Crossword

Intelligence agents in Venezuela interrogated a crossword puzzle writer for hours earlier this month — and it wasn't because they were still stumped by 12-across. Instead, they were investigating another far-fetched conspiracy theory by supporters of president Hugo Chavez — this time, an accusation that the puzzle contained encoded threats against Chavez's family. Such a move would almost be comical if it weren't alarming. Writer Neptali Segovia's offense was to devise a crossword that contained the first name of Chavez's brother, a Spanish word for gusts of wind, and the word...

Intelligence agents in Venezuela interrogated a crossword puzzle writer for hours earlier this month — and it wasn't because they were still stumped by 12-across. Instead, they were investigating another far-fetched conspiracy theory by supporters of president Hugo Chavez — this time, an accusation that the puzzle contained encoded threats against Chavez's family. Such a move would almost be comical if it weren't alarming. Writer Neptali Segovia's offense was to devise a crossword that contained the first name of Chavez's brother, a Spanish word for gusts of wind, and the word...

I always thought that only smart people could solve crossword puzzles - people like my mother, or Bill Clinton, who got into Yale Law School and later taught constitutional law. But about four years ago, a colleague led me through a Monday New York Times crossword. She explained the code: If the clue is abbreviated, the answer will be, too; plural clues yield plural answers, and so on. The Monday puzzle is the easy, notorious crossword starter drug. So I am hooked. Not super-nerd hooked, but I enjoy the puzzles a lot, and when my wife helps me, I can even navigate past Friday and Saturday, the Scylla and...

Government critics, and even some supporters, are ridiculing a state TV host's allegation that a newspaper crossword puzzle may have had a hidden call for a plot to kill President Hugo Chavez's elder brother. Intelligence agents questioned the author of the puzzle after state TV presenter Miguel Perez Pirela pointed out that Wednesday's crossword contained the word "ASESINEN," or kill, intersecting with the name of Chavez's brother, "ADAN. " He noted they were below the word "RAFAGAS," meaning either gusts of wind or bursts of gunfire.

Government critics, and even some supporters, are ridiculing a state TV host's allegation that a newspaper crossword puzzle may have had a hidden call for a plot to kill President Hugo Chavez's elder brother. Intelligence agents questioned the author of the puzzle after state TV presenter Miguel Perez Pirela pointed out that Wednesday's crossword contained the word "ASESINEN," or kill, intersecting with the name of Chavez's brother, "ADAN. " He noted they were below the word "RAFAGAS," meaning either gusts of wind or bursts of gunfire.

Whatever popular good will and box office credibility Sandra Bullock reestablished with this summer’s “The Proposal’’ is hereby undone - no, obliterated - with “All About Steve,’’ easily the worst movie of the week, month, year, and Bullock’s entire career. It is to comedy what leprosy once was to the island of Molokai: a plague best contemplated from many miles away. In a spectacular feat of miscasting, the star plays a California fruitcake named Mary Horowitz who lives with her parents, constructs crossword puzzles for a living, and never stops yammering about...

Groundhog Day PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. Feb. 1- 3 Sure, you probably already know that on Feb. 2, Punxsutawney takes center stage thanks to a sizable rodent that predicts the length of winter. But did you know about the tailgating that goes on before the hairy beast comes out to look for his shadow? One of the most social of the many activities planned, which include a comedy showcase and the crowning of a Groundhog King and Queen, is a Feb. 1 sleepover at the "crash pad" (also known as the Punxsutawney Area Community Center)

LONDON - Rupert Murdoch flew to London yesterday to take charge of his media empire’s phone-hacking crisis as his bestselling Sunday tabloid, the News of the World, published its last. The scandal lives on despite his sacrifice of the 168-year-old paper at the heart of it. The scrapping of the News of the World has not tempered British anger over improprieties by journalists working for Murdoch, and his $19 billion deal to take full control of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting remains in jeopardy.

There are magazines devoted to beer and wine, periodicals about baking and vegetable gardening, how-to monthlies on keeping backyard chickens and raising beef cattle. Stephanie Skinner decided to do a magazine on cheese and cheesemaking. She was having dinner with friends a few years back when the idea occurred to her. "Stephanie started pounding her fist on the table and saying, ‘I don't understand why there's no cheese magazine,' " recalls Elaine Khosrova, editor in chief of Culture, the cheese-centric magazine that Skinner published to fill the void.

It's funny that two teams playing each other this weekend took such opposite paths. The Phillies spent $50 million for four years on Jonathan Papelbon because they identified him as one of the top three closers in the game. Their assessment has been correct, as he had 12 saves in 12 chances going into Saturday night's game. The Red Sox went for the low-cost approach with arbitration-eligible Andrew Bailey . Bailey, whose salary is $3.9 million this year, got hurt in spring training and hasn't yet pitched.

This Saturday, as about 700 of the nation's top crossword solvers gather in the Grand Ballroom of the Brooklyn Marriott for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, there will be an interloper lurking in the back of the room. The interloper is known as Dr. Fill. Unlike the other assembled crossword experts, Dr. Fill is not human. The Doctor is a crossword-solving program, and will be running on the notebook computer of Matt Ginsberg, a software engineer from Eugene, Ore. When the bell rings and humans start solving the first of seven championship puzzles, Ginsberg will hit "enter" and Dr. Fill will get...

There are magazines devoted to beer and wine, periodicals about baking and vegetable gardening, how-to monthlies on keeping backyard chickens and raising beef cattle. Stephanie Skinner decided to do a magazine on cheese and cheesemaking. She was having dinner with friends a few years back when the idea occurred to her. "Stephanie started pounding her fist on the table and saying, ‘I don't understand why there's no cheese magazine,' " recalls Elaine Khosrova, editor in chief of Culture, the cheese-centric magazine that Skinner published to fill the void.

I always thought that only smart people could solve crossword puzzles - people like my mother, or Bill Clinton, who got into Yale Law School and later taught constitutional law. But about four years ago, a colleague led me through a Monday New York Times crossword. She explained the code: If the clue is abbreviated, the answer will be, too; plural clues yield plural answers, and so on. The Monday puzzle is the easy, notorious crossword starter drug. So I am hooked. Not super-nerd hooked, but I enjoy the puzzles a lot, and when my wife helps me, I can even navigate past...

LONDON - Rupert Murdoch flew to London yesterday to take charge of his media empire’s phone-hacking crisis as his bestselling Sunday tabloid, the News of the World, published its last. The scandal lives on despite his sacrifice of the 168-year-old paper at the heart of it. The scrapping of the News of the World has not tempered British anger over improprieties by journalists working for Murdoch, and his $19 billion deal to take full control of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting remains in jeopardy.

Whatever popular good will and box office credibility Sandra Bullock reestablished with this summer’s “The Proposal’’ is hereby undone - no, obliterated - with “All About Steve,’’ easily the worst movie of the week, month, year, and Bullock’s entire career. It is to comedy what leprosy once was to the island of Molokai: a plague best contemplated from many miles away. In a spectacular feat of miscasting, the star plays a California fruitcake named Mary Horowitz who lives with her parents, constructs crossword puzzles for a living, and never stops...

Groundhog Day PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. Feb. 1- 3 Sure, you probably already know that on Feb. 2, Punxsutawney takes center stage thanks to a sizable rodent that predicts the length of winter. But did you know about the tailgating that goes on before the hairy beast comes out to look for his shadow? One of the most social of the many activities planned, which include a comedy showcase and the crowning of a Groundhog King and Queen, is a Feb. 1 sleepover at the "crash pad" (also known as the Punxsutawney Area Community Center)

The steamy book is called "Fifty Shades of Grey," and many people have never heard of it. But for those who have - boy, do they want to spread the word. "I told my mahjong group, ‘Oh my god, you have to read it,' " said Janice Abarbanel, 57, an art-jewelry maker from Sharon. The married mother of two stayed up so late reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" and "Fifty Shades Darker," the second book in the erotic trilogy, that she vowed to take a week off to get some rest.

Because "Spellbound," the 2002 spelling-bee documentary, was an Oscar-nominated hit, we got 2004's "Word Wars," about Scrabble obsessives. And because that film was well received, we now have "Wordplay," a documentary peek into the world of crossword puzzle fanatics. Let me know when we get to Sudoku; I'll be in the next theater watching the latest "The Fast and the Furious" sequel. "Wordplay" is sweet, indulgent, and surprisingly soft in the center; the most minor entry in the brainiac-doc genre to date, it's nevertheless a perfectly entertaining hour and a half for crossword...