Jim Amidon — I didn’t exactly know what to expect when I met Will Shortz Saturday night in Ball Theater.
 
Given the breadth of his intellect, I expected Shortz might be aloof or even snooty. After all, he does edit the world’s best-known puzzle, the New York Times crossword. And he did appear in a guest spot on the TV show How I Met Your Mother a week ago and actually played a snooty person.
 
He was anything but snooty in person. He was as genuine, kind, and approachable.
 
The Crawfordsville High School graduate returned to his hometown to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during the 172nd Commencement Ceremonies at Wabash College.
 
Typically, the College’s honorary degree recipients attend a luncheon in their honor then sit on the platform to receive their accolades — along with the Wabash graduating class.
 
This year, President Pat White, and his wife, Chris, had a terrific idea. They asked Shortz, who has published over 500 puzzle books, to do a public event on campus Saturday night. The idea was to welcome him home and engage in some word play. See a few pictures here.
 
After a few minutes talking about his childhood and his family (his sister from New Richmond was with us, as was his brother from Los Angeles), Shortz answered at least a dozen questions from the lively crowd.
 
After the Q&A, Shortz did what he does best: he entertained the crowd with his wit and wisdom, words and word games. Just as he does in his “Puzzlemaster” role every Sunday morning on NPR’s Weekend Edition radio program, Shortz quizzed us in a fun and exciting audience participation event.
 
It felt like we were on a game show — all 325 of us!
 
He split the crowd into two halves — the Ben Hur team and the Lew Wallace team. He chose captains (Stephen Morillo and Fred Johnson), whose task it was to tally answers as he quizzed the lot of us.
 
When teams got answers correct, they got to participate in a white board game of Wheel of Fortune (made more difficult since we could not buy vowels).
 
I think my team lost, though we did win one of the four games (worth four points!).
 
A nearly equal mix of people from this community, college faculty and staff, and graduates, trustees, and parents hooted and hollered, shouted out answers, and celebrated Will Shortz’s lively intellect and challenging word games.
 
I don’t remember attending an event when every single person with whom I spoke had such a great time and left in such a good mood.
 
In his witty and unassuming style, Will Shortz made us all feel like we were smart problem solvers and master gamesmen — even those of us who struggle with an “easy” Monday crossword or even word searches! But believe me, there were some excellent problem solvers in attendance.
 
Bill Cook, a religion professor at Wabash and who also received an honorary degree at Commencement, correctly solved one perfectly perplexing puzzle.
 
Patrick Taylor knocked our socks off — literally — when he guessed the answer “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick” with only the letter “n” showing on the white board.
 
Think about that one for a minute. There were 23 spaces on a white board with only the “n” showing and Taylor blurted out the answer.
 
One answer was local — “Interstate Seventy-Four.” The answer that ended the evening was, “Th, th, th, that’s all folks!”
 
When the games had been played and it was time to go, nobody wanted to leave. Seriously.
 
Shortz handed out copies of his books to the best problem solvers, signed autographs, and chatted with people for probably 40 minutes before he could even make his way to the lobby for the reception.
 
Once he arrived at the reception, he was mobbed for at least another hour.
 
Shortz once said that “crosswords are for everybody,” suggesting that anyone willing to stretch his or her mind to the fullest could find some level of perfection by solving a difficult puzzle.
 
Maybe that’s why I was particularly struck by how gentle Will Shortz was with those of us who do not possess either his intellect or ability to quickly solve word games. He graciously talked with young children and aging adults. He welcomed us into his world and challenged us to challenge ourselves.
 
It was a joy to celebrate his life and achievements in such grand fashion. And as he has lived the life of a liberally educated man — a model for the students of Wabash — he has a Wabash diploma to his credit.
 
Snooty?
 
Hardly.
 
Try friendly, kind, generous, and gentle. Not exactly what I first imagined, but precisely what I’d expect of someone from these parts.
 
 
Read an article about Will Shortz visit in The Paper of Montgomery County.