Thirteen horizontal: general blunder

Poor New York Times. In the Sunday edition, they printed a crossword puzzle with the wrong grid, and poor readers wracked their brains trying to solve what didn't fit anywhere. Quickly, they issued a correction, but the damage was done, for those who bought the paper edition. Crosswords, of course, are not immune to errors, and in fact, the English name itself (crossword) is actually a typographical error. A violinist and editor, named Arthur Wynne, invented the modern form of this pastime, which experienced great growth during World War I, as a way to escape after reading the striking war chronicles of the time. Many decades later, today's readers still seek this refuge that trains their brains. However, the original was born as wordcross until someone wrote it incorrectly, and it turns out that the error was fortunate enough to become the preferred way to call it ever since.

How ironic, in any case, that the New York Times had a rough Sunday having to apologize for one of the sections that is now an emblem, but which it took a long time to adopt. One of the main reservations editors of the time had was that they would be accused of succumbing to what they considered a trivial entertainment in a prestigious newspaper like the gray lady. And that was not the case, of course, to the point that some now pay just to do the crosswords and other puzzles from the newspaper on the web. There are no major generalist media outlets that don't have some kind of puzzle. In times when concerns about the planet's progress are returning, it's worth accompanying the reading of current events with a noble distraction that stimulates intelligence. If you are wordy, by the way, I leave you a cryptic and anagrammatic definition to finish: here, in summary, bread (and you will find the solution if you join the first letter of each sentence of the article).