May 15, 2017– I’m about to reveal a big secret. I am a writer who is terrible at crossword puzzles, and who doesn’t have a huge vocabulary.
I love playing Scrabble, which is sort of like crosswords if you use your imagination, and I can do cryptograms with the greatest of ease, but when it comes to vocabulary and those five-dollar words often associated with crosswords, I panic. I appease myself with the fact that I was taught to write clearly and simply, on a level that everyone can understand.
Of course, you could argue that a writer with a limited vocabulary is like a painter who is colorblind. But I’m not that limited.
When I read “11 word games writers love” I wondered if the author considered writers who are crossword challenged. Even though she refers to the relationship between the writer and crossword puzzles as iconic, we must exist. Surely I can’t be the only one. I’ll give her a pass this time because she compiled a nice list of games aside from crosswords that will please even the mightiest of literary snobs.
And I’ll add one suggestion of my own:
If you’re mad about cryptograms, you can play to your heart’s content at www.cryptograms.org.
I think cryptograms involve math skills too so you are a mathematician deep down inside.
Perhaps in the way that music and art involve math. But the thought of a math problem on a blackboard still gives me hives!