The first British crossword puzzles appeared around 1923 .
Were purely definitional , but from the mid-1920s crossword puzzles began to include cryptic material : not cryptic clues in the modern sense , but anagrams , classical allusions , incomplete quotations , and other references and wordplay .
The first British crossword puzzles appeared around 1923 and were purely definitional , but from the mid-1920s they began to include cryptic material : not cryptic clues in the modern sense , but anagrams , classical allusions , incomplete quotations , and other references and wordplay .