The entry ELO has appeared in the New York Times Crossword a total of 221 times, most recently in the Tuesday, June 25 puzzle by Alex Eaton-Salners. ELO has primarily been clued to the rock band, whose hits include “Xanadu” and “Don’t Bring Me Down,” but in this crossword, the clue referred to one of the rating systems in the game of chess.

The ELO system was invented as an improved chess rating system over the previously used Harkness system, but was eventually used as a rating system for multiplayer competition in a number of video games, sports and board games. It is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games.

Unlike the rock band, however, the ELO rating system is not an acronym. It is the family name of the system’s creator, Arpad Elo (1903—1992), a Hungarian-born American physics professor. Elo was a master-level chess player and an active participant in the United States Chess Federation (USCF).

How It Might Be Clued

“Chess rating system,” “Arpad ___, eponymous creator of an international ratings system,” “___ rating system (chess standard),” “Chess’s ___ ratings”



