have to be dissected and sifted through. The literal translation of the clue is often the distraction. So never absorb the literal meaning of the clues in cryptic crosswords. Usually, a clue in a cryptic puzzle will have the first part describing the answer in terms of its definition, tense, or part of speech. On the other hand, you will find that the second part of the clue is usually more of wordplays that point you to the answer.

Although it is difficult, once you identify which part of the clue is the definition and which part is the wordplay you can get the answer more accurately. So the trick would be to where the first part ends and where the second part begins. It can be obvious in some cases but other times you have to really put your mind to it. There are clues that have double definitions because of the nature of the answer. The size of a typical cryptic crossword is 15 by 15 but the advanced version usually is only 12 by 12.

Cryptic crossword puzzles are very challenging. It takes a certain amount of practice before you get good at it. Your knowledge should cover a wide enough range of topics and subject matter in order to excel in solving cryptic puzzles.

June 17, 2009 · Filed Under Crossword Puzzles

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Crossword Puzzle History

The first crossword puzzle graced the pages of the Sunday New York World on December 21, 1913. The first crossword puzzle was created by Arthur Wynne. After the first issue, it never looked back. It became a weekly feature until it became a craze.

Word puzzles can be traced until the Roman period. Actually, remains of a word squares can be found in the Roman ruins of Pompeii. A word square is composed of words which can be read horizontally and vertically. The words are the same in both directions. But there would be instances where the horizontal word is different. This is referred to as the double word square.

A famous word square was discovered in the Herculaneum ruins in Pompeii. The word square was called Sator Square which is in Latin. It can be predated in the Christian era.

The longest word squares done were composed of nine letters and uses unusual word and proper names. Nobody was able to construct a ten letter word square, whether it is a computer or a person. Word squares were considered to be the forerunners of crossword puzzles.

When crossword puzzle was first published in the New York World, it was initially called “word-cross puzzle”. It is very different from the current puzzles, since there were no black squares. The New York World was the only newspaper back then which started publishing crossword puzzles. It was created by a journalist working for the World. Wynne was inspired by a childhood game in England.

In 1924, a small publishing firm released a collection of the puzzles published in the World. It was published in book form. The book was launched by Simon and Schuster. It sold 36,000 copies after the first printing. They published two more volumes of the book and this signalled the start of the craze over crossword puzzle. Other newspapers eventually picked up the trend and started publishing their own crossword puzzles.

Within the next decade, crossword puzzle became very popular. It seems like every kind of business is using crossword puzzle, it was even given free with items of clothing sold. Its popularity eventually reached and conquered Europe.

The first crossword puzzle appeared in Britain in Pearson’s Magazine in February 1922. It first appeared in Times in February 1930. British crossword puzzle was considered to be more difficult since it is a cryptic puzzle. To solve a cryptic puzzle, answering the clues is not the only thing to do. You would also need to figure out the clue itself.

The crossword puzzles were initially created by hand until a software company was able to develop a program for computers that would be able to create a crossword puzzle. This program was first created by Variety Games Inc. in 1997, the software was called Crossword Weaver and was patented.

Today crosswords are among the most popular word games in history. There are people who make answering crossword puzzles a daily habit while there are some people who are totally obsessed with it. In the United States alone, there were about 40 million people who solve crosswords daily.

Now, there the New York World is no longer around. The initial format of the crossword puzzle transformed to its current form. But Simon & Schuster still publishes book of crossword puzzles. Until now, the crossword puzzle’s popularity still continues.

June 16, 2009 · Filed Under Crossword Puzzles