The OED is 80: An Interactive Crossword Puzzle

Purdy, Publicity Director

Fresh off the OED 80th anniversary events in the UK we are proud to post a crossword puzzle that celebrates the OED created by the wonderful folks at Jonesin’ Crosswords. Its interactive glory is after the jump.  For those who missed the events in the UK I am pleased to announce that we’ve arranged some panels here in the US where you can hear about the OED, its history, how words are selected, what it was like to read the whole OED in a year, and discuss the oddities of the English language in these places in the coming months.

Events:

The Century Club (Members/Invite only) event will be a panel discussion on October 22nd at 6 pm featuring:
o Simon Winchester, author/historian
o Ammon Shea, author of Reading the OED
o Jesse Sheidlower, OED editor at large

The Harvard Bookstore event will be a panel discussion held on November 13th at 5:30 pm at the Brattle Theatre featuring:
o Jesse Sheidlower
o Ammon Shea
o Simon Winchester
o Barbara Wallraff, Word Court columnist in The Atlantic

The Philadelphia Free Library event will be a panel discussion on November 18th from 7:30 to 9 pm and will feature:
o Jesse Sheidlower
o Ammon Shea
o Barbara Wallraff, Word Court columnist, Atlantic Magazine

The Harvard Club of NYC event will be a discussion on March 4, 2009 featuring:
o Jesse Sheidlower
o Ammon Shea
Be sure to try your hand at the crossword after the jump!