Since many of the people who read my posts are wordsmiths like myself, I bet you like word games, too. Hazel and I are big fans of word puzzles and have exchanged ideas and personal quirky approaches to solving them.

I am one of those silly people who does crossword puzzles in ink. It so smacks of arrogance. But it’s a personal challenge – to see if I can complete an entire puzzle without a smudge – especially the LA Times Sunday puzzle. (Fergitabout the NY Times puzzle – I ain’t smart enough, even with a pencil.) Each puzzle-meister I’ve discussed crosswords with has his/her own strategy. Me? I go for the easy clues first then back into the tough ones.

Those of us who routinely do crossword puzzles know there are obscure words that have no use in the universe other than to be placed in a grid. The best example I can think of is the word “ort.” Now, give me a break – when was the last time you used the word “ort” in conversation or wrote to your Aunt Millie that her dinner was so delicious not an ort remained on anyone’s plate? For clarification, an ort is a scrap or fragment of food left from a meal, but you all probably already knew that.

Sometimes I'm thrilled with the discovery of a word I haven’t thought about in a long while. Like the other day I came across the clue “Be a harpy.” The easy answer was “nag,” but I was delighted to reacquaint myself with “harpy.”

The other challenge that crossword aficionados enjoy is the clues that end in “?.” (hmmm, that punctuation looks weird.) But the “?” is always a tip-off that the answer is going to be a bit tricky, deceptive, clever. For example, this week’s Sunday puzzle had the clue “preschoolers?” The answer was “roe.” Cute, huh?

Okay. The other type of puzzle I’m hooked on is Cryptoquotes. Hazel and I have an interesting commonality to these particular puzzles. Our brains are wired in a manner that we can often look at the rhythm of the letters and immediately break the code. My husband thinks I should have worked for the CIA. No thanks. I find life puzzling enough without the added intrigue.

Now, I don’t mean to be a harpy, but if you don’t do word puzzles, you should. Not only are they fun, but one can learn important new words like “ort.”

Here, give it a whirl. Here’s how it works (and I don’t mean to patronize): One letter stands for another. In this sample, “A” is used for the three “L’s” and “X” for the two “O’s.”

AXYDLBAAXR
LONGFELLOW

My code is different than the sample.

XAQPZE JVO KDEDXDPB. AQKC Q PDSC GQM. LVLV