Jon Stewart proposed to his wife
via a crossword puzzle. Merv Griffin
made millions off his TV shows based on crosswords (Jeopardy, Wheel of
Fortune). Those employed by the NSA are tested for their ability to decipher a
word puzzle. Even the Queen of England
cannot go a day without her daily crosswords.
Me?
I have been addicted since
elementary school when the nuns handed out our Weekly Reader on late Friday
afternoons and I would zoom to the last page to tackle the puzzle on the “Fun
Page.”
My career as an educator for 37
years limited my free time. I was too
busy making lessons and multiple-choice tests, assigning projects and grading
essays, and writing tomes and tomes of curriculum guides. My free time was filled with family and
conferences or workshops that taught me how to perfect my classroom
teaching. Walls of to-be-read books
piled around me, and crossword puzzles were limited to an occasional foray. I was lucky to get around to it once a month.
I renewed that love affair once I
retired, especially the two separate years I babysat two different infant grandsons. Both boys were little angels so as they
napped, learned to crawl and walk, Grandma filled in one crossword puzzle after
another. After years of keeping abreast
of bright and demanding secondary students and years of constant study, I
needed the stimulation. My brain was
hungry for more than the vocabulary of a one-year-old child.
I keep several crossword puzzle
books by my bedside. They vary in
difficulty. I am also addicted to the
two puzzles that come in the daily newspaper.
(I have noticed that the puzzles in my paper increase in difficulty as
the week progresses. Monday’s is the
easiest; Sunday is the most difficult. )
According to studies on the aging
brain, besides diet and physical exercise, doing mental exercise is also
encouraged, and that includes reading, learning a new language, and enjoying
mathematical or word puzzles.
Good to know.
It gives me an excuse to feed my
obsession. I have gotten better and better at them, especially the more
difficult ones. I hate those that are so
snooty and use only the most elite of clues, like a word in Urdu or an obscure
cabinet member under Reagan or an abbreviation that is not a true abbreviation
(they shorten the word wherever they want to fit the grid). I either throw the
puzzle away or “cheat” and use the Internet.
I figure that is what the NSA does anyway.
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