Evening star., 1924-12-14
45 REASONS SEEN
FOR PUZZLE CRAZE
Psychologist Says 1t Salts.
fies That Many Desires.
!. Sex Attraction Feature.
Special Dispa tch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK. December 13-Why is
the cross word puzzle craze? Dr. A.
T. Pofenberger. Columbia University
psychologist and the author of several
leading psychological works. says the
crossword puzzle is having a strong
run because il satisfies a number of
the 45 fundamental desires or wants
OF the human species. OF these
20 desires which are satisfied. wholly.
Or in part. by the crossword puzzle
activity as it exists today. 13 are:
The desire for social distinction:
Imitation: sex desire: group loyalty;
Cooperation: desire for competition;
pleasure; play. amusement: humor;
curiosity; activity and constructive
ness.
THE desire for social distinction"
he says, IS satisfied by success In do
ing cross word puzzle in the pres
ence of other crossword fans, espe-
cially II any OF the others have been
unable 10 work out the puzzles. Win
ners In public crossword contests
sre real heroes.
THE desire to initiate others is one
Of the strongest desires that is salts
ned by doing crossword puzzles.
Mah-jong. Coue and bananas" out
standing fads of recent years, are for
gotten in the popular rush to find the
correct words containing the correct
number of letters
Brings Young Together.
The sex desire" comes in rather
remotely. THE crossword puzzle is
only another excuse for young people
to get together and hence helps real
ize the desire for personal attractive
ness and for admiration" DR.. Poffen-
berger explained.
"C.rOup 1oyaltv' and
two other desires in the departmental
list, are brought to life often in hui
morous ways New York has long
been known AS n cold. unfriendly
town. Since it has become ones
duty to supply a two-letter word
spelling the sixth tone of the diatonic
scale or ten-letter word meaning
dead Assyrian language, to the man
or woman sitting next to one in the
subway, 1t Is impossible to maintain
the cold reserve that once existed.
Some one has suggested that the
crossword puzzle is the friendship
tonic that Manhattan needed to make
New Workers more like their brother
westerners in their attitude toward
others.
The desire for competition" is sat
isf1ed in trying to finish a puzzle in
record time
Pleasure" play" and "amuse-
ment" are also desires which are very
evidently satisfied by filling in the
squares.
Humorous in Many Ways.
'Humor' comes in various ways.
The frantic search and the attendant
lack of dignity on the part of many
fans who bother an entire office force
and call up a dozen friends to locate
three letter word: the outstanding
prominence Of such animals as the
gnu: the laughable definition OF GER
tain words: the inability of people
with regulations of wisdom to locate
word; the seriousness with which
the search for words is made by busy
people; the abandonment of all other
activity and the curious places where
people are found doing puzzles are all
sources Of amusement.
"Curiosity" Is a factor which would
seem worth while: the desire for ac-
tvity" is brought out by the fact that
people are using crossword puzzles
to fill In the odd minutes of a day:
and 'constructiveness" also is an evil
dent basic desire that is satisfied by
seeing the squares fill up.