Forget riddles, conundrums, or that modern usurper Sudoku, the crossword is the original and best word puzzle and it has truly stood the test of time. A decade-by-decade history of the world's favorite word puzzle, this book starts from its beginnings in December 1913 in the New York World newspaper and traces its path to total global domination, with each chapter including puzzles from that era for readers to solve. Next it examines the myriad of different puzzle types, and again provides examples. Following that it discusses different crossword setters, offering their words of wisdom as well as example puzzles. The history concludes with a consideration of future solving and the next 100 years.