A little over a year back, I stopped by my parents’ house. While Norwegians generally pass around compliments like manhole covers, I was particularly proud of what I had written that week and was fishing for a kind word or two and had seen my dad sitting in his chair, pen in hand, doing the crossword puzzle in the paper just the other day, so I stopped by to bask in the glow of my own massive ego. Being as subtle as the Hulk knitting a comforter, I asked him, “So, dear old dad, father of mine, what did you think of my column?” “I didn’t get a chance to read it. Your mother usually cuts up the paper before I get a chance to read it.” It was then that I saw my old arch-nemesis standing in the room twirling his pencil-thin mustache and bellowing a laugh that could only come out of the mouth of a Bond villain. It was the crossword puzzle. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard, “I don’t read you, but I love your paper’s crossword puzzle.” I could disclose the secrets of the universe, the right passwords to whisper to old St. Pete, and more people will be trying to figure out a three letter word, clue, Gabor.
Doing the crossword is one of America’s favorite past times. Over 50 million Americans engage in the exercise of futility known as the crossword puzzle. Devotees include Bob Dole, Bill Clinton, Ken Burns, Jon Stewart, and the Indigo Girls. Liberal, conservative, black, white, everyone seems to unite behind doing a game that isn’t even 100 years old yet. While word games can be traced back to the 1st century to a carved stone in Pompeii called the Sator Square and to the Moschion stele, it was not until December 21, 1913 that the modern crossword came into being. The New York World printed a puzzle by Arthur Wynne, an English journalist, called a "word-cross," based on children’s game popular during his childhood. Shaped like a diamond and providing brief clues, readers loved it and within a month the editors had changed its name to “cross-word.” For ten years, no one else thought of mimicking the paper’s most popular feature. Then, in April 1924, upstart publishing company named Simon & Schuster got into the act publishing numerous puzzle books, letting the rest of American in on what New York already knew, crosswords were fun. Prominent scholars began hailing the game as a wonderful tool for mental health. Not only was Simon & Schuster raking in the dough, but dictionary sales skyrocketed. In the midst of the moral degeneration of the 1920s, America was going gaga over this little game. Black and white clothing and jewelry became the fashion. Librarians became concerned over people stealing dictionaries. One poor woman in Cleveland listed her husband’s obsession with crosswords in the petition for their divorced. There appears to be even a murder or two as the result of people being disturbed in the midst of a game. Patrons of Broadway got to enjoy a crossword based musical revue starring Walter Pidgeon called Puzzles of 1925. The word game crossed the Atlantic and conquered Europe. All of this led the New York Times to notice that, “All ages, both sexes, highbrows and lowbrows, at all times and in all places, even in restaurants and in subways, pore over the diagrams." The newspaper went on to lament that American’s love of the puzzle was “temporary madness,” and happily proclaimed the “crossword epidemic” over two years later. But they were wrong, the crossword did not go the way of Charleston, flagpole siding, and swallowing goldfish. Almost every newspaper and magazine across the United States carries one, and Simon & Schuster’s crossword books are still their bestsellers.
So, it is the height of irony that when most people think of crossword puzzles, they think of the New York Times, which is the most popular daily crossword in the United States. It was not until February 15, 1942 that the paper of record gave in and introduced a Sunday crossword, and eight years later, they made it a daily feature. Soon after, the first editor, Margaret Farrar, instituted the idea of having the puzzles become more difficult as the week went on, with Monday being the easiest and Saturday the hardest. Thus, beginners and veterans can all work on the crossword. Anyone who does the Times puzzle knows the one name associated with it with last 12 years, ten letters, two words, beginning with W. Answer: Editor Will Shortz has been creating the game that Americans spend a large part of their day doing and is the uber-geek of the gaming world. Born in Indiana, Will as kid became such a crossword freak that by 14 he sold his first puzzle to Venture, a Christian youth magazine. Less than 2 years later, he was a regular contributor to Dell puzzle publications. Shortz is also the only person that holds a college degree in Enigmatology, i.e. the study of puzzles (Something to remember in case that clue appears in a puzzle you are doing.), which he designed himself at Indiana University, graduating in 1974. After editing Games magazine for a number of years, he got his big break with the Paper of Record. (His hobby when not creating crossword puzzles? You got it, collecting antique puzzle books and magazine.) Director Patrick Creadon turns his camera on Shortz and his staff to show how they create the game that makes everyone nuts. While everyone has heard of spelling bees and Scrabble tournaments, Creadon accompanies Shortz to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, founded by the Shortz in 1978. It is the nation’s oldest and largest crossword competition. Puzzlers work their way through 8 specially created puzzles for the occasion, and the individual with best speed and accuracy wins the $4,000 grand prize. Moviegoers have seen geeks battle each other before in documentaries like Word Wars and Spellbound, but the crossword tournament is more like a convention or a family get-together where people interact, listen to guest speakers, talk at wine and cheese receptions, and play evening games together. Still, we see the contestant’s unique personalities and the lengths they go to prepare for the tournament, “the nerd weekend” as some of the puzzlers call it.
If you love crossword puzzles, this is your documentary, especially if you are one of those people who do the darn things in pen. I guess I can understand it. The crossword puzzle is an island of peace in the midst of chaos. No matter what is in the news, no matter what is happening at home, no matter what your bank account looks like, for a few minutes every day you can pull out the pen and disconnect. Although, having Bill Clinton often get his fix of this demon during national security meetings made me kind of nervous, and the lady with the tattoo of the first Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle that she solved on her back just plain scares me. Although if someone wants to tattoo one of my columns on their body that would be cool.
Verdict: A Great Documentary For Those Who Love Crossword Puzzles