From Wordle to Spelling Bee, we live in a time of word game mania. Crosswords, in particular, gained renewed popularity during the COVID-19 lockdown, when games became another kind of refuge. Today, 36 million Americans solve crosswords once a week or more, and nearly 23 million solve them daily. Yet, as longtime New Yorker crossword contributor Natan Last will tell you, the seemingly apolitical puzzle has never been more controversial. In recent years, popular puzzle makers have been challenged for the way they prioritize certain cultures and perspectives as either the norm (read: white and male) or obscure (everyone else). At the same time, the crossword has never been more democratic. A larger, younger, more tech-savvy, and solidaristic group of people have fallen in love with puzzle solving, ushering in a more inclusive rise to the kinds of people constructing them, challenging the very idea of them and, in fact, what 'normal' actually is.
Last’s range and intelligence help sell the importance of the crossword, then and now. Still, its lack of a direct throughline can be frustrating. Like a particularly manic solver, he attacks the subject in an across-and-down fashion ... It’s all relevant, and Last is a bright and witty guide through all of it. He demands a certain comfort level with disorientation, though ... Still, that’s kind of the point: For him, puzzles should motivate solvers to be more than half-thinking box fillers. Instead, we should be comfortable learning new ideas through the puzzle
A love letter to the crossword puzzle that is sprawling in its scope, deeply nerdy in sensibility, and passionate at its core ... Chapter 5...contains some of the most compelling content in the book. This is where Last really digs into the way crossword puzzles can (and have) reinforced cultural hegemony ... Overall, the book reads less like a cohesive narrative of the history of crossword puzzles and more like a collection of essays that include history and relevance to the culture alongside anecdotes both historical and personal. The structure suffers a bit for both meandering and repetition ... It should be at the top of every gift guide for word nerds and puzzle enthusiasts everywhere..
Last is uniquely qualified to present the story of the crossword, having been solving and later constructing puzzles for most of his life ... [A] nuanced analysis.
