Monday, June 6, 2011

Aqui estoy ... con crucigrama

Have you ever thought about how much cultural background knowledge goes into a crossword puzzle? A lot, as I have discovered. I love crosswords so I've been trying the ones in the campus newspaper and with my host mom on Sundays. It hasn't been going terribly well...
Today's: I put in 10 words, 5 were wrong. Woops. Usually there's at least a couple that are words in English but not today.
First off, Peru-style crosswords are different. As you can see, they include pictures and the clues are right in the puzzle. The clues are also a lot more general. (Personaje biblico ... I don't know, there's an awful lot of biblical people to choose from!) They are fond of element abbreviations and just putting a person's initials. There's also often one quote winding through the whole puzzle.
It's an interesting exercise for sure. I'm learning some new words and learning to think in Spanish in terms of synonyms and linking concepts, not just straight translation.


But I'm still a little more fond of my number puzzles :)
Hasta la proxima

PS: If you can't read that, the Qrioso box says that the inventor of Pringles died and they buried his ashes in a Pringles can.

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