Happy to be puzzled
Happy to be puzzled
Happy to be puzzled
By Alvin Powell
December 18, 2015
Summary
For many, a crossword puzzle is a solitary pleasure, one that blots out the world for a time, in some cases easing a harried commute.
Decades after her father introduced her to the weekly ritual of The New York Times Sunday puzzle, crosswords remain a regular challenge and a bit of a mental refuge for Urdang-Brown, who has administered the Harvard English Department's graduate program for 26 years.
Every week her mother mails her and her brother copies of the Times' Sunday puzzle, a personal touch she could never match by getting a copy herself.
A shared love of puzzles prompted Urdang-Brown and her husband, Harvard-trained chemist Jerry Brown, to publish their own crossword book in 2000.
"Crossword Puzzles of the Century: 1900-1999" draws on cultural and world events to match 100 puzzles to 100 years.
Creating so many crosswords made the Sunday Times puzzle - which she does in ink, by the way - seem easy.
"My dream still is to one day have a puzzle published in The New York Times Sunday puzzle section. That would be glorious."
Reference
Powell, A. (2015, December, 18). Happy to be puzzled. The Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/12/happy-to-be-puzzled/