AT the best of times, they are regular features of daily life to enjoy figuring out over a tea-break, but it seems the historic crossword is being turned to more than ever during lockdown.

 

To keep the mind active?

A 2019 study from the University of Exeter and King's College London - having analysed 19,000 participants’ engagement with the puzzles over a week - found that those who frequently completed them had sharper performance "across a range of tasks assessing memory, attention and reasoning."

 

But lockdown is offering a new reason?

It seems such puzzles are being used as one way of keeping in touch with family and friends, with many newspapers even adding in additional crosswords to help stimulate the mind and pass the time.

 

In what way?

The New Yorker is an example of one publication which has introduced a “co-op” mode in its online crosswords, allowing users to solve a puzzle with a partner. Once logged in, a click on “partner mode" sends a link to a friend. When they click on it, both can fill in the puzzle together.

 

Even without this?

Regular crossword enthusiasts are bonding over crosswords during lockdown. Among them, Italian writer Cosimo Bizzarri told the New York Times: “Before coronavirus, crosswords were a solitary activity for me, a peaceful moment of alienation from the outside world. Now that we are all locked inside, they’ve become a thing to share, an excuse to get in touch with the people I love.”

 

The crossword has its roots in New York?

The first known published crossword is widely accepted to have been on December 21, 1913, created by Liverpool-born journalist, Arthur Wynne. He published it in the Sunday newspaper, New York World, in the hope of helping to keep up circulation over the quieter Christmas period.

 

It quickly spread?

By the 1920s, crosswords were featured in almost all American newspapers and had crossed the Atlantic, with the first appearance in a British publication in February 1922 in Pearson's Magazine.

 

The Wee Stinker?

The Herald’s own cunning crossword became a cult among crossword fans. Sadly, its compiler, John McKie, passed away at the age of 80 last month.

 

Codebreakers?

Following a challenge set by The Telegraph in 1942 to complete their crossword within 12 minutes, the British War Office was watching and recruited the fastest solvers to help break German military codes at Bletchley Park.

 

A wartime threat?

With Britain on high alert ahead of D-Day, security chiefs were concerned when crosswords appeared in The Telegraph featuring answers related to the Allied offensive. Compiler, Leonard Dawe, was interrogated by MI5, but it emerged that to save time, he asked pupils at the school of which he was headmaster to fill in the crossword blanks with words he would later provide clues for. The children, though, had spent time with soldiers at a nearby camp and had overheard many phrases, including D-Day codewords, such as Utah, Omaha, Overlord and Neptune.