{ "item_title" : "Across the Universe", "item_author" : [" Natan Last "], "item_description" : "An entertaining and eye-opening look at the history of crossword puzzles, who constructs them, and why crosswords matter as both a reflection of and influence on our cultureShould be at the top of every gift guide for word nerds and puzzle enthusiasts everywhere. --Chicago Review of BooksA gridful of insight and pleasure.--Stefan Fatsis, bestselling author of Word Freak and UnabridgedFrom Wordle to Spelling Bee, we live in a time of word game mania. Crosswords in particular gained renewed popularity during the COVID-19 lockdown, when games became another kind of refuge. Today, 36 million Americans solve crosswords once a week or more, and nearly 23 million solve them daily. Yet, as longtime New Yorker crossword contributor Natan Last will tell you, the seemingly apolitical puzzle has never been more controversial--or more interesting. A surprisingly ubiquitous influence in the worlds of art, literature, and technology, as Last demonstrates, the puzzle and its most popular purveyors--including publications such as The New York Times, still the gold standard for word games--have in recent years been challenged for the way they prioritize certain cultures and perspectives as the norm, demoting others to obscurity. At the same time, the crossword has never been more democratic. A larger, younger, more tech-savvy, and solidaristic group of people have fallen in love with puzzle solving, ushering in a more inclusive community of constructors and challenging the very idea of what is normal. With a critical eye toward the puzzle's history, Natan Last explores the debates about the future of the crossword and investigates those who are determining its next phase, ultimately asking if the crossword can help us reshape the world. Across the Universe interrogates all the ways words--and the games we make using those words--change our culture, while bringing us into the world of those pushing for the crossword's much-needed evolution.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers1.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/55/338/770/0553387707_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "29.00", "online_price" : "29.00", "our_price" : "29.00", "club_price" : "29.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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In Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle, author Natan Last argues that crossword puzzles are cultural artifacts, far more complex than their modest black-and-white grids would imply. Last, who published his first puzzle in The New York Times at 16 and interned for crossword legend Will Shortz, uses firsthand experience and historical anecdotes to illuminate the ways in which these humble-seeming puzzles are anything but apolitical or static. “The crossword is a uniquely capacious artifact, ready to absorb and recast any group’s predilections and passions into the puzzle form,” writes Last. Across the Universe is divided into three parts based on what Last sees as the major factions of constructors: “The Crossword Should Be Data,” covering tech-forward puzzlers and solvers; “The Crossword Should Be a Soapbox,” sharing socially minded constructors who aim to boost representation and equity on and off the grid; and “The Crossword Should Be Art,” showcasing indie constructors who see the puzzle as a “mixtape”-style ode to the culture they love. Each section is scaffolded with a personal narrative, either an interviewee’s or Last’s, and built out with historical anecdotes and technical examples. Last locates crosswords in the heart of cultural fixations of American eras, from the first known “Word-Cross Puzzle” being published in the New York World in 1913 and causing a trend so fervent it led to a moral panic, to the first time an AI (“Dr.Fill”) beat human solvers at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Last, who works in immigration policy by day, brings an economy of language and keen eye for nuance to Across the Universe. He also infuses the work with a puzzler’s love of patterns and puns—the text’s friendly yet professional tone pops with references and jokes familiar to those who puzzle even casually. Though by the book’s end, Last’s animating points about the role of crosswords and how different uses of them intersect feel a bit well-worn, it’s still a rich and magnificent artifact of crossword culture. Most likely to please frequent puzzlers or those with a weakness for audacious puns, Across the Universe provides a thought-provoking look at the ways that even our simplest-seeming leisure activities contain rich layers of social and political meaning.