Snapshot · Freakonomics Radio
The NYT launched its crossword puzzle in February 1942, 11 days after Pearl Harbor, explicitly to give the public mental engagement during wartime anxiety.
Where this was said
At 31:08 · chapter starts 29:55
The Times' anti-game past is one of the episode's richest ironies. While rival paper the New York World published the first modern crossword in 1913, the Grey Lady published an editorial in 1924 calling crossword mania a 'sinful waste' akin to mahjong set overpricing. Dubner reads the passage aloud with evident pleasure. Then, 18 years later, the paper reversed course entirely: 11 days after the Pearl Harbor attack, Sunday editor Lester Markle wrote to publisher Arthur Sulzberger arguing that the country needed a puzzle to occupy the 'bleak blackout hours.' The NYT crossword launched in February 1942. Hardiman links that founding logic — using games to keep minds engaged during crisis — directly to the present moment, noting the parallel between wartime anxiety and today's geopolitical turbulence. Last year, the Times' puzzles were played 11.2 billion times.
In 1924, the New York Times published an editorial calling crossword puzzle mania a 'sinful waste,' a stark contrast to the 11.2 billion plays its puzzles now receive annually.
NYT Games puzzles were played 11.2 billion times in a single year, illustrating the staggering scale of the Times' gaming audience.
Eleven days after Pearl Harbor, the NYT's Sunday editor wrote a memo arguing for a crossword puzzle to give the public mental engagement during bleak blackout hours. The same logic applies today.
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