Words Words Words
By Andrew Linde This week, I talked about watching the documentary Wordplay, which is about the New York Times Crossword Puzzle contest. My full thoughts about the film are in that episode, but watching it had a true effect on me. It forced me to remember when I was obsessed with crosswords and other pencil puzzles. From a very young age I was good with words and puzzles. Word searches on children’s menus were such fun. There were various rivalries when the whole family would go out to eat and decipher the children’s games while waiting for food. These were truly fun games, unlike connect-the-dots or mazes. As I grew up, afternoons spent with my grandmother are fond memories of those giant books of crossword puzzles. They often used the same clues over and over. I’ll be darned if I ever had the patience to complete a full book of them. To this day I still own half-finished puzzle books with a slew of written game types. I quickly moved from sudoku to hidato to kakuro. Each number puzzle more complicated than the last. Still, crosswords held my interest always. Watching Wordplay reminded me, almost subconsciously, that I should try my hand at them again. It wasn’t that I really believed I could be as fast as the pros(two minutes!). I just really enjoyed the challenge before me. My local paper, The Press Telegram, has a daily crossword puzzle called Universal Crossword. It is fun to play, and I mostly can’t finish them in under an hour, but I enjoy trying to fill all the boxes. I desperately wanted to try something on par with the New York Times so I went looking. It turns out, I own The New York Times Crosswords game for the Nintendo DS. I had forgotten about since I had begun to, unintentionally, shun handhelds. Nevertheless, I pushed the cartridge into the slot and turned it on. I found that I had half completed several challenges in this virtual incarnation. The NYT puzzles were difficult, but this time I would persevere. I would face this challenge head on! You can read Andrew’s blog every Friday and hear him on Nerd’s Eye View every Tuesday and Thursday at nevpodcast.com. Send your thoughts to [email protected] and like us on Facebook.
