Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blanks

listen: Windows Media | MP3

You know all those studies that say that crossword puzzles help maintain mental fitness and may even stave off Alzheimer's? Dean Olsher begs to "six-letter word for disagree." That's differ, by the way.

Dean's new book, From Square One: A Meditation, With Digressions, On Crosswords, argues that doing crosswords is an addiction. An escape into a singular universe. A soul-numbing defense mechanism. But there are worse addictions, right?

Dean Olsher is a longtime radio producer, and listeners may know him as host of The Next Big Thing. He's also in the top ten of the D Division of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and one of the rare birds who caught an error in The New York Times crossword puzzle, and can claim to have caught Will Shortz in a mistake. He joins us from New York, where he is visiting professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.