Solving GROSSW RD Puzzles onYour LaptopPlus America's Most Greative Crosswords

By the Nation's Top Gonstructors

A Crossword Hall-of-FamerMargaret Famar

by Helene Hovanec

I lf ugaret Petherbridge had norhingl\/I but cross words abour rhat little

I Y Ifner puzzle ttrat appeared everySunday n The New York World, "Thecheckered square, with its columns of defini-tions, was unsightly, had no decorative value,and was published as a sort of necessarynuimnce in ttre obscurest comer of the paper.Nopne in tlp office ever dreamed of amusinghimself by working out one of the snange-looking constructions, or even bothered toinquire about the rules of this ridiculous job."

It was 1921 and ttre young Smith Collegegfaduate couldn't foresee the fuhre to knowtlnt as ldargaret Farrar she'd become the"grande dame" ofcrosswords. She hadjustchanged careers from banking to journalism,afterbeing expected to file Coty Freres under'.F.'With the help of herroommale's stepfa-ther she had landed ajob as secretary to JohnO'llara Cosgrove, ttre Sunday eAitor of TheWorld. The crossword became her responsi-bility afterCosgrove dumped itin herlap andordered her to "get it in the paper wittrout anymistakes."

The puzzle had been a regular feature sinceDecember 21, 19 I 3, when Arttrur Wynne hadpositioned a"Word-Cross" in the top centerofthe puzzle page with terse instructions to 'Fillin the small squares with words that agree withthe following definitions." After severalreaders responded by sending in their ownconstructions, Wynne published a secondpuzzle, along with the answers to the frst,commenting that"tlrc great interest in FUN'sword-cross puzzle prompted the puzzle editorto submit another of the same kind."

For the next few weeks, Wynne's cross-words (the original name was soon trans-posed) appeared regularly on Sundays. OnFebruary l, 1914, Wynne obliquely solicitedcontributions: "F(JN'S cross-word puzzlesapparentlyare gettingmorepopular than ever.The puzzle editor has received from readersmany interesting new cross-word pvzzles,which he will be glad to use from time to time.It is more difficult to make up a cross-wordpuzzle than it is to solve one. If you doubt ttris,!y to make one yourself."

Exactly one week later Wynne printed apuzzle by Mrs. M.B. Wood, giving her the

dual distinction of becoming the first cros-word contributor onrecord as well as the firstone to receive a byline.

Wynne continued to print contribu[ors'puzzles exactly as they had been constructeduntil September 12, 1914, when he explainedtactfully thathehad changed cluesonlyfortheconstructor's benefit "If the puzzle edior ofFUN were to publish it exactly as it was sentin, Mr. Rust would not have any cross-wordpuzzle tosolvethisweek. So the ptru:zlee/iinrhas taken the great liberty ofchanging one ortwo words in Mr. Rust's puzzle in order thathe, too, can have an interesting hour or sosolving his own Vtvz\

Knowing thatone'sprrzzls lryouldbe editeddidn't scare off potential contribulors-prrzzfss sgsam ed.ntaTlu W orld. SinceWynneused only one a week, he ac*nowledged thisproblem on March 7, l9l5: "The editor ofFUNreceives an average of twenty-five cros-words every day from readers. Consideringtlnt only one cross-word is published perweek you can possibly imagine what theoffice of FUN is beginning ro look like. Ev-erywhere your eyes reston boxes, banels andcrates, each one filled with cros-word puzzlepatiently awaiting publication. However, theeditor of FUN hopes to use them all in time.Thepuzzle editorhas kindly figureditoutthatthe present supply will last until the secondweekin December,2Im."

During thenextfew years crosswords con-tinued !o be a regular World featwe. with afollowing of loyal and vocal fans. On sporadicoccasions when the crossword didn't appear,solvers reacted angrily: "The only thing I grvea hang about on your page or in your Sundaymagazine is the crosword."

From the outset, however, the puzzle wasplagued by typographical enon, misnumbereddefinitions, omitted clues, and other sloppywork done by disgruntled typographers, whodidn't like the extra chores involved in settingup the crossword. Surprisingly, no one te$-solved ttre puzzles before they appeared inprinr

Naturally, these typographical errors hin-dered solvers' abilities to hnish the puzzlesand they unleashed their frustrations in angryletters !o the editor. By l92I,an exasperated

and tired ArthurWynne decided to tum overthe crossword to someone else. That "some-one" was Cosgrove, who dumped it inPetherbridge's lap.

Petherbridge, who had never solved actossword, chose each w@k's puzzle solelyon esthetic appeal and sentitto thetypesettrswithout testing it Since she had no clue as towhat was or wasn't in the grid, she dismissedsolvers' letters of complaint as "the work ofcranks."

After her colleague, Franklin Pierce AdamsQcnwn as FP.A and creats of the popular'Conning Towef' column), badgered her aboutthe enus, stp decided to discover what tlrehooplawas allaboul Herconversion wasalmoslimmediate: "Ibegan by urying to do one and thusexperierrced tlrc throes of acute agony that cometo all solvers of puzdes on discovering defuri-tions left out, numben wrong, hidmusly warpeddefinitions, wods not obe found insideof anylnown dictionary, fmeigr words-very for-eign--andwuds thathad norighttobedraggedoutof theirnative obscurity. Then and there, withmy left hand reposing on a dictionary and myright raised in air, I took an mft to edit thecrosswords to the essence of perfection. Frornthen on, I insdMed the procedure of doing thepuzzles myself on the pageprmf-sort of uyingit on the dog--applying the principle,

'If it be not fair to me,What care I how fair it be!"'

o

Petherbridge made immediate changes-puzzles were now set a week in advanceinstead of at the last minute, which enabledclues and diagrams to be checked and errorsconected before publication. Other improve-ments included using dictionary words only,tightening ttre diagram, eliminating most ofthe unkeyed letters (those that didn't crosswith other letters), and setting up nrles forconstructors so that thepuzzles couldbecomemore uniform.

Petherbridge's associates in ttre editorialdepartment were F. Gregory }larswick andProsper Buranelli. By 1924, the trio, usinglum editorial guidance, suggestions from in-trepid constructors, and native brilliance, hadsucceeded in shaping the crosword into a

(Continucd on page 7)November/December 1 992 CROSSW RD

Farrar (from Page 5)more respectable puzzle. Clues were nowpresented with just a single number (ratherthan the cumbersome 2-3,4-5 variety as hadappeared in the early puzzles); letters wereconnected to each other through an overallinterlocking pattern; and symmetry prevailed.A regular feahue in the Sunday World, thecrossword was an important part of manylives.

All ttrese improvements notwithstanding,the crossword might have languished were itnot for t}re birth of Simon & Schuster's pub-lishing house in 1924 (chronicled inCROSSW RDldagazine's lvlarcVApril 1 9%issue). When Petherbridge, Ilarswick, andBuranel[ undertook the assignment of editing50 puzzles for the new venture, they neverdreamed that ttreir efforts would start an in-temational craze, catapult abrand-new com-pany into the major leagues of publishing, andgive Petherbridge ajob for the rest ofher life.

When Petherbridge married publisher JohnFarrar in 1926, she left herjob at the Wa rldbutcontinued !o edit the Simon & Schuster (S &S) books, working from her home onManhattan's UpperEast Side. Sheraised twodaughten and a son and became a night owl

almostofnecessity, starting herday late in theaftemoon and working into the wee hours."After thephone stoppedringing was thebesttime to think up that magical definition."

'V'lhenThe New YorkTimes infoduced itsSunday pnzzlepage on February 15,1942,Farrar was appointed crosword editor. Thenewspaper whose motto was "all the newsthat's fit !o print" was, at that time, ttre onlymajor paper wittrout a puzzle. The apocryphalstory is that publisher Arthur Sulzberger de-cided to include a puzzle after he found him-selfbuying Ifte NewYork H eraldTribune forits crosword.

During the height of the crosswordcraze,The Tirnes haddenouncedthe croswordin aneditorial: "Scarcely recovered from the formof temporary madness that made so manypeoplepay enormous prices formah jong sets,about the same persons now are committingthe same sinful waste in the utterly futilefinding of words the letlers of which will fitinto a pre-ananged pattern, more or lesscomplex. This is not a game at all, and it hardlycan be called a spo4 it merely is a newutilization of leisure for ttrose for whom itotherwise would be empty and tedious."

ln 1942, no reference was made to thiseditorial; rather, T he Time s made a perfunc-

lory announcement:"Beginning tday, The New york Times

inaugurates aptu;zlepage. There will be nvopuzzles each Sunday---one wittr a flavor ofcurrent events and general information, andone varied in theme, ranging from puzdes ina lighter vein, like today's smaller one, [odiagramless puzzles of a general nature."

Farrar's mandate was to use news-orientedclues and the early crosswords were almostsocial studies quizzes in apuzzle format. Thetitles were scholarly-"Headlines and Foot-notes," "In and Out of the News," "With aFlavor of News," etc., and the clues wereequally dry:

Famous one-eyed generatFlier lost in Pacific, 1937Buy 50 Defense Stamps

wlth thls

WavellAmelia

VeeFront page news from the

worldover BatflesImportant coaling statlon

for Suez ships AdenSpreads out in line ofbatile Deploys

However, the filler prrzzlss, starting wittrAnna Gram's (Farrar's pseudonym) ..Riddle

(Continued on Page 9)

I first contacted Margaret Farrar when I wasresearching material for my book, Tlu puzzbr'sParadise, describing the project and asking if Icould interview her. She politely refused, citingthe pressure of deadlines and mentioning herpenchant for privacy. "I am not fond of beingintenriewd and have only done so at the requestof my publisher."

Undetere4I rvrote a secondletter, This timelofferedcarrots-lunch at arestaurantofher choiceand the chance to meet Will Shoru at the sametime. Margaret had corresponded with him andknew about his Enigmatology degee. She washaving trouble solving his Christrnas puzzle card,but wasn't going to hold it against him!

\Yill was certain that she'd refuse again. Boy,washe surprised whenl toldhim shehad accepted!We aranged !o eat at the Top of the Sixes inmidtown Manhanan. Will and I mer beforehandand waited for her by the elevalor, He wasunpernrbed but I was a nervous wreck-pacingthe floor, talking a mile a minute, checking mymakeup, hair, etc. Will begged me to calm downandwamedmenot to make too big adeal outof all0ris. "Don'tjump all overher whenshe gets here,"he admonished.

She steppedoff the elevator and werecognizedher immediately. She held herself erecl smiledbroadly, and extended a gloved hand to each ofus.We chatted perfunctorily and went in to lunch.

I'll never forget *rat first meal. The three of usreally hit it off. We stayed at the restaurant for fourhours, barely eating, but talked on and on about

MY FRIEND MARGARETcrosswords. I drove home !o New Jersey thinkinghow extraordinary it was that three people at suchdifferent stages of their lives-a 20-somethinglaw student, a 30-something wife and mother, andan 8O-year-old legend could be so compatible. Iwashap'py tobe startingmypuzde careerinafieldthat cut across artificial boundarie"s and connectedpeople by interests.

I got a letter from her a few days later, apolo-gizing forramblingonaboutpuzzles. Asif shehaddone something wrongl 'My impression is thar Igotcarriedaway andtalked Oomuchandtoolong.I am remenrbering Mrs. Kingsley, who woul4could, and did talk abour norhing but the double-crostic, and I remember making a solernn resolu-tionneverto allow thatkindofobsessionlo happento me! I hope you gleaned at least some of theinformation that could come in handy for yourchaprc,rs on tlp crossword puzzle."

Margaret and I were friends from that firstmeeting until her death in 1984. It was my ..job"to drive her to Will's crossword tournament inStamford, Connecticut, every year. I'd arangeto pick her up at 9 in the morning for the ride to"rhe country."She'd always mumble somethingabout "the crack of dawn" whonever we madethese plans. It was perhaps the only day in theyear when she, a night owl, would rise beforeher customary noon hour, We always had themost wonderful chats in the car. On the ride upwe'dcatchup on all thathad transpiredsince welast saw each other. I'd tell her about my workand my family and she'd talk about her projects

and her grandchildren.Margaret always had a wonderftl time at the

tournaments. She was acelebrity from themomentshe walked through the revolving doors at rheStamford Malrion Hotel. People surrormded her,shook her hand, chatted with her, photographedher, bought her drinks, etc. She never stoppedsmiting and had a kind word for everyone.

Her job was to award the prizes to the contestwinners, and she did this with wit and charm.She'd pose for picnrres with photographers andco[test{nts and always agreed to be interviewedby anyone who was writing up the toumament. Itwas hard to get her out of the hotel. We wereinevitably the last ones to leave.

There was so much to talk about on the rideback to Manhattan. Margaretlovedleaming moreabout the participants and constructors-who thevwere, what they did, where they came from, howthey fared in the toumament, etc. She had a keenmemory and liked meeting people and getting toknow something about *rem.

Sho always called me late on ttrose nights tomake sure I got home all righr and to thank meagain for nansporting her. Of course, with hermamers, she'd followup withahandwritten thank_you note,

When she died in Jrure, 1984, her secrerarycalled to invite me to the memorial servic and toldme thar Margaret always "had fun ' when she waswith me. Ihad a lotof fun too. Ifeel lucky to haveknown her.

-H.H.

J-

Novernber/December 1 992 CROSSW RD Page 7

Farrar (from Page 7)Me This," used peppier cluing:

How to wake up the quem PokerShoot these but never

loed them DlceAnlmal that becomes later RatlMr.Snore Sefior

TIU Tine s inroduced a daily puzzle on thebook page in 1950 "as a little brother to theSunday one." Famr's wor&load increasedbut the quality remained high. Her family wasduly unimpressed with hercareer. "Originally,the family tended to hide the fact that Motherwas apuzzleeditor. When Ijoined TluTinusI became lalpectable."

Gradually Farrar dropped ttre newsy cluesand edited the prrzzlss in an enter6iningmanner. Years later she described the evolu-tion of ttre Tirnes crossword:

"The page proceeded, by almost impercep-tible metamorphosis, to achieve a more so-phisticated form of entertainment, principallythrough ttre ingenuity of pioneering con-structors who have developed ttreir work inOa fine art. Many of them have grown up wittrthe game and have brought fertile imaginationand deft experimentation into the field ofplay."

WhenThe Times announced Farrar's re-tirement in 1969 (they had a mandatory re-tirement policy), her devoted fans respondedwithabarrageof tributes, manyof which werereprinted in the magazine on January 26. Twostand ouL Don Parks of Cranston, RhodeIsland, penned this poem:

Ilail Margaret (Gretchen, Maggie, Meg)!Thou wast, or wert, a good old egg!The ani in the upas tree,The em upon the Azov SeaSing ave and adieu to ttree!The nibes of Otoe and of Ute youSo ftequently described salute you!You will be missed inEtrn, TaraSt. Lo, Samoa, Omsk andNara!What will you do when you retire?Raise eland? Or become an ayah?Or maybe read a bookor two-Emma? Kipling's Kim? Omoo?

And EJ. Kahn, Jr., of The New yorkcr,describedhisrole in adaily competition on aWestchester commuter train. Participanswould race against each other to complete thepuzzle before the fain pulled into GrandCenral Terminal. Although Kahn left thesuburbs as "the undefeated champion," thepurpose of his lettdr was not to brag but"merely to indicate how faittrfully I have

rained under her aegis," and to express.. myfervent appreciation for all the challengingpleasure she has given me."

Retirement was perhaps ttre only wordFarrarcouldn'tdefrne. Afterleavin gTluTimes,she continued to edit the S & S books, puzzlecalendars, and the Pocket Books croswordseries; constructed thematic puzzles for spe-cialize