Wordplay

Using a slew of interesting interviews and a brilliant visual device, filmmaker Patrick Creadon treats the ordinarily solitary pursuit of "crossword-puzzling" as a kind of spectator sport; his documentary on the subject is nearly as exciting as HOOP DREAMS. The main focus of Creadon's film is the estimable Will Shortz, the current editor of what many consider to be the daily puzzle: the venerable New York Times crossword. Shotz, who actually received a degree in enigmatology from Indiana University (his is the only such degree in the world), sifts through and vets hundreds of puzzles each year, making sure each published crossword conforms to the newspa...