The New York World newspaper had a tumultuous beginning. It was founded by Alexander Cummings in 1860 as a Christian-centric penny paper. When the Civil War began the following year, the newspaper became one of many pro-Lincoln publications. It was not a profitable paper, and by 1863, it was sold to a consortium of New York City Democrats, who used it as an anti-Lincoln publication.

In May of 1864, a man pretending to be a member of the Associated Press delivered a fabricated story that Lincoln was planning to enlist 400,000 more volunteers for the Union Army via "immediate and peremptory draft." Most of the city newspapers checked the validity of the claim. The New York World and the New York Journal of Commerce did not, and printed the story.

While construction was being completed on The World Building, and Pulitzer was easing away from the hectic demands of the newsroom, a 19-year-old Englishman from Liverpool arrived in Pittsburgh to become an American journalist. His first job was with the Pittsburgh Press. Over the years, Arthur Wynne worked his way up the corporate ladder of journalism, and eventually moved to New York City.

Throughout the rest of the 19th century, a newsroom war would take place between Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. One of the first moves Hearst made against Pulitzer was offering Outcault a much higher salary. When Outcault accepted, Pulitzer countered by hiring George Luks to continue the "Yellow Kid" comic. With apparently no copyright infringement, both papers produced the comic. Hearst then offered Pulitzer's staff increased salaries. Most accepted. Pulitzer responded by raising the salary amount. Hearst only raised again. The competition seemed to hit its peak between the years of 1896 and 1898 in which both papers sensationalized events leading up to the Spanish-American War, specifically after the USS Maine unexplainably exploded off the coast of Cuba. It was the height of "yellow journalism." After the war, Pulitzer reined in the paper's sensationalism.

As the Christmas season approached, Wynne was requested by his editor to come up with a new addition for the section. As a child, Wynne had enjoyed "magic squares." These puzzles were popular thousands of years ago in places like China and the Middle East. The goal of a "magic square" is to array varied numbers in small squares encompassed by a large square. The addition of these numbers whether horizontal, vertical or diagonal should equal the same number. This childhood fascination gave Wynne an idea, and it was an idea that would forever change the way Americans entertained themselves.

In 1921, Wynne handed much of the work to newcomer Margaret Petherbridge, who had been secretary to John O'Hara Cosgrave, The World's Sunday editor. A graduate of Smith College and aspiring journalist, she loathed the assignment and had the puzzles published without taking much of a glance at them. When the paper hired the preeminent columnist Franklin Pierce Adams from the New York Tribune, he reamed out the puzzle department for their lack of care.

With very little expectations, the company didn't even place their emblem on the book. But the 3,600 first print copies quickly sold out. The company sold around 400,000 copies in the first year. The crossword puzzle was officially an American phenomenon. Petheridge maintained her crossword editing relationship with Simon and Schuster for the next 60 years -- "the longest-running continuous series in American publishing history."

The New York Times was the last holdout among large American newspapers. Two months after the Pearl Harbor attack, the executives of the nation's paper of record relented and decided to publish a weekly crossword puzzle, but one worthy of the paper. For that task, they hired Petheridge, helping create what is now "the gold standard" of crossword puzzles.