Crossword Puzzle Day is on Monday, December 21. This celebrates the first crossword puzzle that was published in 1913 America in the New York World Newspaper.

Cambridge English Dictionary defines a crossword puzzle as “a word game in which you have to guess the answers to clues and write the words into numbered squares that go across and down.”

They originated in Liverpool, England, created by a journalist named Arthur Wynne. They were originally diamond-shaped, but have evolved into squares, generally with patterns in both the answers and the format.

At first, they were made for the newspapers but now you can get entire books of crossword puzzles!

Wealth Words says that there are many types of crossword puzzles, including Cryptic, Blocked, Barred, and Thematics. Even Sudoku puzzles are a variation of Crossword puzzles!

According to The Guinness World Records, the largest published crossword puzzle has  “66,666 clues in total with 33,018 clues across and 33,648 clues down.” It measures 129 square feet and has 244,971 squares.

Crossword puzzles are good to work out your brain or just to fill your time. They have even been recommended to fight dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, so a book of crossword puzzles might make a great present for an older relative.

You can celebrate Crossword Puzzle Day by doing crossword puzzles. You can get a free app on your phone or print out pages from Google.