Merl Reagle on Wordplay and Crosswords

Millions of people start their day with a crossword puzzle. A very small group of passionate puzzlers compete in the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut. Director Patrick Creadon's new documentary, Wordplay tracks a small group of competitors on the road to the tournament, following them up to the championship round. Simultaneously, Merl Reagle, the mastermind behind the Sunday puzzle in papers like the San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times and LA Times is submitting a puzzle to the New York Times, which will later be completed by celebrity puzzlers like Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart and Mike Mussina. Merl Reagle was on hand at the Seattle International Film Festival 2006 to talk about Wordplay and some of the history behind the tournament.