October 24, 2006 -- Who would have thought you could make an interesting movie about crossword puzzles and the people who love them? Writer/director Patrick Creadon, along with co-writer Christine O'Malley have done just that with “Wordplay.” The documentary film is loosely arranged around an annual crossword puzzle tournament organized by New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz. The event is like a class reunion, with a lot of old time friends who all have a similar passion for word games.

From there, the film explores the history of crossword puzzles, concentrating on the New York Times puzzles and how they shaped the format long ago with rules that persist today. For instance, there is a rule against the use of words for certain bodily functions. Another rule states that the crossword puzzle's structure must be vertically symmetrical. There is also a rule about the ratio of white squares to black squares. Who knew? The film has profiles of some of the top contenders, people who can solve the toughest New York Times Crossword puzzles in a little more than four minutes. It also profiles some puzzle constructors, including one who creates a special wordplay puzzle for the film. The film also interviews some famous people who love crossword puzzles, including Bill Clinton, Ken Burns, baseball pitcher Mike Mussina and comic Jon Stewart.

After many of these interesting side trips, the film gets back to the crossword puzzle competition, where speed and accuracy both play an important role. Players get bonus points for speed, but mistakes cost the players heavily in point penalties. The top players tend to be technical people, like engineers, computer programmers and mathematicians, not word people like writers and editors. The top players are also very driven and very competitive. Some are even obsessive. Most of them appear to be nerds. One woman, who won the competition several years ago, said a former boyfriend belittled her skill in solving crossword puzzles. Her withering reply was: “What can you do better than anyone else in the country?”

The final competition pits the three top players against each other on a stage, where they fill out the final puzzle on large boards. The conclusion of the contest is a shock. If it had been scripted this way in a fictional movie, nobody would have believed it. There is a stunning turn of events in the last minutes of the contest. The color announcers who are calling the game are funny and the contestants make funny observations about the game while competing. Even though the competitors are compulsive, driven and competitive, they respect each other and they play fair. In one instance, two competitors point out an error in the scoring which results in another competitor getting more points. The competitors are very likeable people.

How Will Shortz came to be crossword puzzle editor at the New York Times is an interesting story in itself. How he was able to major in puzzles in college and eventually make a good living on puzzles is a perfect example of what philosopher Joseph Campbell called “following your bliss.” Shortz was simply passionate about puzzles and decided to follow that passion to whatever end. He had no expectation of ever being famous or financially successful, but achieved both. Because he was true to his true calling, he achieved far more in life than he ever expected. “Wordplay” is a glimpse into a very exclusive club of like-minded people who share a love of puzzles. It really helps that these people are likeable. I didn't mind spending time with them at all. Their world is like an alternate universe and this film offers a window into their world. This film rates a B.

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Copyright © 2006 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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