Antedating of "Crossword" (Courtesy of Mr. Will Shortz)

[Shapiro, Fred]

The following information was graciously supplied to me by Mr. Will Shortz:

crossword (OED Dec. 1914)

[1913 _New York World_ 21 Dec. (Fun section) 14  FUN'S Word-Cross Puzzle.]
[1914 _New York World_ 4 Jan. (Fun section) 8  Find the Missing Cross Words.]
1914 _New York World_ 11 Jan. (Fun section) 12  Fun's Cross-Word Puzzle. ... The fourth in Fun's series of new cross word puzzles is given herewith.

NOTE:  In addition to the information supplied by Will Shortz, it should be noted that the term "cross word puzzle" was used in the 19th century for a different kind of puzzle, not involving squares to be filled in.  The earliest I find this in some quick research is in _Merry's Museum for Boys and Girls_, Sept. 1871, page 145 (American Periodical Series).

Fred Shapiro
Editor
YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)

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