No Joy in Puzzleville
Socrates believed that education consists of extracting knowledge already inborn within all of us. This may be spiritual claptrap, but it’s a comforting sentiment and it feels nice to say it. And we get that same nice feeling whenever we are challenged by a difficult puzzle.
The New York Times crossword is not only the most difficult puzzle in American newspapers, it is also the most joyful. Those two things go together. The idioms, the wit, the broad cultural literacy required to solve it—all of these elements combine to create an exhilarating Aha! experience. It comforts us because it reminds us of things we already know, things deep inside us we feel we’ve known since before we were born.
The puzzle this past Friday was more difficult than usual. Under normal circumstances that would simply mean more time, greater focus, and, in the end, a more deeply satisfying experience. Something was different this time, though, and I wasn’t the only one to notice. A lunch companion asked, “Hey Dean, what was wrong with today’s puzzle?” The answer that jumped first to my lips: “It was joyless.”
First, there was ETATIST. Who says that? The English word is “statist.” Then came FOSDICK. Fosdick? And then LIBERTYPOLE. Huh? These are words that I and everyone I know would never, ever use. I wondered if they were provided by some crossword compiling software. It seemed as if the puzzle was obscure for the sake of difficulty, rather than difficult for the sake of satisfaction. The whole affair was less Aha! and more Wha?
I don’t intend to disparage the constructor. After all, contributors to the Times online forum expressed how happy they were with the challenge. And so I’m forced to come to unflattering conclusions about myself. Perhaps the joylessness of last Friday’s experience means that I have become one of those people who want to be reinforced in who they have been rather than to be stretched into becoming someone new. That’s the first sign of losing the battle of being alive. My hypothesis will be confirmed should I ever tune the radio to an oldies station.
The New York Times crossword is not only the most difficult puzzle in American newspapers, it is also the most joyful. Those two things go together. The idioms, the wit, the broad cultural literacy required to solve it—all of these elements combine to create an exhilarating Aha! experience. It comforts us because it reminds us of things we already know, things deep inside us we feel we’ve known since before we were born.
The puzzle this past Friday was more difficult than usual. Under normal circumstances that would simply mean more time, greater focus, and, in the end, a more deeply satisfying experience. Something was different this time, though, and I wasn’t the only one to notice. A lunch companion asked, “Hey Dean, what was wrong with today’s puzzle?” The answer that jumped first to my lips: “It was joyless.”
First, there was ETATIST. Who says that? The English word is “statist.” Then came FOSDICK. Fosdick? And then LIBERTYPOLE. Huh? These are words that I and everyone I know would never, ever use. I wondered if they were provided by some crossword compiling software. It seemed as if the puzzle was obscure for the sake of difficulty, rather than difficult for the sake of satisfaction. The whole affair was less Aha! and more Wha?
I don’t intend to disparage the constructor. After all, contributors to the Times online forum expressed how happy they were with the challenge. And so I’m forced to come to unflattering conclusions about myself. Perhaps the joylessness of last Friday’s experience means that I have become one of those people who want to be reinforced in who they have been rather than to be stretched into becoming someone new. That’s the first sign of losing the battle of being alive. My hypothesis will be confirmed should I ever tune the radio to an oldies station.
posted by DO at 9:58 AM
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