New York Times Shunned Crosswords

In 1924, The New York Times dismissed crossword puzzles as a "sinful waste" and a "primitive sort of mental exercise," then refused to publish them for nearly two decades. After Pearl Harbor, a December 1941 memo argued that readers would need relaxation and something to occupy them during bleak blackout hours. The newspaper finally published its first Sunday crossword on February 15, 1942, before making the puzzle a daily feature in 1950.

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