The Petite Filet and I have become crossword nerds in a way. We're really not all that good at them – and we haven't succumbed to buying a crossword-puzzle dictionary (yet) – but we fight over the ones in the Sunday paper. Especially the one in the TV schedule because it's usually a little easier.
My crowning crossword achievement was correctly completing an entire New York Times puzzle. I couldn't cheat because the answers didn't come out until the next day, after I'd done it. Not to diminish my feat entirely, anyone who has worked the NYT versions knows, however, that they oscillate between medium-easy and utterly impossible. I hit a good day and the clues were ones that eventually clicked. I've got a theory that eye doctors and spectacle sellers are behind crosswords because my eyes are getting worse. Large print, here I come!
We are also longtime Wheel of Fortune nerds. This wordlove hasn't yet translated into oodles of cash and prizes, but ever since the 5th grade I've wanted to reach TV gameshow nirvana (or, Near Vanna) on that hangman/roulette wheel show. Would be best if we were on one of those couple shows because if the wheel was good to us we'd totally dominate. Argh, I hate it when people buy unnecessary vowels!
On another note, Macintosh-computer developer Jef Raskin died Saturday of pancreatic cancer. He named the project after his favorite kind of apple, and he is credited with the "drag and drop" feature first found on Macs that is now a cross-platform standard. His legacy lives on through Apple's continued focus on simplicty of use for complicated tasks, and in the Mac name worn by its wonderful stable of stable computers. If Apple's early management had been a little more open to licensing of their software to other makers, Windows PCs would be the obscure minority of machines used primarily by constipated college professors and the department of motor vehicles.
Don & I don the puzzle in the Philadelphia paper most evenings. He does a word, and then I do a word - and so on. It takes a long time that way, but we really do a good job of it. We know such different off-the-wall stuff.
Wheel of Fortune used to be a family watching affair with my in-laws. At one point I even owned the computer game on my Tandy (Radio shack) PC, circa 1985.
There were times you just wanted to reach into the TV and smack up side the head the sucker wasting money on an obvious vowel.
I am in love with all things wordy myself. Give me your Scrabble, your Boggle, your crossword puzzles. I used to be addicted to doing the NYT crossword in the Daily Texan every morning. (Note: They get progressively harder throughout the week. So if you want to feel like a complete bad ass, stick with Mondays.)
My husband and I don't do crossword puzzles, but we like their distant cousin, Scrabble. And we're Jeopardy fans ... we feel so smart when we actually get a question right! :)