I have had a lifelong affection with words. An avid reader of fiction as a child and teenager gave way to becoming a student of nonfiction as an adult.
Along with that goes forty years of random writing experience and two decades as a magazine publisher.
It should come as little surprise then, that I also enjoy crossword puzzles.
When I work a puzzle, I rely solely on the mind: mine and sometimes my family’s. (I used to tap all available non-human resources, but upon enduring merciless harassment after buying a crossword dictionary, I swore off artificial assistance.)
Unfortunately, I am, quite ironically, a poor speller. (My “flexible” pronunciation of most words doesn’t facilitate spelling accuracy either.)
My wife often endures the brunt of my spelling deficiencies. It might go something like this:
“How do you spell Cat?”
“C-A-T”
“It’s not with a “K?”
“No”
“Could it be four letters? Like K-A-T-T or K-A-I-T?”
“Ah, no!”
I ponder a bit more. “I can make kitty work if it only has one T.”
“No, there are definitely two Ts in kitty.”
I contemplate the situation some more, but I’m no longer thinking of a 4-letter word for feline.
Instead, I’m marveling that a person with orthography issues, such as mine, could so immensely enjoy crossword puzzles—and generally complete them quite effectively.
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Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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