Games
Crossword Puzzles
My love/hate relationship
If you ever want to start perfecting your crossword puzzle abilities, don’t try it on a Sunday.
That’s because at least in my local Arizona paper, two puzzles challenge you that day of the week. It’s a double-trouble day. One puzzle is harder than the other. I can’t tell which because both of them usually push me to the brink of frustration. Some puzzles are harder than others, but all have one thing in common. They want you to fail.
I’m sure many puzzle doers would not agree with those sentiments. They are either Mensa genius types or people who never expect to complete a puzzle anyway. The latter feel they are successful if they’ve answered most of the questions correctly and haven’t cheated by looking at the answers.
I think the second group places a rather low bar on gamesmanship. After all, players on a basketball, baseball, or hockey team don’t feel successful if, for example, they have sunk 50 percent of the free throws in their home basket. What about all those throws they missed? And baseball players don’t feel like winners if only half of their base hits actually count as runs. In short, you’re not a winner if you do only half the work.
Of course those who do crossword puzzles will often tell you that they are doing it just…
