Throughout the years I’ve heard people brag about doing the New York Times puzzle in ink. Still I scoffed. What possible use could it be? Those people should get a life. Then I started doing those little puzzles in the Minneapolis Star Tribune called Wuzzles. They’re the ones with the words in a box. Like a bunch of D’s formed into a cent sign. The answer, in case you haven’t guessed, is “decent.” That’s an easy one. Anyway, I soon began to look forward to the Wuzzles every day, and once a week in the little magazine that comes on Friday. There were four of them in there. I got a great deal of satisfaction out of getting all four right. Sometimes, stubborn person that I am, I’d sit there and stare at them until a light bulb went on.

Then I read an article about the left and right brain and the circuitry between them. The writer said it was possible to build that connective channel like a muscle. Wow!

About then I talked to a woman in my writers’ group who was having trouble sleeping. I recommended that she read before trying to sleep, since I can’t get to sleep at all unless I have my Ed McBain mystery clenched in my hot little fists. She says to me that she does the crossword puzzle for the same reason. Next day I spent four hours working the one in the Star Tribune. I’ve been doing it now for about two months, and I can feel the muscle growing like Arnold’s abs. Try this one. Mammal’s triplets. Three letters. Driving you crazy, isn’t it? They’re talking about the word, not the animals. Three ems, get it? Crossword puzzles teach you to think out of the box, and I’m almost ready to take on the New York Times. In ink.