La Settimana Enigmistica is a weekly Italian word puzzle and word search magazine, published since 1932 with Europe-wide distribution. It's one of Italy's most popular and top-selling magazines. One of the footers on the front page of the magazine states è il settimanale che vanta innumerevoli tentativi di imitazione ("it is the weekly magazine that boasts countless attempts at imitation"). Indeed, numerous other publications have followed in the wake of its popularity. History La Settimana Enigmistica was founded by Giorgio Sisini, a Milan-based Sardinian nobleman, Count of Sant'Andrea. His father was the founder of the Rotary Club of Sardinia. The first edition of the magazine was published on 23 January 1932 and featured a stylized portrait of Mexican actress Lupe Vélez on the front cover. The magazine has featured word puzzles contributed by the most famous constructors, including Piero Bartezzaghi, Giancarlo Brighenti, Bruno Makain and Sisini himself. After Sisini died in 1972, the magazine was edited first by Raoul De Giusti and then by Francesco Baggi Sisini. In November 2008, La Settimana Enigmistica reached the milestone of 4,000 issues. Layout The layout of the magazine has remained the same for several years. The heading on the cover is alternatively in one of three primary colours: blue, green, or red. The front cover always features a crossword grid with an inset photograph of a personality from the world of entertainment and sport. Even-numbered editions feature a male personality, while odd-numbered issues feature a female personality. Since 1995, some of the illustrations in the magazine have been printed in colour. One characteristic that makes La Settimana Enigmistica unique is that it does not accept advertising and rarely uses it to sell the magazine. Word Puzzles Many of the word puzzles featured in La Settimana Enigmistica are crosswords. A number of these (usually the level entry ones) use an American-style grid (one containing few black squares). As well as crosswords, the magazine contains many other types of puzzle, including: variants on the crossword puzzle, such as parole crociate senza schema (diagramless crosswords), syllabic crosswords, cornici concentriche (a barred crossword in which answers read left to right and in concentric rings) and incroci obbligati (a diagramless crossword containing no indication of where the answers are to be written and with clues given in random order); cryptograph crosswords, in which a number corresponds to a letter; other types of puzzles based on a grid but