Wordplay

BryGuy turned me on to a delightful documentary, Wordplay, that is currently in (independent) theatres.

It is a documentary about the New York Times crossword puzzle: its fans, its constructors, and its longtime editor, Will Shortz. Many puzzle fans are featured, including: former President Clinton, Jon Stewart, and the Indigo Girls. Also, there are profiles on some of the top competitors in the annual puzzle competition, hosted by Shortz.

If you get a chance, check it out... Highly recommended.

Some personal notes:

(a) My paternal grandmother did a crossword every day for decades. She was a dominant Scrabble player and was sharp as a tack until she passed away at 91. Though I don't think she did NYT's puzzle, she would have loved this film. These are her people.

(b) Shortz is shown in-studio for NPR; he is running a contest for some callers to his radio show. One puzzle is, given a category, provide a name for something in that category that starts with the same two letters as the category. For example, if the category is "auto manufacturers" then "Audi" is a good answer. The keen viewer will notice that his list of categories contains "Provinces of Canada". (If you need a hint with this answer then perhaps you should stop reading this blog. Thank you.)