Five down, Absquatulated: Crossword puzzle clues to how the mind works

Abstract

Doing crossword puzzles is a popular pastime; no one knows how many people do them, but estimates go as high as 50 million or more in the United States alone. Success at crossword puzzles taxes several aspects of memory and cognition. The purpose of this article is to consider hints that crosswords provide and questions that they prompt regarding how the mind works. Implicated topics include word associations, lexical memory search, semantic priming, the sparseness of word space, list generation, the feeling of knowing and of not knowing, mental aging, and the crossword puzzle as a vehicle for studying cognition.

The Potential of Crossword Puzzles in Aiding English Language Learners

“…The frustrations of the ELLs in this study mirror, to a great degree, the same frustrations I, as a native speaker of English, faced when doing a crossword puzzle for the first time; namely, a lack of linguistic and cultural knowledge as it applies to the puzzle as well as a lack of familiarity with crossword puzzle solving strategy. These results coincide with what Nickerson () considers to be the three vital keys of success when doing a crossword: “linguistic knowledge, general knowledge, and knowledge that is relatively specific to the doing of crossword puzzles” (p. 226).…”

“…However, crossword puzzle clues, which often provide no more than one word, lack this immediate context. For example, many clues can be used as both nouns and verbs (e.g., stop , interest ) and can have both nouns and verbs as synonyms (Nickerson, ). Hyun‐woo found this lack of context challenging: “I didn't know the meaning of the clues.…”

“…Crossword puzzles have been researched in connection with many facets of cognitive development. Examples include analysis of the cognitive skills of crossword enthusiasts (Underwood, Deihim, & Batt, ), investigation of how the structure of words in the mental lexicon helps solve word fragments in which letters are either clustered or dispersed (Goldblum & Frost, ), the link between types of crossword puzzle clues and how the mind works (Nickerson, ), and crossword puzzles and lexical memory (Nickerson, ). Research has also been conducted to investigate the role of crossword puzzles and other similar activities in the cognitive functioning of senior citizens (see Gidicsin et al., ; Pillai et al., ; Swain, ).…”

Crossword expertise as recognitional decision making: an artificial intelligence approach

“…Crossword puzzles were first introduced in 1913, and have become both a popular pastime, mental training aid, and a domain of study for psychological researchers (e.g., Nickerson, 2011), who have long acknowledged the role of memory access in puzzle solving. Previously, Mueller and Thanasuan (2014) we proposed a model of the basic memory search processes involved in solving individual crossword clues, and suggest that the joint access and constraint provided by cues in crossword puzzles make it similar to expert decision making in many domains.…”

Instructional Strategies for High School ELL Refugee Students in Mathematics

“…According to Merkel (2016), "Crossword puzzles have been researched in connection with many facets of cognitive development" such as "analysis of the cognitive skills of crossword enthusiasts (Underwood, Deihim, & Batt, 1944), investigation of how the structure of words in the mental lexicon helps solve word fragments in which letters are either clustered or dispersed (Goldblum & Frost, 1988), the link between types of crossword puzzle clues and how the mind works (Nickerson, 2011), and crossword puzzles and lexical memory (Nickerson, 1977)" (as cited in Merkel, 2016, p. 902). In spite of efforts to value the efficacy of crossword puzzles in ELL education, Merkel (2016) concludes that there is no research on the efficacy of crossword puzzles for ELLs.…”