Book Review: Across the Universe

From Wordle to Spelling Bee, we live in a time of word game mania. Crosswords in particular gained renewed popularity during the COVID-19 lockdown, when games became another kind of refuge. Today, 36 million Americans solve crosswords once a week or more, and nearly 23 million solve them daily. Yet, as longtime New Yorker crossword contributor Natan Last will tell you, the seemingly apolitical puzzle has never been more controversial—or more interesting.

A surprisingly ubiquitous influence in the worlds of art, literature, and technology, as Last demonstrates, the puzzle and its most popular purveyors—including publications such as The New York Times, still the gold standard for word games—have in recent years been challenged for the way they prioritize certain cultures and perspectives as the norm, demoting others to obscurity. At the same time, the crossword has never been more democratic. A larger, younger, more tech-savvy, and solidaristic group of people have fallen in love with puzzle solving, ushering in a more inclusive community of constructors and challenging the very idea of what is "normal."

With a critical eye toward the puzzle's history, Natan Last explores the debates about the future of the crossword and investigates those who are determining its next phase, ultimately asking if the crossword can help us reshape the world. Across the Universe interrogates all the ways words—and the games we make using those words—change our culture, while bringing us into the world of those pushing for the crossword's much-needed evolution.

Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle by Natan Last will be published November 25, 2025. Pantheon Books provided an early galley for review.

My love of word puzzles started as far back as elementary school. I come by it honestly as my father, for most of his life, enjoyed doing the daily crossword. So, this new book called out to me.

As a former computer scientist, I found the discussion around the use of software (and more recently AI) in crafting puzzles to be fascinating. I appreciate the efforts that the constructors go through as they craft their grids, so any modern tools that can help I am sure are appreciated. Of course, any book focusing on wordplay would be obligated to include those elements; Last does not disappoint in this area (the book is riddled with answers and clues).

This one will certainly appeal to all the word-nerds and cruciverbalists (yes, I learned a new word - thanks, Mr. Last) out there.