My husband and I exchange cross words every day.
He puts his onto a difficult crossword book and I put mine onto an easier one. There is no doubt that his mind is much fuller than mine when it comes to trivia and big words.
And so, as he does his daily crossword, he doesn’t mind sharing his greater knowledge, attempting to impress me with his recall and ability to spell words otherwise unheard of. I feign nonchalance, not wanting to feed the hungry ego beast, but the truth is I am impressed at how (and why) anyone can store that much information.
At times, I ponder what an overfull brain must look like that as I freely travel the lighter mentality of a brain uncluttered with the flotsam of life.
I choose the easier crossword books because I enjoy the deception that a crossword done quickly (and often with only three letter words) is the first step towards genius. So as he labours his words based on Latin or obscure operas, I quickly fill in those words in daily use – at times so easy that I feel tricked. (Surely, that very obvious word can’t be the answer).
But even I of the swift pen and satisfying finish remain stumped on almost every crossword. Now, I could look up the answers at the back of the book, but I figure that this would be counter productive. I didn’t buy the book to copy the answers out. And so, when I have revisited the crossword several times and come up blank, I write a quick asterix at the top of the page and turn it over to he-of-the-big-words.
Essentially, I am feeding his ego.
Because at this point, he firmly gains the upper hand, and lets me know. He doesn’t only fix my work (he says he can’t get the missing words because most of the words around it are wrong), but takes an inordinant amount of pride in letting me know that he is doing it.
His glee is evident. And although he complains about my mis-spelling and wrong answers, I can tell that that little asterix is the best compliment a wife can give any husband keen to show his mental superiority.
This would be my time for that cross word. Instead I happily frolic in a book with easy answers.
- Linda Muller