For a century, the crossword puzzle has been giving brainy types a socially acceptable way to waste half a morning (and the entire day on Sundays in the case of The New York Times puzzle). Google is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the famous puzzle with a doodle that transforms its search page into a puzzle itself with a nod to the granddaddy of all daily word games and its inventor, British-born Arthur Wynne.
Wynne created the first puzzle in 1913 for the New York World, which he initially called a word-cross puzzle. Within weeks the name was changed to crossword, and the rest is history.
Google's tribute puzzle hides the first word (across) of the first crossword ever a dozen times in different arrangements within its boxes.
The doodle team brought in professional crossword constructor Merl Reagle to create a puzzle that would have broad appeal, according to a report by Slate, which spoke with the doodlers about the project.
For the most part, it's mission accomplished, with some very wide-ranging (and surprisingly old-timey) clues and only one self-referential Google hint. Oh, and the clue that reads "Amazon shocker" has nothing to do with that Amazon or drone delivery. Happy puzzling!
Discuss: 32 down: How Google celebrates 100 years of crosswords
Be respectful, keep it clean and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.