Weekend Open Thread: Familial Nerdery

My great-uncle John wrote newspaper crossword puzzles for a living. For some 55 years, he was known as “Araucaria” to readers of The Guardian in England. (If anyone asked why he chose that name, he would simply say “Look it up in the dictionary.” Once you do, you’ll understand.) In his 90s, when he developed the esophageal cancer that would ultimately kill him, he revealed it to his readers via crossword clues in the puzzle of the day.

I didn’t know until recently that before he died, the Guardian made a documentary short about him. At the risk of being self-indulgent, it’s a nice taste of my family tradition of wordsmithery. It’s embedded below if you’d like to watch.

Pardon the earliness of this thread – I am not just on usual blog duty, but also attending the LA Film Fest, which features some great stuff you’ll want to know about…and I’ll tell you about, later. Talk amongst yourselves below – but please keep Jurassic World discussion to the thread designated for that.