''Wordplay'' is a 2006

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by

Patrick Creadon Patrick Creadon (born May 4, 1967) is an American filmmaker primarily known for his work in documentaries. His first film, ''Wordplay'', profiled ''New York Times'' crossword editor Will Shortz and premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ...

. It features

Will Shortz William F. Shortz (born August 26, 1952) is an American puzzle creator and editor and crossword puzzle editor for ''The New York Times''. Early life and education Will Shortz was born and raised on an Arabian horse farm in Crawfordsville, Indi ...

, the editor of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

crossword puzzle A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answ ...

, crossword constructor Merl Reagle, and many other noted crossword solvers and constructors. The second half of the movie is set at the 2005

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is a crossword-solving tournament held annually in February, March, or April. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 tournament was canceled. In April 2021, the 43rd tournament was held virtually. Founded ...

(ACPT), where the top solvers compete for a prize of $4000. ''Wordplay'' was the best reviewed documentary film of 2006, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The movie focuses on the following crossword solvers: * Ellen Ripstein: editor living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and 2001 ACPT champion. She is also known for her

baton twirling Baton twirling involves using the body to spin a metal rod in a coordinated routine. It is similar to rhythmic gymnastics or color guard. Description Twirling combines dance, agility, coordination and flexibility while manipulating a single bat ...

. * Trip Payne: professional puzzlemaker living in South Florida and three-time ACPT champion. He held the record as the youngest champion after winning the tournament in 1993 at the age of 24. *

Tyler Hinman Tyler Hinman (born November 5, 1984) is an American crossword solver and constructor and a seven-time winner of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT). He holds the tournament record for youngest champion ever, winning as a 20-year-old i ...

: student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

. At the 2005 ACPT, he challenged Trip Payne for the title of youngest champion ever. * Jon Delfin:

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

living in New York City and seven-time ACPT champion. * Al Sanders: project manager at Hewlett-Packard in Fort Collins, Colorado. He is a frequent finalist at the ACPT. The film contains appearances by many celebrity fans of the ''Times'' puzzle, including

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, Bob Dole, Jon Stewart, Ken Burns,

Mike Mussina Michael Cole Mussina (born December 8, 1968), nicknamed "Moose", is an American former baseball starting pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1991–2000) and the New York Yankees (2001–2008). ...

Daniel Okrent Daniel Okrent (born April 2, 1948) is an American writer and editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of ''The New York Times'' newspaper, inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books (such as ...

, and the Indigo Girls. A 2008 episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'', " Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words", is based on the film.

James L. Brooks James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Taxi'', ''The Simpsons'', '' Broadcast News'', ''As G ...

got the inspiration for the episode after watching ''Wordplay''. "We felt both Will and Merl were very compelling, off-the-beaten-track personalities n ''Wordplay'' who would fit into our universe very well", Brooks said. The episode was written by

Tim Long Tim Long (born June 14, 1969) is a comedy writer born in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Long calls Exeter, Ontario, his home town and has written for ''The Simpsons'', ''Politically Incorrect'', '' Spy'' magazine and the ''Late Show with David Letter ...

, and directed by

Nancy Kruse Nancy Kruse is a former animation director on ''The Simpsons''. She started working on the show during the first season as a background clean-up artist. After that she did background layout and character layout for several years on the show before ...

, and guest-starred crossword puzzle creators Reagle and Shortz as themselves. ''Wordplay'' features a theme song, "Every Word", written and performed by

Gary Louris Gary Louris (born March 10, 1955) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter of alternative country and pop music. He was a founding member of the Minneapolis-based band the Jayhawks and their principal songwriter and vocalist after the ...

The Jayhawks The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Twin Cities music scene in the mid-1980s. Led by vocalists/guitarists/songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson, their country rock sound was influential ...

. The ''Wordplay'' DVD features a music video of "Every Word".

References

External links

WORDPLAY
site for

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence H ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

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An Interview with Patrick Creadon, the Director of Wordplay
* 2006 films American documentary films Documentary films about words and language Crosswords Documentary films about competitions Documentary films about Connecticut Films set in Connecticut Films about The New York Times Films directed by Patrick Creadon IFC Films films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{arts-documentary-film-stub