This year sees the centenary of the crossword puzzle. The first such puzzle appeared in the New York World in December 1913. You can see it here.

Crossword 802 solution

The cryptic crossword has no such definitive origin. It seems that setters for the British broadsheets, most notably one known as Torquemada, began in the late 1920s elaborating their clues with old parlour game and word game devices such as anagrams and charades. Those early puzzles contained only a sprinking of recognisably cryptic clues.

My predecessor at the Listener, RWH, maintained that early style throughout her tenure, from 1940 to 1997. Many of her clues were “straights”, with two or three literary quotations per puzzle. Like RWH, the British broadsheet setters assumed their solvers had had some literary education. The British indeed assumed that their solvers would have some grounding in the classics in Greek and Latin as well as English. That is no longer so.

Later this year I plan to use the centenary as an excuse to bring these puzzles to a wider audience. While some new people are learning to tackle cryptics, I suspect that the total number of solvers is slowly dwindling so I’ll be out there singing the delights. It’s a matter of both conviction and job protection for me.

Too many people see these puzzles as beyond their possible understanding but the enjoyment that comes when the penny drops for individual clues and for the game as a whole can be be a pleasure just to share.