“ This puzzle is well named, to say the least, and those curving question marks will try the endurance of the solver to the utmost. Some of you will get out your Atlases and love this. Others in despair will throw themselves in the Siberian river and drown their woes. ”

“ When a man has a superb puzzle almost finished, with complete interlock and no abbreviations or unkeyed letters, he frequently finds a space left into which nothing will go except a particularly rare combination of letters—let us say, for example, TIL. The constructor runs hastily through his vocabulary and finds no TIL ”

“ This diamond studded puzzle is truly a gem. It should prove only moderately difficult, for all its pretty designs. (You know, of course, that a handsome design often leads the builder into difficulties from which he escapes by resort to some musty word concealed in the depths of the dictionary.) ”

“ If you are hopelessly stuck, try another puzzle. Inspiration sometimes waits for a return engagement.
A pleasant feeling of something attempted, something done, accompanies the solution of a cross word puzzle. It’s good for the inferiority complex. ”

“ Have the youngsters join the happy throngs of Cross Word puzzle fans! Here is a book which will captivate and stimulate them.
It begins with small three-square cross word formations, alphabetically arranged, accompanied by definitions that the average youngster will understand and enjoy.
Gradually, the puzzles, which are printed in color, become larger and more difficult, thus giving the children an excellent opportunity to improve their minds while they are having the time of their lives. ”

“ In other words, everyone at a party can now have his own puzzle, and a contest can be arranged to see who will be the first to turn in a perfect solution.
This was first done at the Cross Word Puzzle Convention held at the Ambassador Hotel, New York, on May 18, 1924. Everybody there agreed that it was an intensely exciting and enjoyable party. A contest of this sort can be made really thrilling by scoring each contestant’s time with a stop-watch and noting the number of errors. The winner is the first person turning in a 100 per cent correct solution. ”

“ No creator has had a different experience. You can please some of the people, and the rest of it. It is part of the penalty of the builder to receive criticism. Scarce have the birth-pangs passed when the child is the storm-center of a tempest of contradictory comment.
It is, of course, an indeterminable debate. The Simplicities have their case, as have the Abstrusities. In the meantime, short of erasure and complete rebirth, the constructor’s pattern remains. ”

“ If you have never solved a cross word puzzle before, this one might be good for a starter. Captain Stewart displays an admirable taste for simple words, even though he must have his black squares to get them. ”

“ Puzzle No. 121 A ROSE WITH A THORN OR TWO
By Alfred A. Wicklund
Conscience compels the editors to warn the solver of several troublous words lying unobtrusively among a collection of pleasant and easily diverting ones. But that is the delight of cross word puzzling. The solver likes a little pain mixed with his pleasure. ”

“ We learned a few new useful words from this one. When you’ve worked out a new word in a puzzle, and studied its definition and pondered over its spelling, the chances are ten to one you’ll recognize it next time you see or hear it. ”

“ There are two essential points that must be remembered by initiates into the cross word puzzlers’ fraternity. First, the numbers in the squares refer to the definitions; secondly, there should be but one letter to each white square.
Figure 1 shows a cross word puzzle challenging each and every one of us to solve it. Looking the puzzle over we find that 1 horizontal calls for a seven letter word meaning “disparage.” That is not so easy, so we leave it temporarily. We go on to the next one, which is a three letter word meaning “a cereal grass.” ”

“ Rechecking the horizontals, we find that we have the first, third, fourth and fifth letters of “disparage,” and with their aid we easily see that the word is DETRACT. Looking for a two letter word meaning “an edge-tool,” we soon find that there is but one word that will fit. We place AX in position. With nine vertical beginning with an A it is easy to find that ARE is the proper word. Ten horizontal [12] proves to be EGG and eleven becomes ART. We say to ourselves that if we could only get five vertical we would have the puzzle solved. ”

“ The publishers and editors of the Cross Word Puzzle Books wish to record the debt of all Cross Word fans to The New York World for its pioneer work in the field. Cross Word Puzzles have been run in the Sunday World for over twenty years and their present nation-wide vogue had its origin in and received its greatest impetus from the Puzzle Page of the Sunday World Magazine. The fifty cross word puzzles in this book are all entirely new and have never been printed before in any publication. ”

“ The air is filled with ’tis and ’tain’t. The clan is divided into schools, which is well for the vitality of puzzling. It is undoubtedly true that a house divided against itself cannot stand; but it is also veritable that an art divided against itself flourisheth exceedingly.
The schism that is causing all the noise, reduced to its simplest terms, is stated in the question, “Shall the Cross Word Puzzle be made hard or easy?”
On the one hand stand the pundits, with thesaurus and dictionary armed. They crave queer words and exotic definitions. ”

“ Puzzle No. 114 BATTALION ATTENTION!
By Major
Cross word puzzles must be something like an intricate plan of a battle. The army delights in them. Here is one with word masses locking at center, masses of good, useful words. Map out your campaign—keep at it until the last long smile. ”

“ A recent questionnaire shows that the overwhelming majority of cross word puzzle fans prefer to get the answers on application rather than with the book. This makes the solving of the puzzles more entertaining and more instructive. ”

“ The spread eagled “X” seems to be one of the most natural ways of disposing blacks in a cross word puzzle. Do you know, by the way, that some of the most fascinating problems in cross word puzzling lie in the difficulty and ease involved in the various designs of the blacks. ”

“ Great variety may be attained in writing the definitions and as wide a scope as possible must be left to the constructor. The only requirement is common sense. This means that the definitions may be of the safe and sane dictionary kind, may be literary or historical, may employ secondary meanings cleverly, may be legitimately funny. Synonyms that are too far removed from the word and what Gelett Burgess calls “smarty-cat definitions” should be avoided. ”

“ Puzzle A—Easy, Puzzle B—Moderately Difficult, and Puzzle C—Difficult. Choose the one you think best adapted to the individuals who will be at your party. The price is the same: ten cents for each card in a sealed envelope.
For experienced puzzlers we have also printed on similar cardboards three puzzle designs, X, Y, and Z, each a bit more complicated than the previous one. A delightful party can be arranged by dividing the party into teams of two or three and setting the teams to constructing puzzles for each other. ”

“ By J. T. Delaney
“With such friends one does not need enemies,” an old proverb goes. Mr. Delaney is a familiar friend to followers of The Cross Word Puzzle Books, but the editors will bet that many a one has said that his worst enemy could not have given him more cold sweats. ”

“ The financial editor of The New York Evening Journal explains for the average man and woman the essentials of earning, saving, spending, and investing money—a genuinely helpful and fascinating volume in the new Common Sense Library. ”

“ So light, so handy, so well printed that it is a real pleasure to use it. The large vocabulary, rich with information so often needed by the busy reader and student, will be treasured by all users of English. ”

“ Puzzle No. 116 SOME LIKE ’EM HOT
By Madeleine Lubetty
A neater example of Cross Word construction one doesn’t come across often in one’s pursuit of the horizontal and vertical. Don’t worry about the unkeyed letters—the design and words more than make up for them. ”

“ Puzzle No. 135 SAFE AND SANE
By “Old Nick”
Many puzzlers will find an ideal example of what a Cross Word should be. In design, interlock, words and definitions it is very near to perfection. Constructors can learn a thing or two here. ”

“ Puzzle No. 124 POLYGON
By Harry R. Torr
It is pleasant sometimes to get away from the even square construction. This constructor does it quite neatly. He has a nice selection of easy and difficult words. ”

“ Puzzle No. 130 FOR INSOMNIACS
By Dennis R. Smith
We are told that puzzles put people to sleep and prevent nervous breakdowns by taking the subject’s mind off his troubles. This one should have therapeutic qualities, for according to the ratio rule it could have at least 38 black squares, whereas it has only 33. ”

“ Opposed to them stand the serried ranks of those whose pleasure lies in the accomplishment; who do not wish their onward march to [2] victory delayed by forests of Javanese shrubs or oceans full of rajidae with enlarged pectoral fins. Nor do they wish words torn far from their daily, or at least semi-weekly, use. A Leer by the river’s brim a simple Sly Glance is to them, and not an Annealing-furnace. ”

“ One successful contestant of a word contest offering cash prizes writes:
“Have won nearly $2,000.00 this year. Utterly impossible to accomplish success without the NEW INTERNATIONAL.”
WRITE for specimen pages and prices. ”

“ VERTICAL
1 Rejoiced 2 Wood god 3 That is 4 Great number 5 Step up to 7 American humorist 8 Latin incendiary 9 Concerning (Latin) 10 Poem 11 Seraphic 13 Literary bits 16 Vociferate 18 Bitter herbs 19 Liquor 21 End 23 Personal pronoun 26 None 29 Disease 30 Background 32 Scans 34 Upper curtain 36 Exclamation 37 Obsolete variant of “daw” 40 Snowshoe 42 Goddess of mischief 45 Workshop 47 New England state (abbr.) ”

“ HORIZONTAL
1 French coin 3 At a latter time 6 High mountain 8 Pole-star 11 Form of “to be” 13 Pedigrees 14 Prefix meaning two 15 Impersonal pronoun 17 Pen 18 Parent 19 Position-proud person 21 Island 23 Words parallel to this 24 Orient 25 Narrow groove 26 Negative 27 Part of anatomy 29 Mountain (abbr.) ”

“ HORIZONTAL
1 Thorny 7 Dele 11 Shudders 18 Brigand 19 Unit 20 Bring to light 21 Ideal 23 Father 25 Fall, glide, slip (rare) 26 Common metal 27 Outburst 29 Jewels 31 Edge of a dress 32 Lime tree 34 Wooden water vessels 35 Musical group 36 Work slowly through 37 Composition 39 Satiate 41 Wagers 42 Give syntax 43 Row 45 Muscular cords 47 Facts 48 Adam’s son 50 Frighten 51 Famous Italian actress 53 Room in a house 55 Golf term 56 Pie 59 Water container 61 Corrode 63 Severed 65 Not mad 67 Natural metal 68 Type of fly 69 Elongated fish 70 Beverage 71 Wax 73 Glisten 75 Sober ”

“ HORIZONTAL
1 Form of literary expression 5 Speculation 10 Constellation 11 To be mistaken 12 Thus 14 Consumed 16 Character in “Peer Gynt” 17 Upon 18 Tool for cutting threads 20 Be 22 Humped beast of burden 23 Spoken 25 Colored fluid 26 Cook in oven 27 Droop 29 Appear 31 Behold 32 Adverb and conjunction 34 Minute particle 36 Support 39 Undermines 41 Be in debt 43 Unit of linear measure 45 Fasten 46 Trapped, cornered (colloq.) 48 Caress 49 Expression of hesitancy 50 Unit of weight 51 Jurisprudence 53 Preposition, toward 54 Utensil 55 Used in ancient warfare 57 Poor in quality 58 Irritate ”

“ VERTICAL
1 Throw out hastily 2 Feels sorry for 3 Master of a style of literature 4 Short sleep 5 Pertaining to the ear 6 Fastens 8 Loud noise 9 Insect 10 Percolate 12 Greeting 13 Sickness 14 By the way of 15 Projection 16 Those who get up 17 Stopped 22 Body of ancient temple 23 Mailed 24 That which is kept 25 Rainbow 28 Flesh 30 Sciences 33 Pertaining to the uninitiated 36 Wets 38 Cycle of time 40 Growing out 41 Parts of the body 42 Bygone days 44 Annoy 46 Owing 47 Powder 49 Turned northward 51 Newspapers 52 Era 53 Docks 54 Product of coniferous trees 56 Fold 57 Gates (obs.) ”

“ HORIZONTAL
2 Allow 4 West European capital 6 Coincide 7 Impersonal pronoun 8 Symbol of metallic element 10 Talk over 13 Garment sellers 15 Personal pronoun 16 Cunning 17 Latin diphthong 18 Geometric ratio 19 Dry and hard 21 Conjunction 23 Dionysiac poet 25 Fostering 27 Believers in basic simplicities 29 Customs (Lat.) ”

“ HORIZONTAL
1 Poisonous tree 5 Theme or subject (mus.) 10 Color of unbleached stuff 14 Style 15 Tusks 16 Spoils 17 Kind of wind 19 Man’s name 20 Kind of cross shape 21 All right 22 To offer to verify 24 Obstruct 26 Roman copper coin 27 An arrow poison 28 Besides 30 The earth (Prov.) ”

“ HORIZONTAL
1 Spoil or mar 6 Species of rodents 11 Reduces 15 A petty dude 19 The sun god 21 Woe 22 A genus of American monkeys 23 A musical note 24 Belonging to a thing 26 Eat grass 27 Issue 28 Maker of honey 29 Produce designs on metal 31 Small wild ox (zool.) 32 Tidy 33 Stupid 34 The European finch (zool.) 36 Headmen (Hindu.) 38 Foundations (var.) 39 Showing favors 41 Silt (hyd. engine) 43 Exile 44 A compass box (naut.) 46 One who fishes with a net 47 A reptile 48 Scrapes together 50 Amphibians 51 Recital 52 Prominent people 56 Scatter 57 Etheral salt (chem.) ”