By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
What is a nine-letter word for the newest addition to the Scarborough Leader?
C-R-O-S-S-W-O-R-D!
In preparation for Scarborough’s 350th anniversary the Leader will feature a crossword puzzle focusing on the history of the town. Resident Becky Delaware will create the questions and answers while Steve Seabury will put the information into crossword puzzle format.
Delaware said she was recently elected the vice president of the Scarborough Historical Society where she has been a member there since 1978.
“I like history,” she said. “I’ve devoted a lot of time learning about history through everything I could get my hands on.”
Delaware said she has seen the historical society go through many changes, as she can recall a time when they would split up third grade tour groups since the building didn’t have enough room for all of the students at once.
“The new wing has solved that,” she said.
By reading diaries, letters, reports and town records, Delaware has learned a great deal about local history.
“Sometimes people would just write something down in the back of a book that they didn’t want to forget. One man recorded every death in the town, but every now and then he’d also include something interesting that was going on,” Delaware said.
When it comes to putting together Leader puzzles, Delaware, who used to create Latin crossword puzzles when she was a high school student, said she would most likely be using the book published for the town’s 350th anniversary as a resource for forming questions.
“It won’t be too hard, if you know some things about Scarborough,” she said.
Delaware also said she will review “Old Prout’s Neck” and “Grandfather” two historical books by Augustus Moulton, both of which are available at the Scarborough Public Library and sold by the historical society.
“They’re readable, not at all like an encyclopedia or history book,” she said.
The puzzles will focus on certain aspects of Scarborough such as historic places and roads, prominent people and businesses and the origins of some local names, Delaware said.
Seabury said he has the easy job when it comes to putting the words together. By using a special software program he usually uses when he arranges a puzzle for his company’s Web site, he said it would only take about an hour, depending on the size of the puzzle and length of the words.
“The difficulty of the puzzle is very much dependant on the question,” Seabury said.
Seabury said he was introduced to creating crossword puzzles by a friend, and has been updating the Higgins Beach puzzle every month for the past two years, which can be found at www.higginsbeachproperties.com.
“I’m well acquainted with Higgins Beach, and it seemed like it was something I could do,” he said.
Unlike the puzzles in the New York Times, which employs a free form puzzle by using words unrelated to each other, the puzzles in the Leader will all have a common theme, making it easier for readers to solve, Seabury said.
Delaware said she hopes the puzzles will raise awareness about Scarborough’s unique history as well as prepare people for the milestone anniversary the town will celebrate this July.
The special 350th crossword puzzle will run every other week in the Scarborough Leader. Answers will be listed during the following week.