Cross Words Over Crosswords

I'm a casual crossword-puzzle doer. I work on the LA Times one that my newspaper carries on Sundays, the one in the weekly Onion, and the monthly National Geographic's. I'm not a fanatic over solving entire puzzles. I'm somewhat proud if I complete somewhere between 80% and 100%, but don't fret too much if I'm able to complete only 10 words. High and total completions don't occur often.
In working crossword puzzles, I don't do web lookups, I don't use a thesaurus, and only occasionally look in a dictionary. As another indication of my casual methodology, I use a pen. Oh, sure, I letter in answers that turn out incorrect, then do a somewhat messy job of …


[Read entire article at http://whilldtkwriter.blogspot.com/2009/10/cross-words-over-crosswords.html.]

Homophones—Hear There Everywhere

Homophones are dissimilar words that sound the same. Their incorrect usages are especially pervasive on the web—in comments sections in articles, blogs, and forums—where people share their opinions. Professionally written articles …


[Read entire article at http://whilldtkwriter.blogspot.com/2009/10/homophoneshear-there-everywhere.html.]

Some Wordplays Placed in the Wicked Play (and Other Wicked References)

Wicked was written by Gregory Maguire in 1995 as a prequel-type story to L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz. In Maguire’s story, three of the main characters bear little resemblance to how they appear in Wizard.

• Galinda (Glinda)—the Good Witch—is vain, self-centered, and rather ditzy.
• Elphaba—the eventual Wicked Witch of the West—is misunderstood and can’t seem to catch a PR break.
• Elphaba’s sister Nessarose—the eventual Wicked Witch of the East—is "tragically beautiful" at the start.

In 2003, Wicked became a Broadway musical and won several Tony awards in 2004. The book and musical greatly differ …


[Read entire article at http://whilldtkwriter.blogspot.com/2009/10/some-wordplays-placed-in-wicked-play_30.html.]