The New Yorker published its first issue in 1925, amid what the writer Adrienne Raphel has described as a nationwide “crossword craze.” But more than seventy years passed before the magazine introduced a crossword puzzle—a British-style cryptic crossword, which was gone before the twenty-first century arrived.
Two decades later, the Puzzles & Games Dept. was born online. On the few occasions when these new crosswords ran in print, the response was warm. “It is a special treat to be able to use a pen,” Barbara, from Colorado, wrote in to tell us; “I really enjoy the hard copy version,” Lauryl, from Massachusetts, enthused. Frostier were the letters when the puzzle didn’t return: “Why is there no crossword puzzle in the print magazine?? I’m very disappointed,” wrote Carla, from (where else?) New York.
Kvetching, Carla, will get you everywhere. Starting this week, the crossword will appear in every issue of the print magazine. The difficulty of the print puzzles will vary; each puzzle’s solution will arrive in the following issue. The crosswords will be made, as always, by our A-team of constructors: Erik Agard, Patrick Berry, Kameron Austin Collins, Elizabeth C. Gorski, Natan Last, Wyna Liu, Aimee Lucido, Caitlin Reid, Anna Shechtman, and Robyn Weintraub.
These crosswords will also appear on the Web site, which will continue to offer the full range of our puzzles, with crosswords every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday—harder at the beginning of the week, easier going into the weekend—plus cryptics from the archive on Sundays and special collections during the holidays. If you never want to miss a puzzle, sign up for our crossword newsletter.
Digital crosswords have their advantages—immediate access to solutions, for instance, and Partner Mode, which lets long-distance friends solve our puzzles in tandem. Print crosswords may be superior in bathtubs (fewer waterlogged devices), on beaches (less glare), and off the grid (no Wi-Fi, no problem). Whatever your milieu, the medium is now yours to choose. Happy solving.
