I found the puzzle, shown below, printed in a small-town Colorado newspaper last week, and it’s had me been banging my head against the wall ever since.
So frustrating. The puzzle, I mean. (Not the ugly cracks in the sheet rock.)
For one thing, whoever designed the puzzle accidentally left out the letter “E”.
And for another thing, it’s totally not politically correct to use the term “REDSKIN” in a family-oriented newspaper in the 21st century, even if the word is scrambled and difficult for children to figure out.
On top of all that, in what sense does the word “REDSKIN” have any connection, whatsoever, to restaurants? None at all. Of course, it does still pertain to certain high school, college, and professional sports teams — although that usage is swiftly going out of style.
So frustrating. We all understand that a small-town newspaper sometimes needs to find some type of ‘filler’ content to fit a blank space on a certain page, and sometimes a “Word Scramble” is exactly the correct size and shape to fill that role on, say, page 39.
But there are so many other — politically correct! — words that actually pertain to restaurants.
Like for example:
You might not find this particular item on the menu at a Chinese restaurant, or at a French restaurant, but I think it can reasonably be classified as “pertaining to restaurants”.
That would be, “restaurants that make an attempt to address the culinary preferences of most American families, of whatever ethic background.” (HINT: You will find this item at a lot of fast-food restaurants.) Even though the word may have a German etymology, “German” is currently a perfectly acceptable word for describing a person’s ancestry. At least, for the time being. This wasn’t always the case in America, however. There was a time when Germans were unpopular, lest we forget. But their meat-based foods could still appear in word puzzles, even after World War II… which is some kind of consolation, I suppose.
Here’s another word scramble pertaining to restaurants that is probably not politically appropriate, either, for a family newspaper, for some of the same reasons as the original puzzle.
Also, this scrambled word has too many letters to fit in the blank boxes provided.
So many aspects of a simple little word puzzle, that can be frustrating.
We can, however, think of numerous words that pertain to restaurants, and the majority of them remain politically correct — even during a global pandemic — and would be perfectly suitable for a small-town, family-oriented newspaper.
I’m thinking, for example, of “SPOONS”. I hardly think anyone can object to the word “SPOONS”, scrambled up and appearing in a newspaper puzzle on page 39.
“OPNOSS”. Or “SNOPOS”. For example.
Harmless.
Why choose the word “SPOONS”? Well… why not? It’s an incredibly non-offensive and very correct word, and you would be likely to find such items even in a French or Chinese restaurant. (Although you may have to ask for one, specifically.)
“SPOONS” would never have me banging my head against the wall.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.