Sampling tens of thousands of crosswords from Saul Pwanson’s puzzle database, she and her fellow researchers sorted people mentioned in crossword clues and used as crossword answers by race and gender according to US Census categories.Īnd their conclusion, sadly, was hardly unexpected: It’s a reminder that I can be the standard, not just the deviant.Īnd she put the data to work to prove her point. When I see black women engineers, or powerful athletes, or queer couples centered in a puzzle, it makes me feel seen and significant. But more importantly, if you’re a solver like me, it’s meaningful to see yourself and your experiences in the puzzle, especially if they are often unseen or underappreciated. A puzzle that subtly promotes the idea that white men are the standard, the people everyone should know about, is a problem for all of us (yes, even the white men).Ī less homogenous puzzle would be an opportunity for many solvers to expand their worldviews. Striving to “better understand who is being referenced in crossword puzzles,” McGhee made a strong point about the influence crosswords have as a reflection on society:Ĭrosswords tell us something about what we think is worth knowing. This does raise the question, however, of inclusiveness when it comes to cluing and crossword entries.Īnd that question has been tackled quite brilliantly by Michelle McGhee in an article for The Pudding.

(It comes as no surprise that two of the voices encouraging female puzzle creators are Erik Agard and David Steinberg, both of whom stepped up massively in the wake of the Timothy Parker scandal and have been advocates for greater inclusiveness in crosswords.) Back in March, at the urging of constructor Rebecca Falcon, several outlets participated in Women’s March, a concentrated effort in the puzzle community to support, foster, and cultivate more minority voices in crosswords.

It was an eye-opening piece about gender disparity among published constructors, backed up by smart research.Īnd there has been a greater push for inclusion on the construction side of crosswords. In 2018, Erik Agard compiled stats on how often the work of female constructors appeared in the major crossword outlets across the first four months of that year. This led to Parker’s removal from both the USA Today and Universal crosswords.īut the impact of data analysis in crosswords doesn’t stop there. Eventually, more than 65 puzzles were determined to feature “suspicious instances of repetition” with previously published puzzles in the New York Times and other outlets, with hundreds more showing some level of repetition. In recent years, we have been able to analyze decades of crosswords like never before, drawing important conclusions and uncovering trends both intriguing and shocking.īack in 2016, the data analysis of programmer Saul Pwanson and constructor Ben Tausig uncovered a pattern of unlikely repeated entries in the USA Today and Universal crosswords, both of which were then edited by Timothy Parker. So it should come as no surprise to you that the world of crosswords is no different.

Your social media use alone is an absolute treasure trove of data that tells businesses all sorts of information about your activities, spending habits, and more. Everything is quantified, analyzed, charted, and graphed. We live in a data-driven world these days.

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