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An energetic, action-packed and mostly true history of the crossword puzzle

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In December 1913, the New York World newspaper published the first crossword in history. It appeared in their Sunday supplement, "Fun." A century later, this absorbing puzzle continues to attract (and infuriate) millions of devotees every day. But the world´s most popular-and seemingly mundane-pastime has a surprising history, filled with intrigue and adventure.

Paolo Bacilieri´s FUN transports us from turn-of-the-century New York to present-day Milan, taking in stories of ingenious puzzle makers, ardent solvers, and intellectual luminaries. Part detective story, part docudrama, and interlaced with a fiction of Bacilieri´s own imagining, FUN questions the crossword´s "harmless" status. Sure, it´s fun-but could it also be a form of resistance, of cryptic communication, of espionage?

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Born in Verona in 1965, Paolo Bacilieri graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna. His comic book series include Napoleone and Jan Dix . He is the author of Durasagra Venice über alles , SuperMaso attitude , Zeno Porno , La magnifica desolazione , Canzoni in A4 , Adios Muchachos (from the Daniel Chavarria novel), and Sweet Salgari . He lives and works in Milan.

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