By Wally WachterRetired Herald Managing Editor
E VER SINCE the old New York Sunday World printed the first crossword puzzle back in 1913, millions have become addicted to the challenges they offer.
To master the puzzles, you must know abbreviations, have a smattering of knowledge of Latin, French, German, Yiddish and Italian, and be well-versed in literature, art, music, history and geography. And, most important, you must put yourself in the same mental wave length that the author of the puzzle was in when he or she devised it.
But, inspite of the frustrations and intricacies, many find seeking the solutions to the word game relaxing.
Crossword puzzles have occupied the idle hours of retired people. They have provided interesting hours for others in search of variance from their work duties or studies. They are educational. Unless you arm yourself with dictionaries, World Almanacs and encyclopedias before your start, they can provide exercise by prompting frequent trips to the bookshelves and back.
Most newspapers were quick to jump on the bandwagon once the New York paper's new feature came to light. In the beginning, the puzzles were small and fairly simple. They could be worked in a matter of minutes without much research. Kids of all ages fought over the section of the newspaper in which they appeared.
Later, larger city papers assigned wordsmiths to make the puzzles larger and more challenging. Some packaged their collections in books.
The prime puzzles always were a feature of the Sunday editions. Almost all of the daily papers today run the smaller varieties, with the answers appearing a day later. There is a week's wait for the Sunday answers unless you call (for a price) to special telephone numbers for clues. Crossword puzzle books have the answers to all in the back, tempting even the masters to sneak a peek now and then.
With today's advancements in electronics, most of the major puzzles are done automatically by computer. That is probably why so many weird contractions and abbreviations have found their way into the squares. Some odd words have not yet made it to the standard dictionaries. Credit notes above the puzzles now read ``edited by'' instead of ``devised by.''
Generally regarded as the epitome of puzzles is the one from the Sunday New York Times. Through syndication it is the one that appears Sundays in The Herald. Daily syndicated puzzles of a smaller variety are a feature of the local paper's classified advertising section.
Even the manner of working the crosswords has changed over the years. At first most were done by pencil, when fine points and frequent erasures wore holes in the letter squares of the newsprint. Now there are erasable ballpoint pens that make the printing more distinct.
Even with computers doing most the word selections, some of the old reliable terms we have learned by repetition over the years, still remain with us.
It's a wonder how crossword puzzles would have survived if:
The Taj Mahal hadn't been built in AGRA.
MEL OTT had never made it to the major leagues and the Hall of Fame.
EDIE Adams had stayed in Grove City and never ventured into show business.
Kitchen utensils had never been invented.
CLU Gulager had failed his screen test for cowboy-movie roles.
The Romans would have used digital figures to count rather than letters.
And ETC and ETAL would never have been abbreviated.