Tag Archives: world war ii

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Cinematic Crossword Codecracking edition!

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Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

And today, I’d like to revisit one of my favorite puzzle constructors, David Kwong!

[Check out David’s session of 5 Questions here.]

Not only is he a topnotch constructor, he’s also a magician who performs his own signature tricks while consulting for film projects and television shows. He’s worked on The Mindy Project, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and Now You See Me (as well as the upcoming sequel).

And his latest collaborative efforts just hit theaters yesterday in The Imitation Game, the Benedict Cumberbatch/Keira Knightley film detailing Alan Turing’s efforts at Bletchley Park to break the infamous German Enigma Code during World War II.

But it was David’s crossword skills on display this time around, as he constructed the crossword Alan Turing uses in the film to test potential cryptographers in the movie.

I don’t have that crossword for you to solve, unfortunately, but thanks to The New York Times and Deb Amlen’s Wordplay blog, I can offer you a link to an actual crossword Alan Turing created for The Telegraph.

Plus, the official website for The Imitation Game has a puzzle you can solve to unlock exclusive content. (Just click the link and then click “Crack the code” in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.)

The film is already being hailed as one of the best of the year. I can’t wait to see what David works on next.

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A revolution in puzzles?

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Crosswords have certainly changed the world. They’re the most popular puzzles in history, challenging the minds of millions every day and kickstarting a pencil-and-paper puzzle revolution in the process. Heck, they’ve even been used in England as part of the recruitment process for code breakers and other puzzly government positions!

But did you know that some constructors have been accused of trying to bring about actual revolutions with crosswords?

Oh yes! The Venezuelan newspaper El Aragueno has been accused on several occasions of hiding encrypted messages within their daily crossword puzzles in order to incite revolt against the government. (And a year ago, another Venezuelan newspaper, Ultimas Noticias, was accused of concealing messages ordering the assassination of a public official!)

While there are no details on what the incendiary message secretly contained within El Aragueno’s puzzle might have said, this isn’t the only time crosswords and constructors have run afoul of the powers that be.

Back in June of 1944, physics teacher and crossword constructor Leonard Dawe was questioned by authorities after several words coinciding with D-Day invasion plans appeared in London’s Daily Telegraph.

The words Omaha (codename for one of Normandy’s beaches), Utah (another Normandy beach codename), Overlord (the name for the plan to land at Normandy on June 6th), mulberry (nickname for a portable harbor built for D-Day), and Neptune (name for the naval portion of the invasion) all appeared in Daily Telegraph crosswords during the month preceding the D-Day landing.

So it was possible (though highly improbable) that Dawe was purposely trying to inform the enemy of Allied plans, and the powers that be acted accordingly. (In the end, no definitive link could be found, and consensus is that Dawe either overheard these words, possibly slipped by soldiers stationed nearby, and slipped them into his grids unwittingly, or this is simply an incredible coincidence.)

Either way, it just goes to show you how influential crosswords have been (and could be!) over the last hundred years.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out our library of PuzzleNation apps and games!