Absolutely fabulous! I'm still chuckling. Thanks to Melissa for letting O share it with us.
rikki | 03.04.08 - 1:03 am | #

Loved the story. The building super was such a mensch. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Pat
P Manzo | 03.04.08 - 10:33 am | #

Re "My Crossword Life," by Melissa Balmain

Absolutely loved it. Terrific.

Raises the question why such words are continually repeated in crosswords. Are there not other brands of cookies than Oreo?

Is it because these words are convenient fillers for constructors? Or is it because they are obscure words that have become familiar to crossword insiders?

If the former, we should think less of crossword constuctors that overuse them. If the latter, we should think less of ourselves.
Kumar Shah | 03.04.08 - 11:37 am | #

I also emit a haha.
Matt | 03.04.08 - 12:48 pm | #

Kumar, they help constructors fill the grid. You can't stack AXIS, JOKE, and CRUMB in one small section—short words with two or three vowels and mostly common consonants facilitate the linking of everything else. Ergo, we shall e'er espy an olio of wee iotas of language.
Orange | Homepage | 03.04.08 - 1:45 pm | #

Orange:

Well put. Am going to have to learn to think like this if I am to get faster as solving the crosswords.
Kumar Shah | 03.04.08 - 2:09 pm | #

Kumar, this is exactly the reason that my book contains both a list of the 100 most common NYT crossword answers from easy Monday and Tuesday puzzles (the basic building blocks of crossword life) and a word bank of the 300 most common words throughout the week. You will see them again and again, so you might as well get to know them.
Orange | Homepage | 03.04.08 - 2:33 pm | #

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Alex | Homepage | 03.04.08 - 2:50 pm | #

Orange:

Thanks. Amazon has my order.

Kumar
Kumar Shah | 03.04.08 - 3:06 pm | #

That was too funny. Thanks for sharing.
Linda G | Homepage | 03.04.08 - 6:40 pm | #

I need to comment again, because I keep coming back to read it over and over. It's great, and gets better with every reading. More kudos to Melissa!
Alex | Homepage | 03.04.08 - 10:17 pm | #

Many thanks for the kind words, everyone! As I told a reader who e-mailed me yesterday, it's great to know this piece has found its ideal audience. --Melissa B.
Melissa Balmain | 03.05.08 - 8:11 am | #

Loved the Melissa Balmain story. Funny how Oleg-Olav morphed to Oleg-Olaf -- just as, who can remember which Scandanavian king was Olav and which was Olaf.

(Though the "et al" should probably be an "et al.", i.e., with a period.)
anon | 03.08.08 - 1:58 am | #

gjhgnhgfdfh
Anonymous | 03.02.09 - 10:12 am | #