Wordplay

[Ken Jennings]

Building off of today's blog post. Anybody seen Wordplay yet? Anybody on the fence and needing to be convinced? I'm happy to wax rhapsodic or whatever else you want me to wax about its virtues.

[Gator]

Sadly, if the IMDb is to be believed, the movie isn't playing anywhere within a 500-mile radius of my house. That's what I get for livin' in the Wang, I suppose. Sigh.

[Trip]

Well, it's opening in another 100 or so theaters this weekend, including many in Florida. (I should know -- I'll be doing a Q&A after one showing in Fort Lauderdale this Friday.)

Glad you liked it, Ken. It was nice meeting you this March, and I'm looking forward to reading your book (just pre-ordered it the other day, along with Bob Harris's book).

[rkd]

Well, it's opening in another 100 or so theaters this weekend, including many in Florida. (I should know -- I'll be doing a Q&A after one showing in Fort Lauderdale this Friday.)

Sorry to divert from the topic, but where in Fort Lauderdale? I'm in Davie at the moment.

[Trip]

The Sunrise 11 (Pine Island), this Friday, Q&A after the 7:30 showing. And Ellen Ripstein will be doing a Q&A in South Beach at about the same time.

[hassgocubs]

I have not seen the movie, but it debuts in my area Friday, and I'm planning on seeing it this weekend, though I'm not sure with whom; when I saw the preview earlier this month with my wife, I told her that I wanted to see the movie, and got the "Mister, You're On Your Own" face from her.

Ken: in the photo of you solving the puzzle, I see no cord on the headphones. Were they wireless, or just noise-suppressing? If they were wireless, what did they play?

[Ken Jennings]

Ken: in the photo of you solving the puzzle, I see no cord on the headphones. Were they wireless, or just noise-suppressing? If they were wireless, what did they play?

There's actually sort of a cool answer. In my case, they were mostly noise-suppressing, since the lowly C division doesn't merit play-by-play. The upper two divisions get live commentary from crossword editor Merl Reagle and NPR's Neal Conan. The upper division finalists listen to a chatter of multilingual white-noise made by overdubbing dozens of different tapes of simultaneous translation from the UN floor!

[Hoyt Pollard]

I can't wait to see the movie. If you want to read about the dark underbelly of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, check out Marc Romano's book "Crossworld." It has some great history about the crossword puzzle itself and a peek into the world of Will Shortz.

[Trip]

I suppose this is getting a bit far afield of the original topic, but "Crossworld" is godawful. There are factual errors on just about every page, aside from the terrible writing and little things like completely missing the point of the tournament (he claims at least twice that the tournament determines the best solver of the New York Times, which ... no). I won the tournament that year yet barely got mentioned in the book, for which I felt very grateful.

[themanwho]

I suppose this is getting a bit far afield of the original topic, but "Crossworld" is godawful.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who feels that way. In fact, it was so bad, it has actually prejudiced me against Wordplay, which isn't fair at all, since everything I'm read about the movie has been great.

I really wanted a "Word Freaks" for crossword culture, but Crossworld wasn't it.

-M

[Hoyt Pollard]

Sorry I brought it up. I don't remember it being that bad, but I've never participated in the tournament, so I'll take your word that it was innaccurate. Maybe it would have worked better as a magazine piece. Hey, I hear "Wordplay" is supposed to be good....

[hassgocubs]

The upper two divisions get live commentary from crossword editor Merl Reagle and NPR's Neal Conan.

Now I'm intrigued. So they get to hear Reagle and Conan talk about the very puzzle they're doing? Do the two of them studiously avoid talking about the puzzle?

[rkd]

The upper two divisions get live commentary from crossword editor Merl Reagle and NPR's Neal Conan.

Now I'm intrigued. So they get to hear Reagle and Conan talk about the very puzzle they're doing? Do the two of them studiously avoid talking about the puzzle?

I think he meant "get" in the sense that commentary is done (by Reagle and Conan) for the upper divisions, whereas the lower divisions don't have any commentators; that's why the upper divisions have the headphones which get the multilingual-babble transmission. That way, Reagle and Conan are free to talk about the puzzle without affecting the competitors.

--RD, hoping I read that right

[ikillkenny]

I thought NPR's On The Media did a pretty good story on this year's competition. They did it about a month and a half ago I believe. They have podcasts of their past shows so you can download it. I believe the website is http://www.onthemedia.org.

[pmerrell]

If you're looking for more about crosswords after you go to see "Wordplay," I'd recommend picking up a copy "The Crossword Obsession" by Coral Amende, written in 2001. It doesn't cover the tournament in "Wordplay," but it's a very indepth and interesting look at "the history and lore of the world's most popular pastime."

Ken's showing this past March at the tournament was remarkable for someone competing there for the first time. And he was a good sport, putting up with people regularly gawking at him through the corner of their eyes (and some probably not so subtle as that).

[twodox]

RE: Crossword obsession:

Actually, Ken's performance at this year's ACPT, while unusual, has a precedent - namely mine.

By a bizarre coincidence, I managed to win the C-Division and Rookie prizes and finsh 37th overall in 2001.

Of course, since I got bumped up to B-Division, it's been all downhill for me. I assume that Ken will better in the future than I did. It is nice to think that we have something in common. Now, I guess I should go on Jeopardy.

[Ken Jennings]

The upper two divisions get live commentary from crossword editor Merl Reagle and NPR's Neal Conan.

Now I'm intrigued. So they get to hear Reagle and Conan talk about the very puzzle they're doing? Do the two of them studiously avoid talking about the puzzle?

I think he meant "get" in the sense that commentary is done (by Reagle and Conan) for the upper divisions, whereas the lower divisions don't have any commentators; that's why the upper divisions have the headphones which get the multilingual-babble transmission. That way, Reagle and Conan are free to talk about the puzzle without affecting the competitors.

--RD, hoping I read that right

Yeah, sorry. Raj is right. The higher-level finalists wear earphones so they can't hear the play-by-play, which the audience gets to enjoy.

Congrats twodox! Hey, I have some vague memory of reading a blogger on-line say they he/she had won the B-division (!) their rookie year, which impressed the heck out of me. Am I remembering right?

[pmerrell]

You're right, Amy Reynaldo (aka Orange on the Internet) won the B division in 2005, her first year at the tournament. I believe she was in the top 20 overall. Her second year, this past March, she finished in 5th place (I think that's where she ended up after a few last minute scoring adjustments). So, a good incentive for another Ken Jennings appearance in 2007!

[Ken Jennings]

Whoa, 5th place in her second year. That's amazing. Not going to happen at my skill level though.

[at8ax]

Point of order: The puzzle Al solves in two minutes is a Newsday/Creators puzzle, not a NYT.

(at8ax = Coach = Jon)

[Ken Jennings]

Point of order: The puzzle Al solves in two minutes is a Newsday/Creators puzzle, not a NYT.

(at8ax = Coach = Jon)

Really? I totally missed it. Does the movie imply otherwise, or did I just miss the boat?

[Dave Mackey]

Point of order: The puzzle Al solves in two minutes is a Newsday/Creators puzzle, not a NYT.

(at8ax = Coach = Jon)

Really? I totally missed it. Does the movie imply otherwise, or did I just miss the boat?

It was a Newsday puzzle. Those Monday puzzles are probably the closest thing we have to "Animal with kittens"=C-A-T in the daily crosswords, and I think my record on one of those (working on the timed applet at www.stanxwords.com) is 2:03. The Monday puzzles are usually either by Stan himself, working under the name "Sally R. Stein", or Gail Grabowski.

Incidentally, my brother Robert placed sixth in his very first Stamford, in 1998, and took home an armload of trophies that year. I don't believe (other than the very first year) a rookie has ever finished higher.

[at8ax]

[quote="Ken Jennings"][quote="at8ax"]Point of order: The puzzle Al solves in two minutes is a Newsday/Creators puzzle, not a NYT.

(at8ax = Coach = Jon)[/quote]

Really? I totally missed it. Does the movie imply otherwise, or did I just miss the boat?[/quote]

After Al's done, there's a shot of the hard copy of the puzzle. Under the grid, the copyright information is visible. You kind of have to know to be looking for it. Another overlooked point: Merl confirms REDTOP in the dictionary, but to no avail. That chunk of the grid was revised later, and REDTOP got mowed.

[Ken Jennings]

Point of order: The puzzle Al solves in two minutes is a Newsday/Creators puzzle, not a NYT.

(at8ax = Coach = Jon)

Really? I totally missed it. Does the movie imply otherwise, or did I just miss the boat?

After Al's done, there's a shot of the hard copy of the puzzle. Under the grid, the copyright information is visible. You kind of have to know to be looking for it. Another overlooked point: Merl confirms REDTOP in the dictionary, but to no avail. That chunk of the grid was revised later, and REDTOP got mowed.

I've done enough NYT crosswords to think to myself, at that point, "REDTOP? That's going to get changed." Thanks for confirming.

[rkd]

Finally got to see the film today, after being turned away last Saturday due to some kind of problem with the projector or film or something. Very entertaining. The competition itself is a lot of fun to watch, and the skill level of the competitors is (to an outsider like myself) astonishing. The idea of doing a Sunday NYT crossword in 10 minutes is unfathomable to me ... I've got my share of fancy book-learnin', and I'm happy when I can get halfway through the thing.

There's a good balance in the film between backstory of competitors, background on puzzles, and the big competition itself (though it would've been nice if they'd shown something other than shots of old people when talking about Trip moving to Fort Lauderdale). My favorite parts, other than the championship itself, are the parts dealing with how crosswords are made. The section where Merl Reagle is creating a crossword is great -- I'd never given much thought to how crosswords develop from a blank slate to a finished grid. A few bits don't work quite as well, like a classroom where Tyler's professor is asking him about crosswords from an A.I. perspective ... that seemed a little forced to me. But those moments are few and far between. I highly recommend the film, especially to anyone who has found their way to this board.

--Raj Dhuwalia