Why crossword puzzles are good for newspaper

Mass communications and leisure are virtually inseparable in the contemporary world,” writes David Rowe in his article, “Leisure, Mass Communications and Media” published in “A Handbook of Leisure Studies” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). He is not far from the truth! Whether you take a newspaper, radio or television, they all provide – beyond news and business reports – sections for leisure and entertainment of their audiences. There is a thin line between entertainment and leisure content. Without seeming to split hairs, content on arts, films, travel, music, theatre, cookery, aspects of sports, etc can generally be tagged as entertainment content. Leisure content, on the other hand, mostly features mundane things such as horoscopes, crossword puzzles, word challenge, numbers challenge like Sudoku, etc.

Newspapers brand leisure page(s) differently. New Vison, for example, labels its page “TV & Leisure” while Daily Monitor labels its page “Coffee Break”. Publishing television programme line-up is a hangover from the analogue days. Coffee break traditionally is “a short rest period during the business day (usually of about 10 or 15 minutes). So named because it is an opportunity to get coffee.”

So, these pages punctuate a reader’s busy day by providing a moment of engagement with light content. Crossword puzzles are a favourite for many newspaper readers during such moments of the day, or in the evenings after a long day.  When the crossword puzzle is wrong, mismatched or repeated, many that love to engage in filling out the words will be miffed, rightly so! And this is the feedback I received early this week from Mr George Mabweijano, a regular Daily Monitor reader who loves engaging with the crossword puzzle.

He wrote: “I am getting tired of flagging the errors in the crosswords. In fact, I am more than tired, I am frustrated and angry. It seems that although I keep advising your newspaper of these mistakes, there is no follow-up, and nothing is being done to ensure there is no recurrence. In the Saturday Monitor of today [April 20], Standard Puzzle No. 1974, the clues have no connection whatsoever with the grid. I will not even bother to point out the specific examples; you only need to look at it and you will notice it straight away. If you do not consider the crosswords to be important, and you simply publish them to fill space, then you should eliminate them altogether, and save us the constant frustration.”

The concerned editors have promised to put their act together and hopefully these errors shall not arise – again. And, dropping crosswords altogether shall hopefully not be part of the solution.

Answering the question, “Why do newspapers have crossword puzzles?” on www.Quora.com, Barnaby Page, who describes himself as “I have been a journalist all my adult life (nearly four decades), for newspapers, magazines and online,” says:

“I know that sounds obvious, in the sense that everything in the paper is there to encourage people to buy it. But it’s a bigger factor than you might think. Among crossword-puzzle enthusiasts – and there are a lot of them, the quality of the crossword might be the principal reason to pick one newspaper over another. (This is particularly true of cryptic crosswords.)

So, from a newspaper’s point of view, they [crossword puzzles] are great builders of customer loyalty. If someone is an aficionado of the Daily Journal’s crossword, they will buy that paper every day, even if there is no news they are interested in.” That should motivate editors in times like this when newspapers are beleaguered from falling readership (as readers go to social media) to get the crosswords right all the time. Devoted readers like Mr Mabweijano are the lifeline of newspapers. But what do such readers benefit from crossword puzzles, anyway? Crossword puzzles are said to improve one’s vocabulary and language skills because many clues in the puzzles require you to know the meaning of words that might not be in your everyday vocabulary. They also improve cognitive functioning, improve problem-solving skills, relieve stress, and help build social connections. –www.elevateapp.com

According to www.clinical24ni.co.uk, “Research has shown that regularly completing crossword puzzles can improve your ability to focus on any desired task and improve both your working memory and executive function. All these skills are able to improve one’s ability to successfully navigate everyday life’s challenges.”

So, let’s get the crossword puzzles right, and let’s fill them – every day.

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