WE LOVE TO PLAY, DO YOU?

 RHYS BOWEN: First let me say I loved being part of our Reddies live last Wednesday. To know we are reaching out to so many people across the world is amazing. And I was interested to see how many other people start their day with Wordle!

I confess, I like to play. Call me Peter Pan but I have never grown up. I have been known to sit on one of the swings at the park if no one is watching. I have to remind myself that I am not twenty when I see a chain across the path and think, “I could hurdle that.”

 I once caused a sensation on an Indian beach when I found lots of hermit crabs, lined them up and then let them have a race to get back to the ocean. I looked around to see I was surrounded by a crowd of solemn Indian spectators in saris watching me as if I was performing a religious ceremony.  I can’t go to a beach without finding shells, rocks, driftwood in interesting shapes.

 I also have to have daily play to punctuate a hard working writing routine. My days always begin with Wordle, followed by Letter Boxed and Spelling Bee. I have tried Connections but it drives me crazy. My brain is just not on the same wavelength as the creator. How do I know that these four words are all the middle name of Rappers? Whereas Wordle… I’m on his wavelength. I can often do it in three tries.

 Later in the day I play Scrabble against the computer. I call him Ivan because he is so terrible. He knows all sorts of words that I can’t believe are in any dictionary. So when I put down EXTRA he will come up with XTRYZOTLY or something similar. Or even once HMM. Or GRRR.   How can they be fair? Still I insist at playing at the skilled level and occasionally I do beat him.( You’ll notice I’ve made him male).

 One thing I’m not good at is Suduku. It frustrates me because I find it hard and others zip through it, including an elderly relative I’ve always thought of as rather dim. 

And my other form of play is art. I love painting and sketching, but also making fun little craft projects, like the miniature bookstore and these mice that now adorn my small Christmas tree.(Whoops, it’s no longer a Christmas tree. It’s a winter mouse tree and will stay up as long as I need a twinkle.)

 So how about you, Reds? Do you play? And dare I ask: are you good at Suduku?

LUCY BURDETTE: I’ve done spelling bee on and off but find it frustrating. I do love Wordle and Connections, but I save them for the end of the day as a reward for working! This isn’t really a game, but I also love to play “The Hunt”, which is in the real estate section of the New York Times. Someone is looking for a condo or house, then you read about what they want and how much $$ they can spend, then 3 options are presented. You choose what you would buy, and what you think they bought. I love this! Sometimes (like today) I want to save it for later, but I can’t–it’s too tempting.

I think dancing counts as playing, right? I love dancing and loved dancing with the Reds at Crime Bake. I also love wailing on my ukulele with my neighbor and anyone else we can suck in. We’re not very good, but it’s so much fun!

HALLIE EPHRON: I’ve only recently gotten hooked on games. 

I love the NY Times Spelling Bee which I do every morning and occasionally find the Pangram and bask in being a “GENIIUS”! Also Tiles. And Connections - a new game which is challenging to the point of being annoying. 

And I can usually do the Times crossword puzzles through Wednesday. And the Boston Globe crossword puzzle every day except Sunday.Keyword in the Washington Post is fast fun. And My favorite way to waste time is to play bridge online at Bridgebase. 

(And I wonder why my next book isn’t getting written….) 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: A few years ago I went through a massive games stage: Wordle, Tradle (where you had to identify countries by looking at their major exports) , Artle (where you had to figure out a famous piece of art by just seeing bits of  it) and something I forget the name of where you had to identify movies by looking at one frame of video. Anyone remember?  I LOVED those, passionately, then I didn’t.

Now I’ve moved on to the New York Times Sunday Spelling Bee, where I HAVE to get the palindrome of my day is ruined.  (Somedays I get it instantly! And other times it takes the whole day but I never give up.) AND the NYT weekly news quiz. MUST DO.

The daily Bees I LOVE , but I am afraid to start usually, because I refuse to stop until I get genius, and I start hearing the responsibility clock tick.

Also in The New Yorker, there’s a “can you name that notable person in six clues in 100 seconds.  MUST do those.

Suduku. Not a chance. NO way. My brain will not do that.

JENN McKINLAY: It’s funny you should post this, Rhys. My project for January is to go through the 10,000 pictures on my Shutterfly account and curate the keepers. I am up through 2011 from my account’s beginnings in 2000. Oy! One thing I have discovered is how much playing my family has done over the years. Hub and I are both children, apparently, as we’re skateboarding, boogie boarding, zip lining, and even upside down on the monkey bars right alongside the Hooligans. It’s been great fun revisiting all of these adventures. As for puzzles, Hub is a daily sudoku and crossword person. He never misses a day. I play solitaire and wordscapes on my phone when I am sitting on a plane waiting to take off or in line at the DMV, otherwise not so much for me. I did love Wordle for a while but I just don’t have the time for it on a daily basis - too many critters to corral around here!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Now you have got me hooked on Wordle, which I had steadfastly avoided, figuring I didn't need any more distractions. But it only takes about five minutes and it's really fun. Hank got me into Tradle for a while, too, then it dropped off my radar. I don't do the crossword regularly, because I tend to get obsessed with it and will spend the rest of the day trying to figure out the clues I didn't get.

But, like Lucy, I am addicted to Hunt in the New York Times. I can never save it for the end of the day–it's too tempting.

My grandmother loved Solitaire, and  always had a game laid out on the dressing table in her bathroom. (What a nice memory!) But I never learned to play, and I've never been tempted to try the computer version. It seems like a waste of time when you could be reading a good book (or writing one) but I have to confess that I love Bejeweled and will play it on my phone if I'm stuck somewhere and need to pass a little time.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I don’t think I was much for outdoor play when I was a kid - my favorite way to pass time was to wander hither and thither and pretend I was a part of some elaborate story in my head. Now  do it professionally!

I come from a family addicted to card games, and whenever I get together with my cousins, a deck or two comes out. I also adore board games, and used to joke I had three kids so I would always have enough people to play with. We’ve had so much fun over the years with the old classics like Sorry, Monopoly, Life, and wonderful new ones like 5-Minute Dungeon and Ticket to Ride  - the only one they refuse to join me in is Clue. They say I have an unfair advantage. 

Online, I’m a sucker for Mah-Jongg Solitaire, and Debs, I have Bejeweled on my phone, too! I usually wrap up my evenings in bed with the NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle. It makes me sleepy, unlike reading, where I’m likely to stay up until all hours.

RHYS: So how about you, Reddies? What do you like to play? Who is a Suduku whiz?

It's a Wordle, It's a Bee, It's a Volplane?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Here is one of my proudest moments in the past couple of weeks. I found every word contained a THE SPELLING BEE wheel of seven letters. Including two words – – pangrams – – that contain all seven letters




Tiny victories.

I have also discovered Wordle. Have you? It’s a on-line word game that looks like this at the beginning.



And the goal is to figure out what the five letter “Wordle” is by trying out five letter words, and then the software tells you whether you have put a correct letter in the correct place, or a correct letter in the wrong place, or chosen a letter that is not in the word at all.

Then, knowing that, you try again. And you get six tries to find the Wordle. I did not do too well on this one, below. Usually I can it in three or four.

But you can see my train of thought, right?




(Once, just once, I did it in two. But that was just lucky.)

There are lots of hints and clues flying around online, secrets to how to “win,” but I never read them because--figuring it out for yourself is the fun part.

And the New York Times Sunday Magazine SPELLING BEE– – that is the first thing I do on Sunday morning. I I cannot proceed with my day until I figure out the word. You have to find all the five-or-more-letter words, all including the middle letter. AND a seven letter word using all the letters. I am addicted to it.







Do you play any of these games? Or others? Do you embrace them, or are you frustrated with yourself for taking the time?

HALLIE EPHRON: I do! I do! My favorite is SPELLING BEE on the New York Times. I also play TILES. Their MINI CROSSWORD. And the regular crossword in the Boston Globe.

I also play bridge online with my sister and her husband and a friend. We having a group phone call while we play which makes it ALMOST like real life.

I know I’d love WORDLE but I am wary of adding yet another time dawdler to my repertoire.

JENN: Hallie, the nice thing about Wordle is that it is only one puzzle once a day and no ads and so far the creator is insistent that it stay that way. I love Wordle! My best is solving it in three.

I play Wordscape (an app) on my phone. Six letters and you have to make as many words as you can out of them. Fun! It’s what I do on planes while waiting to take off. I used to do the crossword every day but not lately as it takes too long. But I am going to check out NYT Spelling Bee - that seems like my kind of thing! I love word games. Plus, they’re supposed to help fight off dementia. So, they’re medicine :)

HANK: Yes, Jenn, isn’t it brilliant how it’s once a day? And Hallie, indeed, you would love it.

RHYS BOWEN: I finally succumbed to Wordless yesterday. Got the first two on the third try. I think they will be easy for me as we do Codewords from the British Daily Telegraph. It’s a blank crossword. They give you two letters corresponding to numbers and you have to fill in the whole crossword from that. Same strategy really.

I also play online Scrabble every day against the computer whom I call Ivan because he’s so terrible. He used words I’ve never heard of and also things like gurrrl and hmm which are absolutely cheating. Even so I beat him quite often. Very satisfying

LUCY BURDETTE: Yes, I’m addicted to Wordle too. Once I won in three tries, but usually much harder. And the spelling bee as well–I use the hints liberally to keep me going so I don’t give up. We used to love playing Boggle, so I bet I would like wordscape as well. Must keep those brain cells flickering…

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I see Wordle everywhere and I haven’t tried it yet, because I’m afraid I’ll become an addict. I’m super old school when it comes to word puzzles - I do the New York Times Sunday crossword. In ink, because I’m a badass, oh, yeah. My kids get me the book collections, and some of the collected puzzles date back to the seventies, so my personal knowledge of ancient culture is a plus.

Online games - I’m Majhong Solitare all the way. The Washington Post has a nice version - you don’t play against anyone, but there is a leaderboard to get the competitive juices flowing.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I see Wordle everywhere but haven’t tried it yet. I do the crossword but not regularly, and I’ve never tried the NYT Spelling Bee but I’m going to check that one out! Right now my brain is in deadline mode and I don’t really want to be distracted.

I am, however, addicted to online Trivia. I get Word Genius and Trivia Genius quizzes and I cannot resist them. I’m sure my vocabulary would be enormous if I could just remember all the weird new words I learn!

HANK: I got a word-of-the-day calendar, and every day, Jonathan and I take turns quizzing each other. Volplane, Catachresis, Nuncupative. And he just did his first Wordle. Which he got in 4.

How about you, Reds and readers?