If you explain to a child how a crossword puzzle works, you tell them something like: "You read the clue, and then you put the answer in the boxes that correspond to that clue, one letter in each box." Pretty simple.
Except when the puzzlewriters get extra clever, and put more than one letter in each box. How ridiculous is this? Isn't "one letter in each box" kind of fundamental to crossword puzzles? Otherwise, why not just write down any old answers on unlined paper?
Plus, it creates an atmosphere of mistrust. In my classes, if we discover a typo in the book, for the next week none of my students trust anything in the book -- it could be a typo! It's like this with crossword puzzles. If I come across one of those clever puzzles, I am suspicious of the next ten puzzles I do.
What if the world was all like this? The law: Stop at a red light. If you don't, you'll get a ticket.
Except when you are supposed to go through it -- then you get a ticket if you stop.
Some things are like this, though. The law says: Don't answer your spouse's rhetorical questions. They're rhetorical! It's patronizing if you answer them.
Except when you're supposed to answer them. Then you're patronizing if you don't.
That's why crossword puzzles are good training for marriage.
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