![]() ![]() "Clinton Elected" or "Bob Dole Elected" both fit. Shortz edited the famed "Election Day Puzzle" (created by Jeremiah Farrell), which included a clue that asked puzzlers to come up with a 14-letter headline for tomorrow's paper. But even if you're not a fan, this documentary explores the art of the puzzle. You have to find some aspect of it you understand and build on it until you can unravel the mystery that you're trying to solve."Ĭrossword puzzles might get a bad rap as nothing more than boredom beaters for folks with way too much time on their hands. "You start with what you know the answer to, and then you build on it. "Sometimes you have to go at a problem the way I go at a complicated crossword puzzle," Clinton says. While many see crosswords as a boredom beater, the former president says they're not bad as preparation for the Oval Office. "Half the time I do these things just to see what people are thinking about," he says. He stops midsentence, eyes lighting up, and says, "You know, if you take the first letter of "Dunkin" and move it to the end, it becomes 'Unkind Donuts."īill Clinton's famous ability to connect with everyday Americans might come, in part, from his puzzling prowess. While explaining his profession, Merl Reagle passes a Dunkin' Donuts. It takes an astute knowledge of popular culture. Shortz works with a stable of these experts who've found the perfect outlet for their bizarre gift with the language.īut writing a tantalizing crossword clue takes more than verbal skills. "Wordplay" also examines the lives of those evil geniuses known as professional crossword constructors. Top players include Ellen Ripstein of Manhattan, also known as the Susan Lucci of Crossword for finishing near the top for 18 years but not winning. And while geek tormentors may say otherwise, they indeed have lives. The event has taken on a life of its own, with more than 500 fierce competitors.Īt times, "Wordplay" seems like the wildly successful 2002 documentary "Spellbound," which offered a glimpse into the cutthroat world of spelling competitions. In 1978, Shortz helped organize the first American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Conn., which the local Marriott's marketing department conceived to beef up wintertime revenues. Shortz, a 53-year-old Indiana University graduate, is said to be the only person in the world to hold a degree in enigmatology (the study of words), a curriculum he designed under the university's general studies program. He's the Errol Flynn of crossword puzzling." "When you imagine a 'crossword guy,' you imagine he's 13 or 14 inches tall … someone who doesn't care to go more than 5 feet without his inhaler," says Stewart. But by Tuesday and Wednesday, they keep getting harder," he said, noting that the man on the mound graduated from Stanford University. "The Times makes the toughest crosswords, and if you can do it on Monday, you should be proud of yourself. ![]() On a Saturday afternoon a few seasons ago, while Mussina was tossing one of his gems, Yankee announcer Michael Kay described how the pitcher was at his locker room completing a puzzle before his pregame warm-up.Īs if sensing the typical baseball fan wouldn't notice the significance of this feat, Kay felt compelled to elaborate. "If you can handle the puzzle in the Times, you can handle any puzzle they throw at you," Mussina says. "I've always been fascinated by the letter 'Q'," says Trip Payne, one of the grandmasters at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.Īnother crossword gladiator likens his prowess to the athletic excellence of Barry Bonds, and when he does, filmmaker Patrick Creadon cuts to the mighty slugger swinging through a third-strike pitch.Ĭall it revenge of the nerds, because the mighty Bonds has been struck out by another prominent and accomplished crossword puzzler, New York Yankee ace hurler Mike Mussina. ![]() Of course, many of the top puzzlers seem lost in their own wordy world. They're as Republican as Bob Dole, as Democratic as Bill Clinton, and as hip as Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, who've been known to ask in concert "Did anyone get 6-Down today?" While you might not find any of the crossword champs with pocket protectors, many of the top puzzlers featured in "Wordplay" live up to the popular image of the bookish know-it-all who wants to show off, work in pen rather than pencil, and solve the Times' Monday puzzle in less than three minutes.īut if there's still a stigma attached to puzzlers, the documentary, opening Friday, blows it apart, with a close look at the Times puzzle editor, Will Shortz.Īs many as 50 million American puzzlers are Shortz fans. J— - "Denerding" isn't yet a word recognized by New York Times editors, even for use in its crossword puzzle, but it might become one after "Wordplay" hits theaters. ![]()
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