The origin of published crossword can be traced back to the 1920s, when they first crossword book was published in the year 1924. Since its onset, crossword has replaced mah-jong and many other popular American games over the last eight or nine decades, and are still quite popular. Writing and solving crossword puzzles is a very good tool for sharpening ones focus and attentiveness. Any person solving or writing a crossword puzzle will see considerable change in their ability to be creative and to retain information. Some researchers are of the belief that crossword puzzles can also act as a cure to Alzheimers.
Word games like crossword and scrabble are known to help the players improve the accuracy of their spelling, and this is why these games are so attractive and popular. But besides spelling, crossword puzzles pave the way for efficient logical thinking, which is needed to solve the clues. Some of these clues are quite easy to understand, and can be solved with the help of common sense only. But some of the clues can be quite complicated, and may need logical reasoning, retained knowledge, etc. for the purpose of finding out the right answer and solving the puzzle.
As said earlier, some crossword puzzle clues are easy, and anyone with a strong vocabulary can easily come up with the answers. But these are only a handful. More than 60% clues given with the puzzle require your complete attention and focus, along with the use of knowledge, language skills, reasoning ability, and the ability to apply logic, to arrive at a proper and concrete solution, or rather answer, for the puzzle. These complicated clues are known to be formulated based on the concepts of probability, which must be adhered to if one wants to successfully solve the puzzle, within the given solution space, and within a certain time limit.
Many people have been known to use computers, and electronic puzzle solvers to complete crosswords. Crossword puzzles are available online for people to solve on a variety of websites, but the traditional tradition of using a pen or a pencil to solve the puzzle is still prevalent. The use of dictionaries, be it online or physical, is promoted due to the ever existing popularity of crossword puzzles, where a solver might make use of a standard unabridged dictionary, or a crossword specific thesaurus designed specifically for puzzle solvers. Some researchers and education experts are of the opinion that using a pen or pencil to solve a crossword puzzle is much more efficient than solving them online, as the use of a pen induces confidence in times of complexities for the puzzle solver, which is obviously a good and healthy thing.
In a nutshell, what we have understood is that crosswords are extremely important in our lives, as they stimulate intellectuality, helps us to learn to help ourselves, and also assist in the release and reduction of tension and stress that we face every day, owing to our modern lifestyle. Intelligent people will always be in search for tools that will stimulate their intellectuality, and that tool achieves a certain level of perfection in crossword puzzles of today. We will now look at the various points of importance of crosswords and also analyse why it is advantageous to solve them at least daily. Read on to find out more.
The importance of crossword puzzle
As said earlier, crossword puzzles offer various importance and advantages to whoever you solve them. Many people find it extremely irritating to solve these puzzles as they consider it to be a silly time waste, but in all actuality, crosswords are food for the mind, and the sooner the people realise this, the better it will be for them. Let us now look at some of the top reasons as to why crossword puzzles are so important. Read on to find out more about these advantages.
A healthy mentality for solvers
If you want your mind to remain fit and active for several years, and you want to maintain a healthy level of cognitive skills, namely analysis, comprehensive thinking, and logic, then you should definitely solve one crossword puzzle at least every day, or every two days.
Easy means of entertainment
When you decide on using crossword puzzle as a means of entertainment, you do not have to worry about carrying a heavy load everywhere you go, or worry about the batteries running out. You just need to have a book, magazine or newspaper which has a crossword puzzle, coupled with a pencil or pen, and you will get truly entertained. Online puzzles are also available, but lets face it going for the printed one is a much better and classy option.
Practicing your spelling and reasoning skills with puzzles
When you want to solve a crossword puzzle, you need to analyse each and every clue and write down the words within the provided boxes. But your accuracy of solving a crossword comes with your accuracy of spelling and reasoning. Without reasoning you cannot analyse the clues given to you, and without accurate spelling, the entire puzzle might go awry.
Avoiding diseases like Alzheimers with crossword
Researchers are of the opinion that solving crossword puzzles on a daily basis act as a healthy cure or prevention for Alzheimers disease. This belief is based around the concept that crossword puzzles have the ability to stimulate and change the cognitive aptitudes of the brain, especially in aging people.
Perfect for getting a grip on the language
Any word game is a good option for getting a strong grip on the English language. This is particularly true in case of crossword puzzles. For anyone who wants to improve their spelling and comprehension, crossword puzzles assist in learning new words and spellings, thereby making ones vocabulary stronger.
Particularly important for students of all age groups
It is believed by education systems nowadays that using crossword puzzles for the purpose of teaching students to focus and be attentive, as well as revise their lessons in a unique manner is a very good idea.