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''The New York Times'' crossword puzzle is a daily puzzle published in ''The New York Times'', online at the newspaper's website, syndicated to more than 300 other newspapers and journals,〔(The New York Times News Syndicate )〕 and available as mobile apps.〔(''New York Times'' Crosswords for BlackBerry )〕〔(''New York Times'' Crosswords for iOS )〕〔(''New York Times'' Crosswords for Kindle Fire )〕〔(''New York Times'' Crosswords for Barnes and Noble Nook )〕 The puzzle is created by various freelance constructors and has been edited by Will Shortz since 1993. The puzzle becomes increasingly difficult throughout the week, with the easiest puzzle on Monday and the most difficult puzzle on Saturday.〔(Will Shortz "How to Solve the ''New York Times'' Crossword", ''The New York Times'', 2001-04-08. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. )〕 The larger Sunday crossword, which appears in ''The New York Times Magazine'', is an icon in American culture; it is typically intended to be as difficult as a Thursday puzzle.〔 The standard daily crossword is 15 squares × 15 squares, while the Sunday crossword measures 21 squares × 21 squares (previously, 23 × 23 square Sunday puzzles were also accepted; in addition a special set of 25 × 25 Sunday puzzles, with two sets of clues—easy and hard—was published in 1999 to commemorate the upcoming millennium).〔(New York Times crossword puzzle archive--1999 (subscription required). Retrieved on 2009-03-13. )〕〔("New York Times Crossword Specification Sheet" )〕 ==History== While crosswords became popular in the early 1920s, it was not until 1942 that ''The New York Times'' (which initially regarded crosswords as frivolous, calling them "a primitive form of mental exercise") began running a crossword in its Sunday edition.〔((Unsigned Editorial) "Topics of the Times" ''The New York Times'', 1924-11-17. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. (Subscription required.) )〕〔(Richard F. Shepard "Bambi is a Stag and Tubas Don't Go 'Pah-Pah': The Ins and Outs of Across and Down" ''The New York Times Magazine'', 1992-02-16. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. )〕 The first puzzle ran on Sunday, February 15, 1942. The motivating impulse for the ''Times'' to finally run the puzzle (which took over 20 years even though its publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, was a longtime crossword fan) appears to have been the bombing of Pearl Harbor; in a memo dated December 18, 1941, an editor conceded that the puzzle deserved space in the paper, considering what was happening elsewhere in the world and that readers might need something to occupy themselves during blackouts.〔 The puzzle proved popular, and Sulzberger himself would author a ''Times'' puzzle before the year was out.〔 In 1950, the crossword became a daily feature. That first daily puzzle was published without an author line, and to this day the identity of the author of the first weekday ''Times'' crossword remains unknown.〔(Will Shortz "150th Anniversary: 1851-2001; The Addiction Begins" ''The New York Times'', 2001-11-14. Retrieved on 2009-13-13. )〕 There have been four editors of the puzzle: Margaret Farrar from the puzzle's inception until 1969; Will Weng, former head of the ''Times's'' metropolitan copy desk, until 1977; Eugene T. Maleska until his death in 1993; and the current editor, Will Shortz. In addition to editing the ''Times'' crosswords, Shortz founded and runs the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament as well as the World Puzzle Championship (where he remains captain of the US team), has published numerous books of crosswords, sudoku, and other puzzles, authors occasional variety puzzles (a.k.a. "Second Sunday puzzles"; see below) to appear alongside the Sunday ''Times'' puzzle, and serves as "Puzzlemaster" on the NPR show "Weekend Edition Sunday".〔(Author unknown. "A Puzzling Occupation: Will Shortz, Enigmatologist" Biography of Will Shortz from American Crossword Puzzle Tournament homepage, dated March 1998. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. )〕〔(Leora Baude "Nice Work if You Can Get It", Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences, 2001-01-19. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. )〕 The popularity of the puzzle grew over the years, until it came to be considered the most prestigious of the widely circulated crosswords in America; its popularity is attested to by the numerous celebrities and public figures who've publicly proclaimed their liking for the puzzle, including opera singer Beverly Sills,〔 author Norman Mailer,〔(Will Shortz "CROSSWORD MEMO; What's in a Name? Five Letters or Less" ''The New York Times'', 2003-03-09. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. )〕 baseball pitcher Mike Mussina,〔(David Germain "Crossword guru Shortz brings play on words to Sundance" Associated Press, 2006-01-23. Retrieved on 2009-03-13. )〕 former President Bill Clinton,〔 conductor Leonard Bernstein,〔 TV host Jon Stewart〔 and music duo the Indigo Girls.〔 The ''Times'' puzzles have been collected in hundreds of books over the years from various publishers, most notably Random House and St. Martin's Press, the current publisher of the series.〔(New York Times store--crossword books )〕 In addition to their appearance in the printed newspaper, the ''Times'' puzzles also appear online at the paper's website, where they require a separate subscription to access.〔(The New York Times crossword puzzle online (subscription required) )〕 In 2007, Majesco released ''The New York Times Crosswords'' game, a video game adaptation for the Nintendo DS handheld. The game includes over 1,000 ''Times'' crosswords from all days of the week. Various other forms of merchandise featuring the puzzle have been created over the years, including dedicated electronic crossword handhelds that just contain ''Times'' crosswords, as well as a variety of ''Times'' crossword-themed memorabilia including cookie jars, baseballs, cufflinks, plates, coasters, mousepads, and the like.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The New York Times crossword puzzle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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