meet the solver

According to the Muse, there are two breeds of solvers: puzzlers and riddlers. Who are puzzlers and and how can you tell a puzzler when you meet one? Who are riddlers and how can you tell a riddler when you meet one? Since puzzlers and riddlers come in all shapes and sizes, how can you tell the difference?

profiling the puzzler

As the Muse uses the term, puzzlers are ordinary people who also work (i.e., solve) crossword puzzles. When it comes to the crossword puzzle, puzzlers range from casual to staunch:

• If casual, their puzzle encounters may take place once or twice a week or even less often, or sporadically, say on a train or plane or in a doctor's or dentist's office. theytake up a puzzle when they are bored and have nothing better to do, but they would just as soon read a magazine or paperback.
   
• If staunch, they work puzzles daily during office breaks or at home in their spare time. theyare bothered when they fail to complete one. theylook up answers for puzzles they don't finish and shake their heads at themselves when they miss an obvious clue. When their supply of newspaper puzzles runs short because they've completed all the handy ones, they buy books of additional puzzles to work. theysolve puzzles on the Internet or on their home computer. theywork other kinds of puzzles, such as acrostics or anagrams. theymay even construct crosswords as a hobby.
   
• Puzzlers who fall somewhere between casual and staunch may bravely accept the challenge of the Sunday puzzle in the New York Times, which they take on at the kitchen table over that second pot of Sunday breakfast coffee, now cooling to lukewarm. For them, the Sunday Times is a self-imposed emotional drain, a love-hate relationship they can't resist. Some give in to the temptation of looking up answers, a practice otherwise known as cheating; some don't. Some wait to check answers until they've throw down their unfinished puzzle in disgust.

Puzzlers comprise the great majority of people who work crossword puzzles.

profiling the riddler

• As the Muse uses the term, riddlers are special kinds of solvers, the kind who live and breathe puzzling. Riddlers attack all aspects of solving and are captivated by the solving process itself. theymay like to solve or they may simply be possessed by a demon.
   
• Riddlers work crossword puzzles daily, in many cases several per day. theysolve against the clock and keep logs of their timings.they talk about them with other riddlers, attend web puzzle forums, exchange email with other riddlers and puzzlers, attend crossword tournaments, solve British puzzles, which are a breed apart, construct puzzles on paper napkins or with computers, publish their own puzzles, and work the editor's desk for games magazines and newspapers.

Riddlers comprise a minority of solvers.

why do people Solve Puzzles?

Whether puzzler, riddler, or simply solver—whatever they are called—all sorts of people like working crossword puzzles and they work them for all sorts of reasons.

What are their motives? there seem to be an endless variety of them. Below is a list of just a few of the reasons why people play and why you might want to play, too.

Notice that some of the reasons people play may not merit praise. Carried to extremes, some reasons may produce self-destructive or anti-social behavior. Moreover, many people don't play to better themselves; they play just for the fun of it or for reasons that have nothing to do with benefits. The benefits are there nonetheless.

profiling the world of the solver

the world of crossword puzzles is populated by a wide variety of different kinds of people who come from virtually all walks of life and have widely varying backgrounds and personalities. theyinclude the professional, the amateur, the hobbyist, the editor, and the publisher. Measured both by number and importance, by far the most prominent of these is the player. The player (solver) is its raison d'etre, the individual for whom this world exists.

It is said that there are 50 million crossword puzzle game players in the U.S. alone. Taken at random, these individuals seem to have few special characteristics that distinguish them from their 250-odd million compatriots. You can't spot them as they walk freely in  the streets.

If crossword puzzle puzzlers come from all walks of life and are indistinguishable from on another, what do they have in common that sets them apart from others? Principally, they possess the kinds of minds that like to solve riddles and they possess a penchant for language. This is why the Muse Of Language Arts prefers to call players solvers.

the world of these riddle solvers is populated by a notable subgroup whose members have something more in common. This subgroup consists of crossword gamers who are enthusiasts and fans. An individual from this group may be a gaming amateur or professional; he may be a strict stay-at-homer or an outward-looking crossword puzzle tournament-goer; but whatever his standing, degree, or type of participation in the World Of Crossword Puzzles, this type of person exhibits a fervor and commitment to puzzles bordering on the extreme—one, incidentally, not appreciably different from that shown by any avid computer gamer, fantasy game player, or baseball or soccer fan to his own pastime. This special group of crossword puzzle enthusiasts—here called riddlers—is a vital and vibrant subculture of the World of Crossword Puzzles.

What makes an avid solver a riddler? Since, as far as the Muse knows, as a group serious crossword puzzle fans have never been subjected to psychological study, the Muse can't resolve that riddle. The Muse has no idea of the origin of the fan's love of the game or of the percentages that make up his stereotypical personality bar chart. What mental or emotional traits or experiential accidents may account for the keenness, concentration, intensity, drive, motivation to solve, desire to win—and in short, total commitment to puzzledom—is a mystery. It might be a combination of competitive spirit and hero worship; it might be an inborn social outlook. Perhaps it's a peculiar combination of innate extroversion and introversion, congenital boredom, bipolar disorder, off-beat synapse wiring, or any mixture of a multitude of factors, natural and cultural or otherwise.

It is apparent from casual observation, however, that crossword puzzle enthusiasts typically exhibit one or more behaviors that mark them as unique when compared with other kinds of crossword puzzle gamers. Not only do they work puzzles for themselves, as other members of the World of Crossword Puzzles community do; they study puzzles solved by others, compete in tournaments, construct puzzles of their own, complain to editors, submit letters to the editor or Op Eds to newspaper editors and columns, have favorite players and constructors whose games they follow (shades of chess!), recognize constructor styles and develop preferences for one constructor over others, show a tenacity for solving a puzzle once begun, and behave in other ways indicative of high energy, commitment, and lively intellect. Above all, like mountain climbers and their mountains, who also can't be rationally explained, riddlers seem to like to solve puzzles because they're there.