Judge, 1925-01-10 · page 20 of 36
Judge — January 10, 1925 — page 20: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the 1920s crossword puzzle craze. The top cartoon shows a busy businessman's office where crossword puzzles have become so ubiquitous that even executives are solving them during work hours—suggesting the fad has infiltrated all social classes and distracted people from productive labor. The text below advertises "The Crossword Builders, Inc.," a fictional service bureau that solves crosswords for paying customers, mocking both the puzzle obsession and the entrepreneurial schemes it spawned. The rates (50 cents per puzzle) suggest people were genuinely willing to pay for solutions. The bottom cartoon depicts a medieval castle scene with figures fighting over a crossword puzzle grid—a humorous exaggeration of how seriously people took these puzzles. The "Bridging the Distance" joke plays on puzzle terminology while the final verse acknowledges that despite modern trends (bootleg liquor, flappers, jazz), crosswords dominated contemporary culture. The satire ridicules Americans' obsession with this relatively new entertainment fad.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bo wernahR- The big business man takes up crossword puzzles. Location = Funnybones - \ Crossworders, Attention “My golf game is worse than ever and I practiced all winter in the b° you ever have trouble with Half a tond is better than none your crossword puzzles? Of course you do! Then why not let us assist you? Our service bureau was. organized expressly for that purpose. Remember, we gu tee satis- faction. If, for any reason, a puzzle is too much for us, we replace it with gne of our own. ‘That seems fair enough, Our staff, recruited from the best dictionary publishing houses in the country, is unexcelled. Every mem- ber is a crossword wizard. Our rates are remarkably reason- able because of that fact: Fifty cents for one, three for one dollar. (This merely defrays the cost of stamps, envelopes, lead pencils and erasers.) In writing please enclose name, address, age and size of hat. ‘Tur Crossworp Buitpers, Inc. Bridging the Distance “How far out from New York do you live?” “Just two rubbers.” sae Wine, woman and song continues But the country also has For those who wish to be up to date Bootleg, flappers and jaza! How the crafty knight won the victory. WS. comicbooks.com