What do you call a person who loves crossword puzzles?

While chess masters are "grandmasters" and stamp collectors are "philatelists," crossword puzzle enthusiasts have their own fancy title. As these grid-based brain-teasers grew from newspaper novelties into cultural phenomena, the puzzle community needed a proper term for their passionate practitioners. What's the official name for these devoted solvers?

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The answer is: Cruciverbalist

A cruciverbalist is what we call everyone who voluntarily spend hours staring at tiny boxes while muttering word after word. It comes from the Latin words "crux" (cross) and "verbum" (word), and while it's only been around since the '70s, it's become the accepted terminology in the puzzle community.

The first crossword puzzle appeared in 1913, created by Arthur Wynne for the New York World newspaper. He had no idea that he was introducing the world to a new obsession, but his diamond-shaped puzzle looked quite different from today's versions. The black squares were added later to allow for more variety in the puzzle structure.

The New York Times, now famous for its crosswords, initially refused to publish them. The paper viewed puzzles as too frivolous for their serious readers. They finally gave in during World War II, deciding people could use a distraction from the heavy news of the day. Margaret Farrar, their first crossword editor, established many of the standards still used in American crosswords today.

Today, Will Shortz carries the cruciverbalist torch at the Times, having earned the world's only degree in Enigmatology from Indiana University. He's helped turn crosswords into an art form where "AUTOPILOT" can be clued as "Plane and simple?" and thousands of people nod appreciatively while reaching for their erasers.