IGME Files

I never thought I’d get something out of a crossword puzzle, until I tried answering one. Before I went to sleep, I decided to take a second reading of our weekly ration of the dailies, this time never missing an article in sight that piqued my interest.

As had always been the case, I NEVER cared to take a second look of the last page of the Phil. Star Magazine – the syndicated Washington Post Magazine’s Puzzle. Out of the one hundred forty-four questions in line, I was only able to answer eight (yes, it’s 8!). My initial desperation deterred me to go through the question again. Instead, I immediately cut the answer box on the previous page. Using the numbers as my guide, I wrote the answers beside the corresponding questions, not inside the puzzle itself.

And now came the discovery to the answers. I was in for quite a shock; doing crossword puzzle is so much fun. In between questions, there was so much wordplay that caught me laughing in stitches. Get this:

Q: Shipping clerk’s second career? A: Boxing Manager

Q: Jeweler’s second career? A: Ring master

Q: Sub captain’s second career? A: Deli owner

Q: Manicurist’s? A: File clerk

Q: Marriage counselor’s? A: Bond breaker

Q: Ballplayer’s? A: Diamond cutter (Huh? IS THIS BASEBALL RELATED?)

Q: Pilot’s? A: Runway model

Q: Fiction writer’s? A: Make-up artist

Q: Geometry teacher’s? A: Proofreader

Q: President’s? A: Cabinet maker (I WANT TO CHANGE THIS, BUT I’M AFRAID I’D GET KILLED!)

When I was almost through with the answers, I looked up at the top most title of the whole box and there it was, “second careers.” It was an a-ha moment for me; this puzzle goes under different themes every week. Another discovery is that unlike scrabble, a puzzle word can come in a phrase, like for example, Q: Words of empathy, A: I CARE; Q: ___ story, A: sob (I answered HI for HISTORY, nice try though!!); Q: “It ___” (“Who’s there?” Reply), A: IS I. And of my eight attempts, I got two correct ones. One was “Norma RAE.” It’s a Sally Field starrer which I’ve yet to see. You’ve got to give me credit that I am a cineaste. But who’s “Ione Skye,” or “Dolores Del Rio?” Hindi ko na yata sila naabutan (HEHE, WERE THEY THE VIXENS OF EARLY CINEMA? THEY SOUND LIKE ONE, THAT’S WHY!) Pray tell.

One thing’s for sure, I’ll have crossword puzzles in my Sunday routine. And I can do better than a near shut-off!