Middle Age Plus

Solving problems

Sometimes I feel like I am extremely bright, other times I know I am completely out of date and maybe even a bit stupid. Many things can cause this reaction in me, but it happens most often when I am working crossword puzzles.

I have gotten into the rhythm of the ones in the Nevada Daily Mail. I can usually work them (in ink, no less!) in about 15 minutes. Sometimes it is even quicker than that. I know that when a clue is given in an abbreviated form that the answer will be an abbreviation. Some words are not literal definitions but puns. Others are modern phrases that won't appear in my old collegiate dictionary.

I inherited a well-worn crosswords puzzle dictionary from my sister, Miriam, but it is a good example of how quickly our language changes. Many things I need to know are not even covered in that 25-year-old reference. I keep it anyway because of the memories and I don't really need to turn to it very often.

That is, I don't need it until I try to work the crossword puzzle in the New York Times. We don't take that paper. Actually we do well to read the Kansas City Star and the Nevada paper. But I was given a book of New York Times Crossword puzzles. Of course it has the answers in the back, but I don't like to use that way out. I find I am so weak that when I look in the back for just the one word that is stumping me that I can't resist peeking at a couple of other words also. That takes away some of the joy of solving the puzzle even if I ever get it solved.

I used to think I knew geography, but the names of the countries and cities now escape me.

Worse than that are the names of current leaders. In my education it didn't seem that we spent much time learning about the Far East. Of course when World War II began we learned many of the names and places very quickly. Some of those more familiar names do appear in the puzzles but it seems like those of the Middle East appear more often and I get stumped again.

This lack doesn't make me feel as out of date and stupid as not knowing the names of sports and entertainment figures. They never ask about the star of "Gone With The Wind." I would know that -- maybe even most of the supporting actors. But when they ask about the current films, or worse yet, the current musical stars, I am at a loss for the names. You have to remember that sometimes I find it hard to remember the name of the person who sits besides me in church each week. (Not the one on my left. That is my husband. I still remember his name.)

I know that part of this lack may be due to a slight short term memory loss, but I am convinced that most of it is due to the fact that Hollywood doesn't put the names of the stars in big print in their ads. Look at the current newspaper ads for movies. The actors names are printed so small you hardly notice them. The old marquees had the actors‚ names in lights before the name of the movie was listed. You couldn't miss the fact that Clark Gable was the star.

I do a little better with the television questions, but they can still make me feel out-of-date. But then I turn to the questions about Ms. Lupina, or maybe the grandson of Adam and I realize that I do know some things that maybe the younger puzzle solvers won't know as easily.

It's nice to be able to feel smart once in a while, even when you are Middle Age Plus.