Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
Crossword Puzzle

Crossword puzzle

The crossword is the most common variety of word puzzle in the world. Modern crosswords take the form of a square grid of black and white squares; the aim is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words (or word phrases) reading across and down, by solving clues which yield the words. The black squares (commonly called "blanks") have no letters, and are used to separate words (all contiguous blocks of white squares spell words or phrases). Squares in which answers begin are numbered, left to right, top to bottom. The clues are then referred to by these numbers (ambiguities are resolved by the common practice of referring to clues by both number and direction – for example, "1-Across" or "17-Down"); at the end of the clue the total number of letters is sometimes given for the convenience of the solver, although in many widely distributed American crosswords such as the New York Times and Dell Magazines this is often omitted. The creating of crosswords is sometimes (perhaps facetiously) called cruciverbalism, and a creator may be called a cruciverbalist, setter or compiler.

Types of grid

Dell Magazines Dell Magazines Crossword grids such as those appearing in most North American newspapers and magazines feature solid chunks of white squares, every letter is checked (that is, it is part of an answer reading across and another reading down), and usually each answer is required to contain at least three letters. In such puzzles black squares, used to separate answers, are traditionally limited to about one-sixth of the design. Crossword grids elsewhere, such as in Britain and Australia, have a lattice-like structure, with a higher percentage of black squares, leaving up to half the letters in an answer unchecked. Another tradition in puzzle design (in North America particularly) is that the grid should have 180-degree rotational symmetry, so that its pattern appears the same if the paper is turned upside down. In addition, many weekday puzzles such as the New York Times crossword are 15×15 squares, while weekend puzzles may be 21×21, 23×23 or 25×25. Substantial variants from the usual forms exist. Two of the common ones are barred crosswords which use bold lines between squares (instead of black squares) to separate answers, and circular designs, with answers to be entered either radially or in concentric circles. Free form crosswords have simple designs and are not symmetric. The British-style crossword often is laden with wordplay, and known in the US as a cryptic crossword. This type of crossword was imported in 1968 by composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim in New York magazine. The Atlantic Monthly regularly features a cryptic crossword "puzzler" by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, which combines cryptic clues with diabolically ingenious variations on the construction of the puzzle itself. In both cases, no two puzzles are alike in construction, and the intent of the puzzle authors is to entertain with novelty, not to establish new variations of the crossword genre.

Types of clues

In some crosswords, often called straight or quick, the clues are usually simple definitions for the answers. Some clues may feature anagrams, but these are usually explicitly described as such. Often, a straight clue is not in itself sufficient to distinguish among several possible answers (often synonyms), and the solver must make use of checks to establish the correct answer with certainty. A key point to remember when solving crosswords is that crossword answers and their clues always agree in tense and number. If a clue is in the past tense, then so is the answer: "Traveled on horseback" = RODE, but never RIDE. Similarly, "Family members" would be a valid clue for AUNTS but not UNCLE (since the latter is singular while the clue is plural). Some clue examples:
- The clue "PC key" for a three-letter answer could be ESC, ALT, TAB, or even DEL, but until a check is filled in, giving at least one of the letters, the correct answer cannot be determined.
- A common clue is "Compass point", where the desired answer is one of eight possible abbreviations for a position on a compass, i.e. NNW (for north-northwest) or ESE (for east-southeast). The desired answer is determined by a combination of logic - since the third letter can be only E or W, and the second letter can be only N or S - and a process of elimination using checks. Alternatively, compass point answers are often clued as "XXX to YYY direction", where XXX and YYY are two placenames. For example, SSW might be clued as "New York to Washington direction".
- Abbreviations, use of foreign language, variant spellings, or other unusual word tricks are indicated in the clue. A crossword creator might choose to clue the answer SEN (as in the abbreviation for "Senator") as "Washington bigwig: Abbr." or "Member of Cong.", with the abbreviation in the clue indicating that the answer is to be similarly abbreviated. The use of "Var." indicates the answer is a variant spelling (e.g., EMEER instead of EMIR), while the use of foreign language or a foreign place name within the clue indicates that the answer is also in a foreign language. For example, ETE (French for "summer") might be clued as "Summer, in the Sorbonne" while ROMA could be clued as "Italia's capital."
- Fill-in-the-blank clues are often the easiest in a given puzzle, and a good place to start solving. Ex.: "__ Boleyn" = ANNE
- A question mark at the end of clue usually signals that the clue/answer combination involves some sort of pun. Ex.: "Grateful?" = ASHES (since a grate might be full of them).
- Most widely distributed American crosswords today (e.g., The New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, etc.) also contain "speech"-like answers, i.e., entries in the puzzle grid that try to replicate our everyday colloquial language. In such a puzzle, one might see phrases such as WHAT'S UP, AS IF, or WHADDYA WANT.

Crossword themes

Many crossword puzzles contain a "theme," consisting of a number of long entries (generally 3-5 in a standard 15x15-square "weekday"-size puzzle) that share some relationship, type of pun, or other element in common. As an example, the New York Times crossword of April 26, 2005 written by Sarah Keller and edited by Will Shortz, featured five theme entries ending in the different parts of a tree: SQUAREROOT TABLELEAF WARDROBETRUNK BRAINSTEM BANKBRANCH The above is an example of a category theme, where the theme elements are all members of the same set. Other types of themes include quote themes, featuring a famous quote broken up into parts to fit in the grid (and usually clued as "Quote, part 1", "Quote, part 2", etc.); rebus themes, where multiple letters or even symbols occupy a single square in the puzzle (e.g., BERMUDAΔ); pun-based themes (perhaps the most common), where all the answers are similar puns; commemorative themes, based on a particular event or person (often published on an appropriate anniversary); and other less common types.

Quiz crosswords

In quiz crosswords, the clues take the form of questions. These may be on general knowledge or on a single topic.

The first entries

In the Daily Telegraph newspaper (Sunday and Daily, UK), it has become a convention also to make the first few words (usually 2 or 3 but can be up to 5) into a phrase. Examples of this could be Dimmer, Allies would make Demoralise or You, ill, never, whore, Cologne would become You will never walk alone. This generally aids the solver in that if they have one of the words then they can attempt to guess the phrase. This has also become popular among other British newspapers.

Indirect clues

In many puzzles, some clues are to be taken metaphorically or in some sense other than their literal meaning. Depending on the puzzle creator or the editor, this might be represented either with a question mark at the end of the clue or with a modifier such as "maybe" or "perhaps". Examples:
- The clue "Half a dance?" for a 3-letter answer might be CAN (half of CANCAN) or CHA (half of CHACHA).
- The clue "Pay addition, perhaps", without the modifier might be something akin to "BONUS". However, with the modifier, the answer could be "OLA" (the addition of OLA to PAY is the word PAYOLA).

Cryptic crosswords

In cryptic crosswords, often called cryptics for short, the clues are puzzles in themselves. A typical clue contains a definition, located at the beginning or end of the clue, and wordplay, which describes the word indicated by the definition, and which may not parse logically, but should be at least grammatical. Cryptics usually give the length of their answers in parentheses after the clue. In cryptics, answers are given in all capitals, with certain signs indicating different wordplay. Cryptics have a steeper "learning curve" than standard crosswords as learning to interpret the different types of cryptic clues can take some practice. In Great Britain, cryptics are the most common variety of crossword puzzle. There are several types of wordplay used in cryptics. One is straightforward definition substitution using parts of a word. For example, in one puzzle by Mel Taub, the answer IMPORTANT is given the clue "To bring worker into the country may prove significant". The explanation is that to "import" means "to bring into the country"; the "worker" is a worker ant; and "significant" means "important." Note that in a cryptic clue, there is almost always only one answer that fits both the definition and the wordplay, so that when you see the answer, you know it is the right answer, although it can sometimes be a challenge to figure out why it is the right answer. A good cryptic clue should exactly explain the answer, while at the same time giving a meaningful surface reading. In our sample clue, a more exact wordplay phrasing would be "To bring into the country a worker may prove significant", since "ant" follows "import:" IMPORT + ANT. Note however, that the surface reading is then not as smooth as the original. Some cryptic clue devotees would also be upset by the extraneous words like may prove. Another type of wordplay used in cryptics is homophones. For example, the clue "Counts spots aloud (4)" is solved by ADDS. The definition is "Counts", meaning "adds". The solver must guess that "aloud" here indicates a homophone, and so a homophone of a synonym of "spots" is the answer. In this case "spots" means advertisements, or ads, in mainly British usage. ADS = "ADDS". Another wordplay commonly used is the double meaning. For example, "Cat's tongue (7)" is solved by PERSIAN, since this is a type of cat, as well as a tongue, or language. Cryptics very often include anagrams. The clue "Ned T.'s seal cooked is rather bland (5,4)" is solved by NEEDS SALT. The meaning is "rather bland", and the word "cooked" is a hint to the solver that this clue is an anagram (the letters have been "cooked", or jumbled up). "Nedtsseal" (ignoring all punctuation, of course) is an anagram for NEEDS SALT. Besides "cooked", other common hints that the clue contains an anagram are words such as "scrambled," "mixed up," "confused," "baked," "twisted," etc. In answer sheets, an anagram is commonly indicated by an asterisk. Embedded words are another common trick in cryptics. The clue "Bigotry aside, I'd take him (9)" is solved by APARTHEID. The meaning is "bigotry", and the wordplay explains itself, indicated subtly by the word "take" (since one word "takes" another): "aside" means APART and I'd is simply ID, so APART and ID "take" HE (which is, in cryptic crossword usage, a perfectly good synonym for "him"). The answer would be elucidated as: APART(HE)ID. And then there is the oft-used hidden clue, where the answer is literally hidden in the text of the clue itself. For example, "Made a dug-out, buried, and passed away (4)" is solved by DEAD. The answer is written in the clue: "maDE A Dug-out". The word "buried" is there to indicate to the solver that the answer is literally embedded within the clue somewhere. Actually, there is no end to the wordplay found in cryptic clues. Backward words can be indicated by words like "climbing", "retreating", or "coming down"; letters can be replaced or removed with indicators such as "nothing rather than excellence" (meaning replace E in a word with O); the letter I can be indicated by "me" or even "one;" the letter O can be indicated by "nought" or even "a ring" (since it visually resembles one); the letter X might be clued as "a cross", or "ten" (as in the Roman numeral), or "an illiterate's signature", or even "sounds like your old flame" (homophone for "ex"); and so forth. Another example is this: "senselessness" is solved by "e", because "e" is what remain after removing (less) "ness" from "sense". With the different types of wordplay and definition possibilities, the composer of a cryptic puzzle is often presented with many different possible ways to clue a given answer. Most desirable are clues that are clean but deceptive, with a smooth surface reading. The Usenet newsgroup rec.puzzles.crosswords has a number of clueing competitions where contestants all submit clues for the same word and a judge picks the best one. In principle, each cryptic clue is usually sufficient to uniquely define its answer, so it should be possible to answer each clue without use of the grid. In practice, the use of checks is an important aid to the solver. (Cryptic crosswords are not to be confused with cryptograms, a different form of puzzle based on a substitution cipher.)

Translation crosswords

In Translation Crosswords, the clue is given in a foreign language. This makes them an entertaining vocabulary trainer. An example of [http://www.translationcrosswords.com Translation Crosswords]created by David Andersen, uses headlines from newspapers as a part of the clue. This enables the user to see the word used in a context, while also being introduced to newspapers in the language he/she wants to learn. A more basic kind of Translation Crosswords can be seen on the pages of [http://www.yourdictionary.com/crossword/index.html yourDictionary].

Other puzzles

Any type of puzzle may contain cross-references, where the answer to one clue forms part of another clue, in which it is referred to by number. When an answer is composed of multiple or hyphenated words, some crosswords (especially in Britain) indicate the structure of the answer, while others do not. For example, "(3,5)" after a clue would indicate that the answer is composed of a three letter word followed by a five letter word.

Double clue lists

Sometimes newspapers publish one grid which can be filled by solving either of two lists of clues - usually a straight and a cryptic. The solutions given by the two lists may be different, in which case the solver must decide at the outset which list they are going to follow, or the solutions may be identical, in which case the straight clues offer additional help for a solver having difficulty with the cryptic clues. For example, the solution APARTHEID might be clued as "Bigotry aside, I'd take him (9)" in the cryptic list, and "Racial separation (9)" in the straight list. Every issue of GAMES Magazine contains a large crossword with a double clue list, under the title The World's Most Ornery Crossword; both lists are straight and arrive at the same solution, but one list is significantly more challenging than the other. The solver is prompted to fold a page in half, showing the grid and the hard clues; the easy clues are tucked inside the fold, to be referenced if the solver gets stuck. A variant of the double clue list is commonly called Siamese Twins: two matching grids are provided, and the two clue lists are merged together such that the two clues for each entry are displayed together in random order. Determining which clue is to be applied to which grid is part of the puzzle.

Example

Here is a small example of a regular crossword, to illustrate the format:

Across

1. Sheep sound (3)
3. Neither liquid nor gas (5)
5. Humour (3)

Down

1. Road passenger transport (3)
2. Permit (5)
4. Shortened form of Dorothy (3) The solution to this crossword is:

Major crossword variants

These are common crossword variants which vary more from a regular crossword than just an unusual grid shape or unusual clues; these crossword variants may be based on different solving principles and require a different solving skill set.

Cipher crosswords

Published under various trade names, and not to be confused with cryptic crosswords (which happens due to ciphertext puzzles being commonly known as cryptograms), a cipher crossword replaces the clues for each entry with clues for each white cell of the grid - an integer from 1 to 26 inclusive is printed in the corner of each. The objective, as any other crossword, is to determine the proper letter for each cell; in a cipher crossword, the twenty-six numbers serve as a cipher for those letters: cells that share matching numbers are to be filled with matching letters, and no two numbers stand for the same letter. All resultant entries must be valid words. Usually, at least one number's letter is already given at the outset. Cipher crosswords are always pangrammatic (all letters of the alphabet appear in the solution). As these puzzles are closer to codes than quizzes, they require a different skillset; many basic cryptographic techniques, such as determining likely vowels, are key to solving these. Given their pangrammaticity, a frequent start point is locating where 'Q' and 'U' must appear.

Diagramless crosswords

In a diagramless crossword, often called a diagramless for short or a skeleton crossword in the UK, the grid offers overall dimensions, but the locations of most of the clue numbers and black squares are unspecified. A successful solver must deduce not only the answers to individual clues, but how to fit together partially built-up clumps of answers into larger clumps with properly set black squares. Some of these puzzles follow the traditional symmetry rule, others have left-right mirror symmetry, and still others have greater levels of symmetry or outlines suggesting other shapes. If the symmetry of the grid has been given, then the solver can use it to his/her advantage. A variation is the Blankout puzzle in the Daily Mail Weekend magazine. In this version, the clues are not individually numbered, but given in terms of the rows and columns of the grid, which has rectangular symmetry. The list of clues gives hints of the locations of some of the black squares even before one starts solving them, e.g. there must be a black square where a row having no clues intersects a column having no clues.

Fill-in crosswords

A fill-in crossword features a grid and the full list of words to be entered in that grid, but does not give explicit clues for where each word goes. The challenge is figuring out how to integrate the list of words together within the grid so that all intersections of words are valid. Fill-in crosswords may often have somewhat longer word length than regular crosswords to make the crossword easier for the solver, as fitting together several long words is easier than fitting together several short words because there are fewer possibilities for how the long words intersect together.

Crossnumbers

A crossnumber is the exact numerical analogy of a crossword, in which the solutions to the clues are numbers instead of words. Clues are usually arithmetical expressions, but can also be general knowledge clues to which the answer is a number or year. The Daily Mail Weekend magazine used to feature crossnumbers under the misnomer Number Word. This kind of puzzle should not be confused with a different puzzle that the Daily Mail refers to as Cross Number.

Crosswords in non-English languages

Although the crossword is an English-language invention and predominately an English-language exercise, crosswords are not uncommon in other countries, with clues and entries in other languages. It is common for diacritical markings in such languages to be ignored when placing entries into the solution grid. French language crosswords are smaller and not necessarily square: usually 8–13 rows and columns, totalling 81–130 squares. They need not be symmetric and two-letter words are allowed, unlike in most English-language puzzles. Compilers strive to minimize use of black squares. 10% is typical; Georges Perec compiled many 9×9 grids for Le Point with 4 or even 3. [http://homepage.urbanet.ch/cruci.com/textes/histoire6.htm] Answers are printed in upper case letters. This ensures a proper name can have its initial capital letter checked with a non-capitalizable letter in the intersecting clue. In French-language puzzles, diacritics are omitted for similar reasons (e.g. the initial Ê of answer ÊTRE could double as the final É of CONGÉ when written ETRE and CONGE). German language crosswords usually don't number the clues, instead they are found in small print in boxes embedded within the puzzle itself, with a little arrow indicating in which direction from that box the answer is to be written. Those "clue boxes" are usually the only or almost the only "black squares" in German crosswords. When filling in the puzzle, only capital letters are used, the umlauts ä, ö, ü, are dissolved into ae, oe, ue, and ß is dissolved into ss. Particularly curious is the Japanese language crossword; due to the writing system of that nation's language, one syllable (typically katakana) is entered into each white cell of the grid rather than one letter, resulting in the typical solving grid seeming rather small in comparison to those of other languages. Even cipher crosswords have a Japanese equivalent, although pangrammaticity does not apply.

History

katakana On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne published a "word-cross" puzzle in the New York World which embodied most of the features of the genre as we know it. This puzzle, which can be seen at [http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html this website], is frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. Later, the name of the puzzle was changed to "crossword." A more complete history of the crossword puzzle, as well as a reprint of that very first crossword, can be found at a page maintained by New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz [http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html here]. Crossword puzzles became a regular weekly feature in the World. The first book of crossword puzzles, however, did not appear until 1924, published by Simon and Schuster. The book was an instant hit and crossword puzzles became the craze of 1924. The term crossword first appeared in a dictionary in 1930. Today, there are many popular crosswords distributed in American newspapers and online. The most prestigious (and among the most difficult to solve) are the New York Times crossword puzzles, which have been running continuously since 1942. The first editor of the Times crossword was Margaret Farrar, who was editor from 1942 to 1969. Since 1993, they have been edited by Will Shortz, the fourth crossword editor in Times history. In addition to editing the Times puzzles, in 1978 Shortz founded and still directs the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

History in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Sunday Express newspaper published the first British crossword on November 2, 1924. Several crossword experts were recruited into code-breaking activities during World War II at Bletchley Park in England.

Crossword puzzles in World War II

In 1944, Allied security officers were disturbed by the appearance, in a series of crossword puzzles published in The Daily Telegraph, of words that happened to be secret code names for military operations. "Utah" (the code name for one of the landing sites) appeared in a puzzle published on May 2, 1944. Subsequent puzzles included the words "Omaha" and "Mulberry" (the highly-secret artificial harbours). On June 2, just four days before the invasion, the puzzle included both the words "Neptune" (the naval operations plan) and "Overlord". That was the last straw, and the author of the puzzles, a schoolteacher named Leonard Dawe, was arrested and interrogated. The investigators finally concluded that the appearance of the words was just a coincidence. The event has been so described in histories, and has even been used as an illustration of how seemingly meaningful events can arise out of pure coincidence. According to [http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature1/ National Geographic], though, in 1984 the schoolteacher revealed that one of his students had picked up the words while hanging around army camps. When the teacher had asked his students to provide unusual words as ingredients for his puzzles, he had innocently passed them on.

Notation

A notation has evolved to allow crosswords to be rendered compactly, and enjoyed by the blind or partially sighted. It consists of giving the locations of the black squares in each row as letters (A=1,B=2, etc.), e.g. for the example crossword above: # D E # B D E #   # A B D # A B Although the numbering scheme could be consistently applied from this information, it is customary to quote the starting square of each clue in (number-letter) format to assist the solver.

See also

A puzzle commonly called the numerical equivalent of a crossword:
- Cross Sums Board games based on the crossword concept:
- Scrabble
- Upwords Aids to solve crosswords include:
- Dictionaries
  - Biographical dictionaries
  - Rhyming dictionaries
- Gazetteers
- Encyclopedias
- Almanacs
- Thesauri

External links


- [http://www.Crossdown.com/ Crossdown software for crosswords, acrostics and cryptograms]
- [http://jaywalker.ca/Jaywalker_Magazine/Crosswords/crosswords.htm Online Crosswords]
- [http://www.TranslationCrosswords.com/ Daily Translation Crosswords]
- [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thehinduxword/ The Hindu Crossword Yahoogroup]
- [http://vinodraman.blogspot.com/ Daily solutions to The Hindu Crossword by Vinod Raman]
- [http://www.crossword-puzzles.co.uk Crossword Puzzles]
- [http://www.todayscrossword.info Play one of seven Online Daily Crossword Puzzle Games]
- [http://www.primate.wisc.edu/people/hamel/cp.html Crosswords (by Ray Hamel)]
- [http://goobix.com/crosswords/ Goobix Crossword Puzzles] (3x3 and 4x4 dimensions)
- [http://membres.lycos.fr/jeuxdelettres/ Crossword Puzzles for students of English]
- [http://wims.unice.fr/wims/wims.cgi?module=tool/lang/wfind.en Online word searching tool]
- [http://www.oneacross.com OneAcross.com Crossword Clue Solver]
- [http://www.andyscouse.com/pages/wordfind.htm WordFind - program to find words, anagrams and palindromes]
- [http://www.crosswordtournament.com/ American Crossword Puzzle Tournament]
- [http://word-games.yoogi.com/ccw/ Coded Cross-words] Cipher crosswords
- [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_174b.html Why are crossword puzzles symmetrical?] (from The Straight Dope)
- [http://www.cruciverb.com/ Website for those interested in creating their own crosswords]
- [http://www.ihsan.biz/#xword Mindgames Xword (freeware)] Create crossword puzzles in a flexible manner
- [http://barelybad.com/crossword.htm Monograph on crosswords]
- [http://abs.kulichki.com/crossw/ Russian crosswords site] Category:Word games Category:Puzzle games Category:1920s fads ja:クロスワードパズル

Puzzle

:For the character in the Chronicles of Narnia series, see Puzzle. Puzzle A puzzle is a problem or enigma presented as entertainment; that is written down, acted out, etc. Many puzzles stem from serious mathematical or logistical problems, whereas others are devised for the sole purpose of being brain teasers. The history of puzzles goes back many thousand years, a tangram being one of the earliest and still one of the most popular puzzles. In certain temples of Japan monks used to write mathematical puzzles on temple walls: see sangaku.

Well known puzzles

sangaku]
- Anagrams
- Crossword puzzle
- Eight queens puzzle
- Fifteen puzzle
- Jigsaw puzzle
- Knight's Tour
- Logic Puzzle
- Peg solitaire
- Rubik's Cube
- Sudoku
- Sokoban
- Soma cube
- Tangram
- Tower of Hanoi
- Whodunit

See also


- List of puzzle topics
- Letter game
- Mathematical game
- Mechanical puzzle
- Meta-puzzle
- Mind sport
- Puzzlehunt
- Game of skill
- Geocaching
- Word play
- Puzzles on Wikibooks

References


- Creative Puzzles of the World, 1980, Plenary Publications International
- Denkspiele Der Welt, München 1977,1981, Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag

External links


- [http://www.ahapuzzles.com/ Aha! Puzzles]
- [http://www.rec-puzzles.org The puzzle archive of the rec.puzzles newsgroup]
- [http://www.cyclopediaofpuzzles.com Sam Loyds complete Cyclopedia of Puzzles online]
- [http://www.puzzlemonster.com Puzzle Monster - original online puzzles]
- [http://www.rabid.oneuk.com/ultimategame.html - The Ultimate Internet Game - Cult internet puzzle game spanning several websites]
- [http://www.puzzlepress.co.uk Puzzle Press - providers of puzzles]
- [http://www.cut-the-knot.org Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles]
- [http://www.crosswordtournament.com/ American Crossword Puzzle Tournament]
- [http://www.mindbreakers.com/ Mindbreakers.com - Puzzles and Riddles]
- [http://www.dellmagazines.com/ Dell Magazines - Puzzles and Games]
- [http://www.the-rooms.up.co.il The-Rooms]
- [http://www.GamesForBrains.de/liste_en.htm Games for Brains] - puzzle games for phones and browsers (java)
- [http://www.tamestorm.com/games/filler_puzzle_game Filler puzzle] - Filler puzzle
- [http://puzzle.starfieldgames.com Modern Puzzle Game Downloads] - Modern Puzzle Game Downloads

Puzzle books


- [http://www.lulu.com/content/78878 'Amazing "Aha!" Puzzles' by Lloyd King] Category:Puzzles ja:パズル

Grid

The term grid, or GRID, has several meanings in various fields:
- In mathematics and geometry, a grid is a system of two sets of lines that intersect each other at a fixed angle, usually a right angle (i.e., a set of vertical lines and a set of horizontal lines). This usage applies to urban studies and planning; see grid plan. The corresponding graph is a grid graph.
- In electrical engineering,
  - A transmission grid is a high-voltage network for long-distance electric power transmission;
  - A distribution grid is a medium- and low-voltage network for local distribution of electric power to end-users;
  - A grid is an element within a vacuum tube which controls the flow of current through the device; there can be one or more control grids together with optional screen grids and suppressor grids.
- In computer architecture, the word grid sometimes refers to a network with a topology similar to a grid: see Grid computing.
- In graphical user interfaces, the word grid sometimes refers to the grid view user interface element.
- In graphic design and typography, the word grid typically refers to the grid system
- In Norse mythology, Grid was a giantess who knew that Loki was trying to trick Thor into being killed by Geirrod. She gave Thor her iron gloves and magical belt and staff to fight the frost giant. She or a namesake also appears in Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra.
- AIDS was known as GRID (Gay-related immune deficiency) until 1982.
- The Grid was a late eighties/early nineties electronic dance group.
- In urban planning, urban design, and civil engineering the grid plan is a common layout of streets
- General Repository for Interaction Datasets, a database of biological interactions hosted at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada

USA

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18 (although

New York Times

The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. It is owned by The New York Times Company, which also publishes some 40 other newspapers including International Herald Tribune and The Boston Globe. The newspaper is nicknamed the "Gray Lady" and is often considered the newspaper of record in the United States.

History

United States The New York Times was founded on September 18, 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones. Raymond was also a founding director of the Associated Press in 1856. Adolph Ochs acquired the Times in 1896, and under his guidance the newspaper achieved an international scope, circulation, and reputation. In 1897 he coined the paper's slogan "All The News That's Fit To Print," widely interpreted as a jab at competing papers in New York (the New York World and the New York Journal American) that were known for yellow journalism. After relocating the paper's headquarters to a new tower on 42nd Street, the area was named Times Square in 1904. Nine years later, the Times opened an annex at 229 43rd Street, their current headquarters, later selling Times Tower in 1961. The Times was originally intended to publish every morning except on Sundays; however, during the Civil War the Times started publishing Sunday issues along with other major dailies. It won its first Pulitzer Prize for news reports and articles about World War I in 1918. In 1919 it made its first trans-atlantic delivery to London. The crossword began to appear in 1942 as a feature, and the paper bought the classical station WQXR in the same year. The fashion section started in 1946. The Times also started an international edition in 1946, but stopped publishing it in 1967 and joined with the owners of the New York Herald Tribune and The Washington Post to publish the International Herald Tribune in Paris. The Op-Ed section started appearing in 1970. More recently, in 1996 The New York Times went online, giving access to readers all over the world on the Web at [http://www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com]. A new headquarters for the newspaper, a skyscraper designed by Renzo Piano, is currently under construction at 41st Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. In 1964, the paper was the defendant in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which established the actual malice legal test for libel.

Times today

Today The New York Times is probably the most prominent American daily newspaper, sometimes being referred to as America's "newspaper of record". It has traditionally printed full transcripts of major speeches and debates. The newspaper is currently owned by The New York Times Company, in which descendants of Ochs, principally the Sulzberger family, maintain a dominant role. The Times has won 90 Pulitzer Prizes – the most prestigious award for journalism in the US, presented each year by Columbia University – including a record 7 in 2002. In 1971 it broke the Pentagon Papers story, publishing leaked documents revealing that the U.S. government had been painting an unrealistically rosy picture of the progress of the Vietnam War. This led to New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), which declared the government's prior restraint of the classified documents was unconstitutional. In 1972, the Times exposed the Tuskegee experiment, in which African Americans suffering from syphilis were surreptitiously denied treatment over a period of decades. More recently, in 2004 the Times won a Pulitzer award for a series written by David Barstow and Lowell Bergman on employers and workplace safety issues. The Times has been going through a downsizing, for several years, laying off workers and cutting expenses [http://www.wnbc.com/money/4998266/detail.html], in common with a general trend among print newsmedia. The Times is based in New York City. It has 16 news bureaus in the New York region, 11 national news bureaus and 26 foreign news bureaus.[http://www.nytco.com/company-properties-times.html#nyt] For the year ending Dec. 26, 2004, the reported circulation data for The New York Times were: 1,124,700 Weekday[http://www.nytco.com/company-properties-times.html#nyt] and 1,669,700 Sunday[http://www.nytco.com/company-properties-times.html#nyt]. The newspaper continues to own classical WQXR (96.3 FM) and WQEW (1560 AM). The classical format was simulcast on both frequencies until the early 1990s, when the big-band and standards format of WNEW-AM (now WBBR) moved from 1130 AM to 1560. The AM station changed its call letters from WQXR to WQEW. By the beginning of the 21st century, The Times had begun leasing WQEW to ABC Radio for its Radio Disney format, which continues on 1560 AM to this day.
The New York Times is printed at the following sites: Ann Arbor, Michigan; Austin, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Billerica, Massachusetts; Canton, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; College Point, New York; Concord, California; Dayton, Ohio (Sunday only); Denver, Colorado; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Gastonia, North Carolina; Edison, New Jersey; Lakeland, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Springfield, Virginia; Kent, Washington and Torrance, California. [http://www.nytco.com/company-properties-times.html#nyt]

Major sections

The newspaper is organized in three sections: ;1. News : Includes International, National, Washington, Business, Technology, Science, Health, Sports, New York Region, Education, Weather, Obituaries, and Corrections. ;2. Opinion : Includes Editorials, Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor. ;3. Features : Includes Arts, Books, Movies, Theater, Travel, NYC Guide, Dining & Wine, Home & Garden, Fashion & Style, Crossword/Games, Cartoons, Magazine, and Week in Review

Style

Stylistically, the newspaper is quite conservative (see also: The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage). When referring to people, it uses titles, rather than unadorned last names (except among the sports pages, in which last names stand alone). Its headlines tend to be verbose, and, for major stories, come with subheadings giving further details, although it is moving away from this style. It stayed with an 8-column format years after other papers had switched to 6, and it was one of the last newspapers to adopt color photography. In the absence of a major headline, the day's most important story generally appears in the top-righthand column.

Web presence

The Times has had a strong presence on the web since 1995, and has been ranked one of the top web sites. It has a general policy of keeping articles freely available for a week and charges subscription for older articles. The website had 555 million pageviews in March 2005.[http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/nyt-digital/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20050418006138&ndmHsc=v2
- A1039266000000
- B1133914259000
- DgroupByDate
- J2
- N1001162&newsLang=en&beanID=555004527&viewID=news_view] In September 2005 the paper decided to experiment with TimesSelect by charging subscription for daily columns.

Famous mistakes

In 1920, a New York Times editorial ridiculed Robert Goddard and his claim that a rocket would work in space: :That Professor Goddard, with his "chair" in Clark College and the countenancing of the Smithsonian Institution, does not know the relation of action to reaction, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react – to say that would be absurd. Of course he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. In 1969, days before Apollo 11's landing on the moon, the newspaper published a tongue-in-cheek correction: :Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed the findings of Isaac Newton in the 17th century, and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error. On several occasions the Times has erroneously published premature obituaries, including:
- William Baer (a New York University professor) in 1942, as a result of a hoax by his students
- Alan Abel in 1980, who had faked his own death as an elaborate hoax
- Katharine Sergava (ballet dancer) in 2003, based on an earlier incorrect obituary in the Daily Telegraph.

Allegations of bias

The Times, like many major news organizations, has often been accused of giving too little or too much play to various events for reasons not related to objective journalism. One of the most serious of these charges is that before and during World War II, the New York Times downplayed evidence that the Third Reich had targeted Jews for genocide, at least in part because the publisher feared the taint of taking on any 'Jewish cause'.

Too liberal

More generally, many people believe that the Times hard news and soft news reportage have a consistent and pronounced liberal slant, particularly on social issues. Riccardo Puglisi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has written a paper about the editorial choices of the New York Times from 1946 to 1994, entitled, "Being the New York Times: The Political Behaviour of a Newspaper" (December 6, 2004). [http://ssrn.com/abstract=573801] [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID630598_code363330.pdf?abstractid=573801&mirid=1]. He finds that the Times displays Democratic partisanship, with some watchdog aspects. For example, during presidential campaigns, the paper systematically gives more coverage to Democratic topics, but only so when the incumbent president is a Republican. Among other things, the intermix of political commentary with art criticism in the Arts section of the paper is pointed to as evidence of bias. For example, A. O. Scott's film reviews sometimes contain barbs directed at social conservatives, and Frank Rich's Arts columns regularly attacked conservatives. The op-ed section, the Times regular columnists — who operate largely independently of the rest of the paper, and are subject to relatively little editorial oversight — have a mixed range of political orientations. However, some claim that this mix is unbalanced, and that this imbalance demonstrates a liberal bias at the newspaper. The 2005 roster of regular columnists ranges in political position from Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, and Bob Herbert on the left, to Nicholas Kristof in the center-left, to Thomas Friedman in the center, to David Brooks, formerly of The Weekly Standard magazine, and John Tierney on the right. However, attempts to place these columnists' positions on a one-dimensional American political spectrum do not completely characterize their actions or views. For example, Dowd strongly criticized President Clinton; Krugman (a professional