Don’t let the title fool you, Natan Last’s Across the Universe is not about the Beatles. It is a love letter to the crossword puzzle that is sprawling in its scope, deeply nerdy in sensibility, and passionate at its core. A precocious cruciverbalist–the word for someone who builds crossword puzzles–Last began constructing puzzles of his own in high school, and has published them in such outlets as The New Yorker and, of course, The New York Times.
The opening section of the book, titled “CROSSWORDS SHOULD BE DATA,” is its broadest and least definable. It does not begin with the birth of the hand-drawn crossword puzzle in 1913 but with the early 1990s and the emergence of computer programs that now design the grids. One of the book’s central interests is in the push-pull between literary and mathematical influences on crossword puzzles. It is fitting, then, that the characters that populate the early history of the form have some of the most recognizable names in the literary world: Pulitzer, Simon & Schuster, Farrar.
If section one is largely about the role of technology in crossword construction, section two, “CROSSWORDS SHOULD BE A SOAPBOX,” is about the puzzle’s impact on culture. It might be a shock to twenty-first century readers to learn that the crossword puzzle instigated moral panic as it gained popularity through the 1920s and 1930s as fear spread that people would be too busy solving crosswords to function. The New York Times, the gold standard of crossword puzzles today, refused to run them until the 1940s!
Chapter 5, “Except for Marabar Caves,” contains some of the most compelling content in the book. This is where Last really digs into the way crossword puzzles can (and have) reinforced cultural hegemony. Last traces this, ultimately, to the relationship between crossword writers, editors, and solvers. Editors are employed by the publication and have final say about all words and clues included in the puzzles they run. As you might expect, aside from Farrar in the 1940s, most crossword editors are white men, and the number of female constructors has dropped over time as a result. The editor’s job is to ensure the puzzle is solvable by their fantasy of an “average solver,” rejecting puzzles and clues they deem obscure. It is in this way, Last argues, that crossword puzzles become the arbiters of what is common knowledge and how that knowledge is framed. He cites the constructor Mangesh Ghogre with the term “crossword diplomacy,” an acknowledgement of the inherent politicization of the puzzle and drive toward inclusivity. In the past, colonialist, racist, misogynistic clues might be a solver’s first interaction with a particular word, coloring their association with it forever. Backlash over biased clues has obviously quickened with the internet and the renewed interest in puzzles post-COVID, but there’s more work to be done.
The book’s final section, “CROSSWORDS SHOULD BE ART,” celebrates the puzzles’ use of wordplay, puns, and palindromes–like the author’s first name. Puzzles can easily become vehicles for parody or polemics. Words are not the only way puzzles can be art, however. The physical grid and the layout of black spaces can incorporate many designs, several of which are included in the book. Last also touches on some of the art that has been created inspired by puzzles; including, unexpectedly, magic shows.
Overall, the book reads less like a cohesive narrative of the history of crossword puzzles and more like a collection of essays that include history and relevance to the culture alongside anecdotes both historical and personal. The structure suffers a bit for both meandering and repetition, as facts and concepts reappear throughout the book in ways that feel more redundant than reiterative. Across the Universe also joins a rather saturated market as the third major book about the history of crosswords published in the last four years.
Natan Last is clearly an expert in the field of crossword puzzles, and his passion to share that knowledge is obvious throughout the book. His proximity to many major contemporary crossword figures through his one-time internship with Will Shortz, crosswords editor at The New York Times, lends a first-handedness to the modern history that is compelling. Across the Universe is a great read, chock full of fun facts about that most prestigious of puzzles, the crossword. It should be at the top of every gift guide for word nerds and puzzle enthusiasts everywhere.
NONFICTION
Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle
By Natan Last
Pantheon
Published November 25, 2025
