Wordplay

[magid]

Last night I went to a free screening of Wordplay, a movie about crossword puzzles. It's a fun movie, showing both the competitive side (following top-ranked competitors in last year's crossword puzzle championship) and the more casual (showing famous people's crossword addictions), as well as how one cruciverbalist works (I was surprised he worked by hand; the one I work with makes his on his computer). It's fun and geeky (of course), though I did wonder at one point, as the gold-standard-ness of the NY Times puzzle was being sung yet again, what Brits or other cryptic crossword addicts would say about that. And I kept waiting, as Shortz' career was being discussed, for there to be a mention of Games, which is where I first saw his name, but there was none. I'd never seen his face before, either, and though I couldn't tell you what I thought he looked like, it wasn't as he is.

There were a couple of annoyances. One was that the sound was up loud enough that I had my fingers in my ears the whole time (obviously, a theater problem, not the movie). The other was that it seemed like there was a lot of footage that was far from crisp. I can understand that with the historic footage (1978 was the first puzzle championship), but the modern stuff felt a little blurry too much of the time.

It made me want to get some crosswords and start solving; it's been too long since I last worked a crossword. Not that I'll ever get that fast (if only because I suck so much at certain kinds of trivia), and not online (I need paper and pen(cil)).

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

My friend saxikath is in that film! (We hope to see it soon...)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Cool!

I was keeping an eye out for anyone I recognized, and there was one guy I know by sight (dark hair, glasses, beard; such a useful description :-), though I don't know his name. When I left, I saw him sitting a couple of rows behind me.

(I assume that since the Kendall hosted the screening, they'll be showing the movie in their lineup soon.)

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

Doubtless you are referring to potluck regular Kevin Wald (picture here (http://www.crosswordtournament.com/2003/photos/shack/Kevin_Wald_Eric_Albert.htm)), NPL nom ucaoimhu (http://www.puzzlers.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=krewe:noms:ucaoimhu). He, the aforementioned saxikath, and I were all in the same social circle as undergrads.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was referring to him. (How did you do that?)

(And the world gets smaller, yet again.)

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

The description seemed clear, and I sorta figured you probably knew him through the Thursday-night potluck dinner crowd, where you & I met and where he's a regular these days. Then mayica pointed out to me that Kevin only started coming to potluck after you ceased being an occasional, and now it's my turn to wonder how you know each other!...

[saxikath]

Wait, who's this?... oh, wait, I bet I know who this is. :) Hi!

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

I suspect you've identified me correctly, but just in case: Adams House, Berkeley math grad school, married to mayica.

[saxikath]

I thought so. Nice to find you here!

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

You too! And congrats on the IMDb page(s) :-).

[magid.livejournal.com]

I did see him at least a couple of times at potluck, though. Possibly other places as well, but definitely potluck.

Btw, I said "dark hair, glasses, beard" to my cruciverbalist coworker, and he immediately said "Kevin Wald?"

[ckd]

hr_macgirl and I were there, too.

There was, technically, one mention of Games...in a crossword puzzle answer. ("Hot potato or duck duck goose" in the "Magazine Mergers" puzzle; the theme was, of course, magazine titles stuck together, and that answer was "Family Circle Games".) Trip Payne also constructs for Games on a regular basis, so his name was familiar to us from there as well.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Coolness! (Yet more small-world syndrome :-)

I remember that clue and answer, but things were going by so fast in the movie that I didn't realize it referred to the magazine! Oops.

I used to get Games in high school, spending lots of time doing puzzles on the long bus rides. I stopped during that period when they got shakier on whether they were going to be published or not, and never got around to starting again. I should consider that.

[saxikath]

I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. I saw a screening at the crossword tournament this year, and am looking forward to seeing it again this weekend.

I have a feeling, given the overlap in our friends' lists, that we must have met sometime, but I'm not sure who you are.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The screening at the tournament was part of why my cruciverbalist coworker didn't want to see it again (he'd already seen it at the tournament and some other time).

I'm not sure whether we've met, or overlapped at $BigSocialSomething, or what (though I know I've seen you on my friendsfriends page :-). I've occasionally been to a Tuesday HoR game gathering, though not in a while (far too long, actually).

[saxikath]

I suspect I know who your cruciverbalist coworker must be. (There's only one person I've come up with who fits what description you've given in your entries.) Tell him Saxifrage says hi. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Done. And he looked rather surprised, too.

(You work in textbook publishing, apparently?)

[saxikath]

I do, indeed.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[saxikath]

Well, if your coworker still works where he used to, I'd kind of guessed that. :)