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From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.games
Subject: Crossword puzzles
Message-ID: <7727@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 26-Jan-85 15:13:13 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.7727
Posted: Sat Jan 26 15:13:13 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Jan-85 06:30:54 EST
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Xref: watmath net.nlang:2493 net.games:1531

How common or prevalent are crossword (and similar) puzzles outside the
English-speaking countries? Are they commonly found in newspapers and
speciality magazines in most countries whose script uses alphabets, or are
they a uniquely Anglo-American pastime?

I recall a Thai fellow-student in an Army class at Ft. Lee being completely
bewildered by a puzzle I was solving (it happened to be a Kingsley double-
crostic, but in many ways similar to ordinary crosswords); he found it to
be something completely alien to his experience. I could see that many
Oriental languages might be unsuited to crossword-style puzzles, but I
would think that most Western languages would work OK. However, I've read
that English has a much richer pool of synonyms to draw upon, which makes
it more suitable for both easy and elaborately-difficult clues. 

Comments welcomed.

Regards,
Will Martin

USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin     or   ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA