idle thoughts

WHERE IS OUR Miss Petherbridge! We need a Miss Petherbridge for the digital age! "The present square shape and pattern of black-and-white squares, as well as the reversed name, were developed before 1920, when Mrs. Farrar, then Miss Petherbridge, and newly graduated from Smith, got a job as secretary to John O’Hara Cosgrave, editor of the magazine section of the Sunday World. One of Miss Petherbridge’s duties was to see that the puzzles appeared without typographical errors, which had long been a vexation to readers. (To the distress of Mr. Cosgrave, F. P. A., an early crossword-puzzle fan, often called public attention to these errors in his famous column “The Conning Tower.”) Miss Petherbridge proved so good at preventing errors that she soon became the unofficial crossword-puzzle editor, and was even permitted to try her hand at making puzzles." -- <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/06/13/few-gnus" target="_blank">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/06/13/few-gnus</a> (since no one at the Crossword puzzle desk seems aware of the history)

WHERE IS OUR Miss Petherbridge! We need a Miss Petherbridge for the digital age! "The present square shape and pattern of black-and-white squares, as well as the reversed name, were developed before 1920, when Mrs. Farrar, then Miss Petherbridge, and newly graduated from Smith, got a job as secretary to John O’Hara Cosgrave, editor of the magazine section of the Sunday World. One of Miss Petherbridge’s duties was to see that the puzzles appeared without typographical errors, which had long been a vexation to readers. (To the distress of Mr. Cosgrave, F. P. A., an early crossword-puzzle fan, often called public attention to these errors in his famous column “The Conning Tower.”) Miss Petherbridge proved so good at preventing errors that she soon became the unofficial crossword-puzzle editor, and was even permitted to try her hand at making puzzles." The Woman Behind the Crossword-Puzzle Craze By Roy Bongartz, Thomas Meehan, and Brendan Gill June 13, 1959 -- <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/06/13/few-gnus" target="_blank">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/06/13/few-gnus</a> (since no one at the Crossword puzzle desk seems aware of the history)

WHERE IS OUR Miss Petherbridge! We need a Miss Petherbridge for the digital age! "The present square shape and pattern of black-and-white squares, as well as the reversed name, were developed before 1920, when Mrs. Farrar, then Miss Petherbridge, and newly graduated from Smith, got a job as secretary to John O’Hara Cosgrave, editor of the magazine section of the Sunday World. One of Miss Petherbridge’s duties was to see that the puzzles appeared without typographical errors, which had long been a vexation to readers. (To the distress of Mr. Cosgrave, F. P. A., an early crossword-puzzle fan, often called public attention to these errors in his famous column “The Conning Tower.”) Miss Petherbridge proved so good at preventing errors that she soon became the unofficial crossword-puzzle editor, and was even permitted to try her hand at making puzzles." -- <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/06/13/few-gnus" target="_blank">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/06/13/few-gnus</a> (since no one at the Crossword puzzle desk seems aware of the history)