I realize now why the "significant other" and I get along so well. He's also a cruciverbalist although I doubt that either he or his family were aware of this significant character trait since he rarely displays it to anyone but moi..
OK, so you just googled the word on your iPhone and found out that cruciverbalist comes from the Latin word crux for cross, and verbum for word. Our secret is out. . .crossword puzzles are our thing. We're addicted to our daily dose in the Miami Herald, happiest when one or the other can graciously offer to help out if the other is stuck on a word. Gracious with a touch of superciliousness, that is.
One of the favorite gifts I ever received was Simon & Shuster's Super Crosswords Book. My grandson Adam gave it to me several years back and it contains 225 perforated pages of puzzles. Every time I go on a plane trip I rip out 3 or 4 pages from the book to stuff into my carry-on for something to do while flying. It makes the time go faster than just reading.
Actually, according the article on the internet that alerted me to the word, cruciverbalists just plain love word games of any kind. I guess that accounts for the six different Words With Friends games I continually play on my iPhone with a variety of friends/relatives/colleagues. Am I competitive? You bet I am.
According to Will Shortz, the NY Times Crossword Editor and the God of all puzzlers, the fascination of crossword puzzles exists in the fact that "with a human-made puzzle, you have the satisfaction of being completely in control: you start the challenge from the beginning, and you move all the way to the end. That's satisfaction you don't get much in real life. You feel in control and that's a great feeling."
Obviously, that explanation does not obtain to the Sunday NY Times puzzle. Sorry, Will. I hardly ever feel like I'm in control when I work on that. Anyone who does, deserves to be called anything they want.
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Photo caption: Definition of "Chutzpah": doing puzzle in red pen!
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