'Wordplay' Comes To Sundance

Documentary Features Crossword Puzzles And The People Who Love Them

(AP) 
Sundance crowds were so caught up in the film's footage of last year's crossword tournament that viewers groaned over a bitter agony-of-defeat moment in the dramatic finale.

The same passion is captured with everyday players. "The Daily Show" host Stewart is seen assaulting the Times crossword, shouting "Come on, Shortz! Bring it!" Indigo Girls Emily Saliers and Amy Ray note they felt they had truly arrived when they were included in a Times crossword. Mussina says he takes a Times crossword as far as he can then calls on the bullpen, getting teammates to help him finish.

Mr. Clinton relates how the Times crosswords would give him a moment to relax and take his mind off his White House job.

"Wordplay" recounts the Times' clever clue — asking for tomorrow's headline — on the eve of the 1996 presidential election. The puzzle was constructed so it could be solved as either "Clinton elected" or "Bob Dole elected."

Dole was not an avid puzzle fan himself, but Creadon managed to land an interview with him for "Wordplay."

"When Bob Dole walked into the room, he looked at me and said, `You have quite an advance man,"' Creadon said. "I said, `Who's that?' and he said, `Bill Clinton. Bill called me a month ago and said, "Bob, you've got to do this crossword puzzle movie. It's fantastic. ..."'

"So that's how we got Bob Dole to be in the movie, was that Bill Clinton called him."

While Shortz said crosswords are a way to give people a mental workout, it's their fun quotient that makes puzzles so worthwhile.

"I like entertaining people, and crosswords are sort of a quiet way to entertain people," Shortz said. "I don't stand on stage and tell jokes or sing or do a magic act. I create and edit these puzzles, send them out into the world, and a couple of weeks or months or years later, I get feedback from the audience.

"The other thing I like about crosswords are the people. I don't know whether crosswords attract nice people or crosswords bring out the natural niceness of people, but you can tell from the film that crossworders are ingratiating and just people you want to know."