'Wordplay' De-nerds Crossword Craze

June 15, 2005 — -- "Denerding" isn't yet a word recognized by New York Times editors, even for use in its crossword puzzle, but it might become one after "Wordplay" hits theaters.

While you might not find any of the crossword champs with pocket protectors, many of the top puzzlers featured in "Wordplay" live up to the popular image of the bookish know-it-all who wants to show off, work in pen rather than pencil, and solve the Times' Monday puzzle in less than three minutes.

But if there's still a stigma attached to puzzlers, the documentary, opening Friday, blows it apart, with a close look at the Times puzzle editor, Will Shortz.

As many as 50 million American puzzlers are Shortz fans. They're as Republican as Bob Dole, as Democratic as Bill Clinton, and as hip as Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, who've been known to ask in concert "Did anyone get 6-Down today?"

Of course, many of the top puzzlers seem lost in their own wordy world. "I've always been fascinated by the letter 'Q'," says Trip Payne, one of the grandmasters at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Another crossword gladiator likens his prowess to the athletic excellence of Barry Bonds, and when he does, filmmaker Patrick Creadon cuts to the mighty slugger swinging through a third-strike pitch.

Call it revenge of the nerds, because the mighty Bonds has been struck out by another prominent and accomplished crossword puzzler, New York Yankee ace hurler Mike Mussina.

"If you can handle the puzzle in the Times, you can handle any puzzle they throw at you," Mussina says.

On a Saturday afternoon a few seasons ago, while Mussina was tossing one of his gems, Yankee announcer Michael Kay described how the pitcher was at his locker room completing a puzzle before his pregame warm-up.

As if sensing the typical baseball fan wouldn't notice the significance of this feat, Kay felt compelled to elaborate. "The Times makes the toughest crosswords, and if you can do it on Monday, you should be proud of yourself. But by Tuesday and Wednesday, they keep getting harder," he said, noting that the man on the mound graduated from Stanford University.