In the Parlance of Our Times

My privacy conversation with Jason last week was temporarily sidetracked. It went something like this:

Me: I do crosswords and am careful not to search the internet for answers to certain clues, for fear of the pattern that might arise.

Jason: I do crosswords, too, and that's cheating.

Me: It's not.

Jason: It is.

Me: It's not.

Jason: It is.

Well, you get the idea.

Michael and I started doing crosswords after seeing the movie Wordplay with Louise in New York City last summer. Before this I thought of crosswords as either difficult or boring or both. After the movie we bought a NYTimes (it was a Tuesday) and found that the puzzle was not only doable, but fun. I've since got an online subscription to the NYTimes puzzle, and most days do the crossword on my computer, often with help from Michael and other resources.

And that's where the internet comes in. Sometimes the answer to a clue is some fact, maybe the name of a foreign city or an actress from an old TV show. It's just become second nature to pull up Google or Wikipedia and search for this sort of answer at other times, like when we're watching a movie and wondering what else we saw an actor in. Why shouldn't I do the same when I'm doing a crossword? After all, I'm already sitting at the computer, connected to the internet. The answer I need is just a click away.

So, is this cheating? I'm reminded of Louise when she was little. Whenever we taught her a new game, she'd announce a change in the rules, making the game her own (and tipping the scales in her favor). I guess I'm doing the same here. My rules say use any resources you have available.

You can play by your own rules, and I'll play by mine.