Crossword puzzles are one of the few games that have only got better with time. Yes, it is as entertaining and intriguing as it was 100 years back. Published in the newspaper New York World on 21st December’ 1913 by John Arthur Wynne, this amazingly crafted game is a roller coaster ride that only goes up. Well, if you are someone who gets high on words, you will definitely understand what I mean. Moreover, with a plethora of crossword puzzles such as Wealth Words serving as online money games now, the reasons to earn money by playing games has only gone broader, haven’t they?
However, before we dig any deep into it, do you know what exactly these puzzles are comprised of? After all, it’s always good to be well informed about things you love to indulge in, isn’t it? So, let’s answer the question asked above. Well, the crossword puzzles are composed of white and black squares making way for a crossword grid. And, those white squares where the answers are entered are known as “lights”. Any idea why is it said so? Scratching your head already? Well, the answer lies in the fact that those white squares give way for clues that serve as a guiding light for the crossword aficionados to solve the puzzle. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
80 years of crossword puzzles
In this context, we can also look up to Val Gibert, the editor of The Telegraph since 1977. He also happens to be the famous author of the best-selling book ‘80 years of crossword puzzles’ published in the year 2005. This book was followed with the publishing of his second book ‘A Display of Lights (9)’; which further explains the reason behind those answer slots being called as lights. To put it in Val Gilbert’s words “Crossword (a ‘light’ is a word for ‘clue’ in crossword parlance, so: a display of lights/display of clues/crossword).” Well, this certainly makes the answer all the more clear.
All in all, having known the reason behind the ‘lights’, what do you think about crossword grids? Isn’t it the very foundation of these word puzzle games? It undoubtedly is. Willing to know more about these grids? Well, here’s a closer look at it.
- Checking: Grids come with this property of checking where it interlocks the letters lying amidst the up and down clues. This way, the more you fill the blank grids, the more are your chances of deciphering the whole of its puzzle right.
- Connectivity: It is one of the other fascinating property of grids. Here all the words of a puzzle are well connected with each other. In a connected grid, you can easily find your way from one white square to another without touching the black square. If this happens, your puzzle has a good connectivity level.
- Symmetry: Basically known as rotational symmetry, every crossword grid has 180° of symmetry, thereby making the locations of both black and white squares same even when rotated upside down. Though it doesn’t have any role in puzzle solving, it does make the puzzle visually appealing.
Now, having known it all, don’t you think online crossword puzzles are a lot more enlightening and educative? After all, there’s a lot of technicalities involved in it. Just look at these crossword grids. How intelligently it has been designed!
So, do you want to indulge in its world of words even more now? Then, go, register at Wealth Words (told you!) and earn money by playing games. You just need to fill in the right answers and you can laugh all the way to the bank with cash prizes as high as a whopping $1000. Yes, that’s the perk of playing this crossword puzzle, online money game.
All the best!
