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This weekend I rented Word Play. Now, you're probably not surprised to learn that I rented it, since you all know that I do crossword puzzles every day. Plus Jon Stewart is on the cover. What will surprise you - believe me, it surprised me - is that I enjoyed it so fucking much.
You know, I liked that ballroom dancing documentary, and I kind of got into it a little and maybe had a favorite that I hoped to win. But I was not crouched on the sofa threatening to leap off during the ballroom competition. I did not laugh at geeky ballroom humor.
See, I do two Xwords every day: the local paper and USA Today. I remember years ago, when I first started doing puzzles, the USA Today one was SO HARD. Now, it's not challenging at all. It is, however, long. So it works well to print out and take to lunch with you for some quiet midday solving.
And when Jon Stewart said, in the movie, "Occasionally, when I'm staying at a hotel, I do a USA Today puzzle....but I don't feel good about it." I realized that I've really been shortchanging myself. I am better than this. I am New York Times-worthy.
So I logged on to nytimes.com and I subscribed to the Xword puzzle (b/c they ain't given that shit away for free, yo). And I've been accessing the archives to work old Monday and Tuesday puzzles. Because they're the easiest ones. It's like my Times training, see. And, like a world-class athlete in training, I've been keeping track of my times to see how I improve. Which may sound obsessive to you but it's totally not. There was a guy in the movie who's been documenting his solving times in a notebook since 1997.
I mean, I'm no Tyler Hinman, but I don't exactly have my sights set on being the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Champion. Although, going to Stamford one year might be kinda cool.
2 comments:
And we would love to have you in Stamford! But the tournament is moving to New York City next year--the Stamford hotel can no longer handle the number of contestants. No doubt the movie helped to increase participation. And I'll confess that I actually went to the theater by myself on a Sunday afternoon to see Wordplay (don't know a sole who would have wanted to see it, and my family just thinks I'm demented). With the fortification of a huge container of kettle corn, I loved every minute of the movie. Personally I'm a Sunday Times puzzle fan--takes me hours to solve, if I manage at all, and sometimes I need to come back to it days later, but it is the most fun to wrestle with.
i tagged you for a meme at my site. i read you quite a bit and i think you're interesting, so i thought this would be a good one for ya. :)
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