crossword addiction

They aren't messing around with their headlines.

We used to get the local paper when the boys were small, and one day, on a whim, I decided to try the crossword puzzle. It was... mysteriously exhilarating. For a week or two, I became obsessed with solving that puzzle. Obsessed. Ross would come home from work and the children would be starving and neglected and the house a mess, and I would be unable to tear myself away. "I have to finish this!" I realized fairly quickly that I would have to go cold turkey.

Twenty years later....

Immediately following the election I subscribed to the Guardian Weekly. I would glance at the "quick" crossword puzzle but didn't give it a go because they seemed impossible. "Cambrian Lake?! How the hell should I know the name of a Cambrian Lake?!"

Then this past week I saw that I knew one word, and picked up a pencil. Twenty years later, we have internet! I only had to do minimal cheating.

"Eli, what do you call watered down rum? Four letters."

"I don't know."

"You read all those Hornblower books! How can you not know!"

...

"It's grog!"

"Mom, this is giving me flashbacks to when I was little and you used to ignore us."

Addiction isn't pretty.

And there are a lotta troubles these days, overwhelming troubles, that seem unsolvable. So, darn straight, it's a comfort to solve a puzzle, tidy, complete.

Also, here's a fun article:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/14/crosswords/new-york-times-crossword-timeline.html?_r=0