In the month leading up to the allied invasion of Normandy in the Second World War, a collection of very particular words started appearing in the crossword section of a popular British newspaper. Starting around May 2, 1944, codewords for specific parts of the “D-Day” operation – which would kick off in earnest June 6 – began popping up as answers in the Daily Telegraph’s crosswords. The strange coincidence, deemed by some as the Crossword Panic of 1944, led British intelligence to eventually question the puzzles’ creator. On May 27, another question’s solution was the code name for the entire invasion: Overlord. By the end of July 1944, more than 300,000 from both sides had been wounded or killed.

Source: National Post June 06, 2017 20:26 UTC