Perhaps crosswords don't make compelling TV

October 7, 12:30 AMSF Pencil Games ExaminerKaren Spiegelman

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Sure it is, Ty. You keep telling yourself that.

Was I the only person who watched Merv Griffin's Crosswords? Apparently so. Wikipedia's entry was unusually mean, and even the show's website is under construction. The show has been canceled, which explains why it no longer gets recorded on my DVR. It's too bad, because I really got into it. Maybe it was the emphasis on spelling. The addition of "spoilers" who could steal the game was, I thought, a welcome bit of anarchy. The puzzles were pretty good too, constructed by USA Today's crossword editor Timothy Parker. (My second USA Today reference in a week -- weird!)

I even got the Wii game, which should have clued me in that the show was doomed. I've seen better graphics on poker games. Now the only place to even see reruns of the show is FamilyNet, a network so podunk that its site warns about sun outages. The dream of televised crosswords is over. For now...