Li’s long history
The earliest word puzzles probably appeared during the Han and Wei dynasties. Liu Xie's "Wen Xin Diao Long·Yin Pian" said: "Since the Wei Dynasty, there have been quite a number of non-fiction actors, but gentlemen have ridiculed Yin and turned it into riddles." Liu Xie said that riddles originated in the Wei Dynasty because the literati at that time created many independent and complete works. anagram. For example, Kong Rong, a great writer at that time, wrote a "Poem of Separation and Names of Counties", each sentence has four characters, and every four or two sentences implies a character. The whole poem is twenty-two sentences long and has eighty-eight characters. The full text is as follows:
The fisherman bowed his knot and hid in the water; he advanced and stopped with the times, and he relaxed after leaving the temple. Lu Gongji hooks, closes the mouth and is beside the Wei River; there are saints in the nine regions, and there is no king in any land. It is good to be upright, and the girl returns to Kuang; there are rogues overseas, and the falcons die and the eagles rise. The six feathers are about to rise, but the feathers have not yet appeared; the dragon and snake sting, so that it can be forgotten. The rose shines in the dim light, and the beautiful jade shines brightly. No one has any reputation, but his words are hidden deep in his heart; if he walks safely according to the bridle, who can say that the road is long?
The answer to this poem together reads "Kong Rong Wenju of the State of Lu" (Kong Rong's Wenju). This acrostic poem by Kong Rong is now recognized as the earliest complete and mature crossword puzzle produced in my country. During this period, in addition to poetic forms, people often used physical objects other than language to express the mysteries of words in a subtle way. "Shishuoxinyu·Jiewu" records that when Yang Xiu was in charge, he built a national palace for Cao Cao. When the roof trusses were being built, Cao Cao came out to inspect and was quite dissatisfied. So he wrote the word "live" on the door of the prime minister's house and left without saying a word. When Yang Xiu saw this word, he immediately asked people to tear down the door of the Prime Minister's Mansion and rebuild it. He said: "The word 'huo' added to 'men' is the word 'kuo'. The King of Wei thought the door was too small." After this incident spread, Cao Cao's skill in making riddles and Yang Xiu's solving puzzles The victory was praised by people at that time. By the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, word puzzles had become popular. Many literati and celebrities are fond of crossword puzzles, which is a kind of elegant music. Pan Yue of the Jin Dynasty, Xie Lingyun, Xie Huilian, and Bao Zhao of the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Rong of the Qi State, Xiao Xunzhi, Chen Chenjiong of the Liang State, and others all created many acrostic word puzzles similar to Kong Rong's. Of course, judging from the puzzle-making skills of this period, there have been great developments. In the radicals of Lihe characters, many methods such as pictograms, metaphors, understandings, and famous object culture were also mixed, which had a positive impact on later generations of crossword puzzles.
In the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, the custom of making and guessing riddles was very popular. Word puzzles are no longer limited to scribes, but have penetrated into every corner of social life. Various traces of crossword puzzles can be seen in nursery rhymes, Fu Ruitu prophecies, inscriptions on tablets, seal paintings, novel notes, various opera skills, and drinking codes. From the emperors and generals to the common people, they all took pleasure in riddles, played with riddles, and competed in guessing, which became a current trend. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, making up and guessing word puzzles was still regarded as a skill, and some people could actually make a living from it. The best among them are famous all over the world and will be remembered for generations. Wu Zimu of the Song Dynasty recorded in "Menglianglu·Novel Lecture History": "Those who sell riddles will first use drums to congratulate them. Then they will gather people to guess poetry riddles, word riddles, cruel riddles, and social riddles. This is originally a code word. ... Hang Zhi For those who guess the riddle, let me tell you one or two things. If there are monks who have returned to Ma Dingzhai, they will remember to ask Bo Qia, and their names have been passed down for a long time.
"This just illustrates the popularity of crossword puzzles at that time and people's respect for those who can make and guess puzzles