Types of crosswords with numbers. Types and types of crosswords Where did crosswords come from?
Many adults and children love to solve crossword puzzles, but few know what a crossword puzzle actually is and where it came from. This is exactly what this article will talk about.
What is a crossword puzzle?
What is a crossword? A crossword puzzle is a word game. This game is the most common and intellectual. If you literally translate the word “crossword” from English, you get two independent words: cross and words. Thus, translated into Russian, we get a cross of words or a cross word. From this we can conclude that the crossword puzzle has its own distinctive property - it consists of the intersection of words. And his main rule is that each letter must be written separately from the others, in its own cell.
To summarize, we found out that the crossword puzzle has its own distinctive properties and its own rules of composition. But in many newspapers and magazines, a crossword puzzle refers to completely different tasks that are not related to the intersection of words, or even not related to solving words at all. This means that such “crosswords” were invented by illiterate compilers, and such publications themselves cannot be considered high-quality.
So, we have figured out what a crossword puzzle is in its classic version, then we will look at what crossword puzzles are.
Types of crosswords
Sometimes it is difficult to understand what a crossword puzzle is, based only on its name. The classification of crossword puzzles by their geographical name is more understandable: for example, a crossword puzzle can be American, English, Russian, Scandinavian or Japanese. Such crosswords have their own rules, which are the same in almost all publications, and they are always solved according to the same principle.
But it also happens that it is difficult to understand from the name what kind of crossword it is. For example, Chinatown has nothing in common with either tea or Chinese teatown. This is a linear crossword, where the words should not intersect, as in a classic crossword, but they are located in one line. In this case, the last letter of the last word is the beginning of the next one.
Another type of crossword is a cyclocrossword. It also has a special structure: all the words here have the same number of letters and are located around the task.
So, we figured out what a crossword puzzle is, now let’s look at the history of the appearance of the crossword puzzle.
Where did crosswords come from?
The earliest mention of a crossword puzzle is considered to be a slab with a design very reminiscent of a crossword puzzle. It was found during excavations of an ancient settlement in England and dates back to the 3rd-4th century.
Modern crosswords appeared relatively recently - about a century ago. But where exactly they appeared is a very controversial issue. Today, the UK, USA and South Africa dispute the right to be considered the birthplace of crossword puzzles. Each country has its own history of the appearance of the first crossword puzzle. For example, residents of England believe that the first crossword puzzles began to be published by the London newspaper The Times in the mid-19th century. And in the USA they believe that they have been publishing crossword puzzles since 1913 in the New York World newspaper.
Residents of South Africa tell a very romantic story about the appearance of the first crossword puzzle: they were invented by a prison inmate who drew his puzzles on the stone floor of his cell. The fellow inmates approved of this novelty, and it was subsequently transferred to paper and mailed to the newspaper.
Crossword in a child's life
What is a crossword puzzle in a child's life? Teachers answer this question unequivocally: this is an intellectual game that helps develop memory, teaches a culture of thinking, and teaches you to look for missing information. While solving a crossword puzzle, the child consolidates the acquired knowledge, and during this, active memorization works, which helps to effectively learn the material.
When choosing crossword puzzles for children, you need to take into account the child’s age capabilities, only then solving a crossword puzzle will benefit him, facilitate further learning, and also become a fun and useful activity.
Author Marquise without Karabas asked a question in the section Crosswords, scanwords
What is the name of the crossword puzzle? where are the words that need to be looked for and crossed out? and got the best answer
Answer from Yeemen Semyonovich Gorbunkov[guru]
A fillword is a type of crossword puzzle that differs significantly from the classic version. This puzzle is quite simple, which is perhaps why it is so popular in different countries. Very often it is published by various children's publications. There are German filvord and Hungarian filvord. Both of these crosswords resemble the English crossword, but in both cases there are differences.
The Hungarian crossword (another name for fillword) has a field without black cells and numbering. The entire field is filled with letters. Each letter can be part of only one word. The words in this crossword do not intersect and do not form “crosses” - this is one of the main differences between a fillword and a classic crossword.
Words in a fillword can be bent, but only at right angles (words are not arranged diagonally), and cannot have common letters with other words. Words should only touch each other. The fillword, like a regular crossword puzzle, contains definitions; the answers to them must be solved. Definitions in children's vocabulary are often given in the form of illustrations.
The solution to the crossword puzzle is as follows: in the crossword puzzle field filled with letters, you need to find the words that are the answers to the given definitions. All letters of the found word must be crossed out. The same letter cannot be crossed out twice. After solving the crossword puzzle, there should be no uncrossed out letters. If, after the words of all the definitions have been found, there are still letters in the crossword puzzle field, then one more problem must be solved: from these letters you need to form a word, which will be the crossword clue.
German crossword (another name is filword) - this puzzle is solved according to the same rules as the Hungarian crossword. It also does not have black cells, and the words written in the grid must be guessed and the letters of the guessed words must be crossed out. But there are slight differences. In German philword, words can be written in any direction, even diagonally, and letters can be repeated several times.
Sometimes a fillword is included in a crossword puzzle or crossword puzzle and is part of them; this applies to those words that are in the body of the crossword puzzle or crossword puzzle and are definitions.
Reply from Vladislav Kuchma[newbie]
THANK YOU BUT WHY IN SO DETAIL
Reply from 3 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: what is the name of the type of crossword puzzle? where are the words that need to be looked for and crossed out?
Enter known letters in the "mask" input field, replacing unknown letters with the hyphen "-" (or *?._ signs), if the number of letters is unknown, use the "+" sign, inserting instead of the missing letters, if necessary, add a short and succinct description .
If the possibilities of using a “mask” do not suit you, then there is the possibility of using the classic method - indicate how many letters are in the word (the field on the right instead of a mask) and fill in the known ones.
It is worth noting that the creators of crossword puzzles are quite clever in coming up with tasks, and our database may not contain similar descriptions; in this case, we recommend that you focus on searching for a word using a mask. And to prevent this from happening again next time and to make your contribution to the work of the service, you can add the answer you find to our database. We are very grateful to our users for this.
Our assistant has become smarter and now understands if you indicate the number of letters of the searched word directly in the description, for example like this: " capital 6 letters", in this case, the assistant will set 6 letters as a mask and will search for capitals using this mask. If the number of letters is not defined, then the assistant will understand: " capital of Russia without letters", in this case, the number of specified letters will be reset. In the hope of making the assistant more convenient, we added to it the ability to correct typos, but unfortunately it does not always cope with this correctly.
EXAMPLE:
Suppose, while solving a crossword or scanword puzzle, you came across the following task:
A small town in North America, 7 letters.
It is known that the first letter is “B”, then it makes sense to enter the task in the assistant as follows - in the field for entering a mask (template), enter “B------”, i.e. we set the first letter “B” and six spaces, indicating that the word has 7 letters, and in the description field we enter “city of America” and that’s it - the service will give a decision that this is the city “Burbank” or “Brandon”, from which you will choose most suitable.
FIND ANSWERS TO ANY TYPES OF *WORDS:
The crossword puzzle has gained incredible popularity all over the world, and this is not surprising. Crossword puzzles are a great exercise for the brain. This is an educational game for people of all ages. Solving crossword puzzles broadens your horizons, trains your memory, logical and associative thinking.Why solving crosswords is very useful: London scientists will tell you.
Note that solving and searching for words for scanwords and chainwords is done in a similar way. If necessary, i.e. When solving a complex crossword puzzle, it is better to enter a description using keywords that describe exactly the essence of an object or phenomenon.
In addition to entertainment purposes, solving crossword puzzles is also educational in nature - teachers have long realized that in a playful form, new information is remembered by children much easier, therefore they are actively introducing teaching methods through crossword puzzles in their classes. In medicine, crosswords are used as a sedative. And among the people, this is a wonderful way not to fall asleep in public transport on the way to work and pass the time.
Also, a crossword puzzle can serve as an excellent educational game for parents and children. An older child can create a small crossword puzzle on a given topic or on the theme of a favorite cartoon, for example, and entertain his friends with such a game. In addition to playing, solving crossword puzzles is a great way to learn new things and increase a child’s vocabulary.
Types of crosswords
Thanks to the huge popularity of this word game, more and more varieties of crossword puzzles are appearing in the world. Let's take a look at the most popular types of crosswords.
Classical- a standard crossword puzzle, the design of which is symmetrical, the answer words are written from top to bottom and from left to right. Riddles for such a crossword puzzle are divided into two types - horizontally and vertically.
Scanword- one of the most popular crossword puzzles. The grid of an ideal crossword puzzle does not contain black cells, so it is difficult to compose, but easy to solve. Questions for answer words are given in grid squares, and not like a classic crossword - under the grid. The answers are written relative to the signs. The task in the scanword can be a picture or photograph.
Japanese crossword– unlike other crossword puzzles, the answer will not be a word, but a picture. The numbers located vertically and horizontally on the grid indicate the number of merged cells. There must be at least one empty cell between groups of numbers. The player's task is to find out how many empty cells there are between groups of numbers.
Alphabetical– the words in such a crossword puzzle have a certain common feature, for example, they consist of the same number of letters or start with the same letter.
Fragmentary– in crosswords of this type, the riddle is a photograph or picture, and the arrow indicates the direction in which the answer is written.
Crossword rebus- similar to a fragmentary crossword puzzle, but instead of a photograph, the riddle is a rebus or charade, after solving which the player enters the guessed word.
Criss-cross(American) – in the grid of such a crossword puzzle you need to enter certain words given next to it. Depending on the complexity of the crossword puzzle, several words may already be included in the grid.
Dual (diward)– letters are already written into the grid of such a crossword puzzle, but there are two of them in each cell. You need to guess which letter is the odd one in each cell, and then the dual crossword puzzle is solved.
Philward, or Hungarian crossword, - the grid of this crossword is a field filled with letters. In this field, you must search and cross out words that are read along a broken line, and not a single letter of the word can be used in another word. There is also a German fillword, in which words must be crossed out only in a straight line, and the same letter can appear in several words at the same time.
Keyward(keyword) - letters in the keyword are replaced by numbers; the same letters correspond to the same digital designations. The player needs to guess which number corresponds to which letter. The clue can be an open word or several letters.
Linear– such a crossword puzzle is a kind of chain of words, where the last letter of the word is the first letter of the next one. Unlike a regular crossword, words in a linear crossword cannot overlap.
Each of the crosswords may have a feature of another crossword, so any of the above types of crosswords can be humorous - in such crosswords the riddle for the answer is usually written in a humorous form, or thematic, i.e. dedicated to a specific topic.
Scientists conducted an experiment and found that people who solve crossword puzzles intuitively choose a crossword puzzle according to their abilities. And if a person copes with a crossword puzzle, it brings great satisfaction and confidence in his abilities. So solve crossword puzzles! Whatever crossword puzzle you choose, be sure that you will spend your time usefully and with pleasure.
This type of puzzle was invented at the beginning of our era. And they became widespread in the 19th century, after many newspapers and magazines began to be published. But it reached Russia only in 1925, appearing in the Leningrad magazine “Rezec”. Now these puzzles are published in various publications, as well as as independent collections. The rules of the classic crossword are simple - it consists of a grid of cells intersecting with each other. The task consists of fairly detailed questions and definitions. Crossword puzzles in, or are common as variations.In St. Petersburg there is an International Club of Russian Crosswords “Krestoslovitsa”.
Scandinavian crossword
This view is a continuous field of cells, some of which have questions written in them. The directions of the answers are indicated in the form of arrows. Because of the small space in which the writing must fit, the questions are short definitions, associations, or even abbreviations. In general, scanwords are more popular than classic crosswords. The density of intersection of words in them is much greater, so it becomes easier to choose the correct answers. However, there are also more complex varieties of Scandinavian crosswords. For example, in “capacious scanwords” more than one letter fits into some cells, and in “hexagonal” words fit in 6 directions at once.Hungarian crossword
This variety is also called "fillword". The Hungarian crossword is a square box with letters already written in, which make up the answers. However, words can be written in different directions and bend at right angles without intersecting. In simple answer words, hints are given for the answers - definitions or pictures. In more complex ones, only the number of words and their topics are indicated. A variation of the Hungarian crossword is English. In it, words can only go in a straight line, but their intersection is acceptable.Specialized crossword publications appeared in the 1990s.