I watched this because I love crosswords (I’m an “INK-er” myself, pencils are for the weak! ;D ), but I worried it wouldn’t be that interesting. The fact that Jon Stewart had a cameo sealed it for me – so I rented it.

I actually enjoyed it a lot. Personally, I thought there was too much focus on Will Shortz and “NEW YORK TIMES” (as if they’re the only ones that do crosswords). I do the NY Times (at least M-TH) occasionally, but I think Mearle Reagle is the best crossword constructor. I like his clues and his humor. I was really glad the movie featured him! Will Shortz just edits other people’s puzzles, so I wish they’d featured more of the creators talking about how they make the puzzles.

I learned a lot, I hadn’t realized how they make the puzzles or that the patterns are mirror images. I think I enjoyed the earlier part of the film more than the second half that focused on the tournament. I enjoyed meeting the puzzlers (even that self-hating obnoxious whiny woman -was she really the only female in the top 20?) If I was still trapped in CT I would consider going to the next tournament.

I thought they had a good mix of people. Not just throwing in
celebrities for no reason or not including ‘regular’ people. It’s true that most of the people featured were Caucasian and probably middle-upper class – but if that is who is doing the puzzles and going to the tournament, you can hardly fault the film makers.
Jon Stewart was (of course) darling – I was amused to see he too is an INK-er. (He’s mentioned that he proposed to his wife using a crossword puzzle – which made me just like him even more.)

Seeing Bill Clinton solving a weekend NYT & using it as an analogy for politics was interesting (& yet depressing as it pointed out the disparity in intelligence levels of him & Bushie JR.)

In all a movie I would recommend to anyone that likes puzzles. (Not sure if non-gamers would enjoy, but I would still encourage them to try it out.)

P.S. Did anyone else feel bad for Will Shortz & Merl Reagle – if they’re designing all the puzzles and running the tournament, when do they get to play??