1938 saw Butts make a big breakthrough in developing the game.

The popularity of crosswords gave Butts the idea of combining the letters with a playing board, on which words could be joined in the manner of a crossword.

Lexico became New Anagrams, Alph, Criss-Cross then Criss-Crosswords.

The boards for the first Criss-Crosswords games were drawn with his architectural drafting equipment, reproduced by blue printing and pasted on folding chessboards.

The tiles were similarly hand lettered, then glued to quarter inch plywood and cut to match the squares on the board.

Through the years that followed, the game changed in its development. For example, at one time the opening word was placed near the upper left-hand corner of the board.

However, several of Butts original features have remained. The 15 by 15 square board and the 7-tile rack were original features. Also the distribution and the values of the letters remain unchanged from 1938 to this day.

But Criss-Crosswords met the same flat refusals as Lexico. The patent board turned him down again. And so did more games manufacturers. A decision they were collectively going to regret !