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Crosswords are definitely NOT for the illiterate
Any crossword worth it's clues definitely should not be attempted by those who have not or do not read extensively IN ALL AREAS. The clues range across history, geography, mythology/religion, science, sports/entertainment, literature, language (native, foreign, idioms, puns, homonyms), et _ _ _ _ _ _ ! (is that alia, tu brute, or cetera? oh yeah, ...
Posted to The Spectator by pinetreelee on August 22, 2008
Puzzlers subversive?
I presume this article is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, although the concept of introducing a timewaster in order to effect political ends has been discussed in several places (e.g. the 1957 Eric Frank Russell novel ''Wasp'', the 1991 Star Trek episode ''The Game''). [There, I've brought in Science Fiction and ST TNG. I will refrain from mentioning ...
Posted to The Spectator by J Omega T on August 22, 2008
I guess we're not supposed to take this personally...
One wonders what insecurities or embarrassments might have inspired this gem. Look, I'm a pretty easygoing guy, but nothing irritates me quite like sweeping generalizations. This one swept one of the widest, most general swaths I've ever seen. If you haven't guessed, yes, I'm a puzzle guy. I like sudoku, crosswords, TextTwist(TM) and even those ...
Posted to The Spectator by urietsin on August 22, 2008
Crossword. sudoku plague
Ron Rosenbaum states: ''Need I suggest that those who spend time doing crossword puzzles (or sudoku)—uselessly filling empty boxes (a metaphor for some emptiness in their lives?)—could be doing something else that involves words and letters? It's called reading.'' He also says: ''What gets me is the dumbing down, the narrowing of the notion ...
Posted to The Spectator by Joan41 on August 22, 2008
I don't get it
Well, first off, let me admit I hate Sudoku-- not because of some random bias, but because I don't get anything out of it. At the end, I've got... a box full of numbers. At the end of a crossword puzzle, however, that my husband and I inevitably have completed together, I've always learned something, or discovered a new connection or sideway ...
Posted to The Spectator by splendid24 on August 21, 2008
Cracking Enigma and Crosswords
Rosenbaum's article is yet another example of that increasingly common form of argument which can be stripped down to ''You like that?!? Dude!'', but apart from being annoying, he's also wrong. During the recruiting for the top-secret project to crack German codes that was housed at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, British ...
Posted to The Spectator by ophymirage on August 21, 2008
Re: Dag, three pages on this?
If Anne Applebaum can take two pages to explain the conflict between Russia and Georgia, I think Ron Rosenbaum can take three to spew vitriol against the Sudoku/Crossword scourge. Even Slate has priorities. Should have developed the Starbucks of Tears a bit more, because I'm still cracking up about that.
Posted to The Spectator by feralcats on August 20, 2008
Prudie's bathroom literature advice dangerously wrong
In ''When good co-workers have bad bathroom habits,'' a Slate home page ''video Prudie'' that started automatically, Prudence for Slate V advised that reading magazines left in public bathrooms is completely safe. She authoritatively stated in an authoritative manner: ''Believe me, the reading material is safe.'' She is flat out wrong. What's ...
Posted to Slate V: News and Politics by glinteye on December 2, 2007