Monday, June 28, 2004
Black and White - Part II
Crossword trivia : 50 million Americans indulge in the game. 2000 newspapers publish the crossword. And, the switch from using pencil to pen is a sign that the novice has become a fanatic.
The transition wont happen the day you know the sailor is also called an "ab" or that the divine force that reinforced existence was "Isis". The transition will happen in a trice the day your first crossword is done and over. For me personally, it was when I was one word short - and I remember mailing (as in snail-mail) it to my sibling who also is a crossword freak to signal my coming of age in the crossword world. It took me a over a year to get there ! The word that I fell short of to complete the puzzle was "placebo".
Placebo it is, crosswords. Like the "tel maalish" that Johnny Lever offered as the cure of all ills !
PS: Honesty breeds honesty. What about code ?
Shd I continue on this thread ? Pls post your views.
Crossword trivia : 50 million Americans indulge in the game. 2000 newspapers publish the crossword. And, the switch from using pencil to pen is a sign that the novice has become a fanatic.
The transition wont happen the day you know the sailor is also called an "ab" or that the divine force that reinforced existence was "Isis". The transition will happen in a trice the day your first crossword is done and over. For me personally, it was when I was one word short - and I remember mailing (as in snail-mail) it to my sibling who also is a crossword freak to signal my coming of age in the crossword world. It took me a over a year to get there ! The word that I fell short of to complete the puzzle was "placebo".
Placebo it is, crosswords. Like the "tel maalish" that Johnny Lever offered as the cure of all ills !
PS: Honesty breeds honesty. What about code ?
Shd I continue on this thread ? Pls post your views.
Monday, June 21, 2004
Can you comment ?
Blogger says yes. So will help if you can make a comment or two and I could check if this feature works. Its fun for me - I hope its atleast a little of that fun for you to read and react.
PS:Honesty breeds honesty :-).
Have a great week.
Blogger says yes. So will help if you can make a comment or two and I could check if this feature works. Its fun for me - I hope its atleast a little of that fun for you to read and react.
PS:Honesty breeds honesty :-).
Have a great week.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Black and white
As a school student the grid was an excuse every morning to postpone the inevitable by a few more minutes. Pencil in hand the mind would wander through the distant pages of the mental dictionary before the rude clock would tick its way back to the foreground and eject me out of the house school on my bicycle. The memory is fresh in my mind.
The crossword was invented in 1913 by Alfred Wynne in Liverpool. It got popular very quickly and in 1922 the first cryptic crossword puzzle was published in UK. Ever since any newspaper worth its salt has devoted atleast a 4x10 inch column to this addictive pasttime. I hear now from word on the Internet that research graduates actually spend time thinking about how the human brain devises this piece of black and white. For instance, Sik Cambon Jensen, has a thesis titled "Design and implementation of Crossword Compilation Programmes using serial approaches". From an art and a hobby, there is science in the making.
Here is why I like crosswords :
1. They mock your limited lingual capability and so they challenge.
2. They respect your privacy. Your limitations, your triumphs and victories can remain your own deep dark secrets. Inscrutability.
3. You can survive on a lonely desert road with no civilisation in sight on a bare crossword (not recommended on an empty stomach though!). Nothing is as companionable as solitude or crosswords (apologies to Thoreau).
4. Its pure word play. And no amount of sleight can win it for you. The rules of the game are the game itself.
To continue...
As a school student the grid was an excuse every morning to postpone the inevitable by a few more minutes. Pencil in hand the mind would wander through the distant pages of the mental dictionary before the rude clock would tick its way back to the foreground and eject me out of the house school on my bicycle. The memory is fresh in my mind.
The crossword was invented in 1913 by Alfred Wynne in Liverpool. It got popular very quickly and in 1922 the first cryptic crossword puzzle was published in UK. Ever since any newspaper worth its salt has devoted atleast a 4x10 inch column to this addictive pasttime. I hear now from word on the Internet that research graduates actually spend time thinking about how the human brain devises this piece of black and white. For instance, Sik Cambon Jensen, has a thesis titled "Design and implementation of Crossword Compilation Programmes using serial approaches". From an art and a hobby, there is science in the making.
Here is why I like crosswords :
1. They mock your limited lingual capability and so they challenge.
2. They respect your privacy. Your limitations, your triumphs and victories can remain your own deep dark secrets. Inscrutability.
3. You can survive on a lonely desert road with no civilisation in sight on a bare crossword (not recommended on an empty stomach though!). Nothing is as companionable as solitude or crosswords (apologies to Thoreau).
4. Its pure word play. And no amount of sleight can win it for you. The rules of the game are the game itself.
To continue...
