THE CROSSWORD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 364, 27 October 1932, Page 2

THE CROSSWORD

[TS ABIDINCS CLAIM FASCINATION SHOWS NO SIGNS OF WANING. SUITS ALL INTELLIGENCES. "Tlie crdssword loolcs like lasting. Starting timidly in the dailies, it has summoned to surrendel- the most 1m- * pregriahle castles of solemn British | journalism. The time will no doubt j come, a few thousand years hence," says he Nursng Mirror, "whien archaeologists will puzzle over a strange pattern of blgck and white dimly revealed in a torn fragment of undated newspaper arid will pronounce it according to their donnisK -predilections a pre-Cbristian desigri of a tesselated pavement of a BritishRomari villa or an X-ray photo of a bathroom ffoor talcen by aerop'lane in the twenty-first century A.D. "Wherein lies the secret of its abiding charm ? One reason may be. that it is a pastime which can be played happily alone or equally enjoyed in the compariy of otKers. It pleases alike the club woman and the solitaire. ' Who lcnows what happy modern romances may not have owed their origin to the fact that Ann's and Michael's heads came together over the discovery that 'era' was 'a very long period,' or 'em' a 'printer's measure?' What brought the happy pair together may thereafter unite them. These little patterns with their numbered clues will be their aniusement for dull evenings, a solace at the • domestic hearth. IVIarried people know how many a cross word has been avoided by the crossword. "An other cause of popularity may lie in the fact that the croosword can be adapted to suit every kind of brain. There .are easy crosswords, light as souffles; there are crosswords tough as steaks; there are wicked, tortuous crosswords that require the patience of Job, the knowledge of a senior wrangler, the leisure of a Roman Emperor, and the digestion of an ostrich. 'Perhaps the best explanation is that the result, when at last obtained, is so wholly satisfying. Some haughty patience players have been known to sweep the cards aside when success is so near in sight as to be ultimately eertain. But no one who can help it will lay their crossword down before every space is filled with letters like jewels cunningly intertwisted and interwoven. Like its sistar, the jig-saw, it is sweet to the very end. Each word is a victory; the solving of the final clue a triumph."