Fun: Spies, Puzzle Solvers, and a Century of Crosswords

In December 1913, the New York World newspaper published the first crossword in history. It appeared in their Sunday supplement, "Fun." A century later, this absorbing puzzle continues to attract (and infuriate) millions of devotees every day. But the world's most popular--and seemingly mundane--pastime has a surprising history, filled with intrigue and adventure.

Paolo Bacilieri's FUN transports us from turn-of-the-century New York to present-day Milan, taking in stories of ingenious puzzle makers, ardent solvers, and intellectual luminaries. Part detective story, part docudrama, and interlaced with a fiction of Bacilieri's own imagining, FUN questions the crossword's "harmless" status. Sure, it's fun--but could it also be a form of resistance, of cryptic communication, of espionage?

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Selfmadehero
Published: 06/06/2017
ISBN: 9781910593257
Pages: 296
Weight: 1.98lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.80w x 1.10d