# The Aesthetics of Crossword Puzzles  ## Metadata - Author: [[OUP Academic]] - Full Title: The Aesthetics of Crossword Puzzles - Category: #articles - Summary: insert summary - My notes: - Summary: This paper explores the aesthetic value of crossword puzzles, identifying three main sources: the experience of solving, the visual appeal of grid art, and the enjoyment of idiomatic language. It argues that crosswords can provide meaningful aesthetic experiences similar to other art forms. The discussion highlights how these puzzles engage our agency and creativity while also offering visual and literary delights. - URL: https://academic.oup.com/bjaesthetics/article/63/3/381/7087125?casa_token=lJzck0z7Ej4AAAAA:dn4wwIeRO-1lopeAJLEJhgAp8TiWhcVhIv9yexZfjbRFnB6vUn68MMhpPO2T90vA6iiz5EF4PUJF0W8 ## LLM Chats ## NotebookLM ## LLM Audio ## Highlights > the poetic delight of idiomatic language ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jqpcajwh21y86bdy4b0g8ra1)) ## New highlights added April 1, 2025 at 9:45 AM > Bernard Suits’ famous definition of game play: ‘playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles’ (2014, p. 43). ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jqpges7zz524hhybm75mpw89)) > Note that speaking of the experience as bearing aesthetic value properties is neutral between competing theories of aesthetic value, because it is the correct experience *of* the crossword that bears the relevant properties: the crossword’s own properties make the experience of it the one that it is.12 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jqpgv4kx5qdxp68vynfbt5sa)) > Contrary to Smuts, even though a clue has only one answer, that clue-answer pair can bear the property of elegance, especially when evaluated relative to other possibilities. Even if we hold fixed the ‘solution’—the totality of correct answers in a puzzle—a constructor can elevate a puzzle’s quality with especially clever, ingenious, or elegant clues. There is an analogy here to literal musical harmonies, understood as the sound produced by multiple notes played simultaneously. Even if we hold fixed a particular musical score—its sequence of notes—a performer can play a harmony in a more or less elegant way by controlling other properties of the harmony, such as its dynamics, articulation, or orchestration. Here the performer is analogous to the constructor, who controls other properties of the clue beyond whether it correctly leads to the answer. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jqph0r682x0fq5pkey6hafr6))