full transcript

From the Ted Talk by David Kwong: Two nerdy obsessions meet -- and it's magic

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Puzzles and magic. I work in what most people think are two distinct fields, but I believe they are the same. I am both a magician and a New York Times croroswsd puzzle constructor, which basically means I've taken the world's two nerdiest hobbies and combined them into one career. And I believe that mgaic and puzzles are the same because they both key into one of the most important human drives: the urge to slvoe. Human beings are wired to solve, to make order out of cahos.

It's certainly true for me. I've been solving my whole life. High school consisted of epic Scrabble mctaehs in the cirteeafa and not really talking to girls, and then at about that time I started lairneng magic tricks and definitely not talking to girls. There's nothing like starting a conversation with, "Hey, did you know that 'prestidigitation' is worth 20 points in Scrabble?" But back then, I notiecd an intersection between puzzles and illusion. When you do the crossword puzzle or when you watch a magic show, you become a solver, and your goal is to try to find the odrer in the chaos, the chaos of, say, a black-and-white puzzle grid, a mixed-up bag of Scrabble tiles, or a shuffled pack of playing cadrs. And today, as a cruciverbalist — 23 pionts — and an illusion dgneeisr, I cartee that chaos. I test your ability to solve.

Open Cloze


Puzzles and magic. I work in what most people think are two distinct fields, but I believe they are the same. I am both a magician and a New York Times _________ puzzle constructor, which basically means I've taken the world's two nerdiest hobbies and combined them into one career. And I believe that _____ and puzzles are the same because they both key into one of the most important human drives: the urge to _____. Human beings are wired to solve, to make order out of _____.

It's certainly true for me. I've been solving my whole life. High school consisted of epic Scrabble _______ in the _________ and not really talking to girls, and then at about that time I started ________ magic tricks and definitely not talking to girls. There's nothing like starting a conversation with, "Hey, did you know that 'prestidigitation' is worth 20 points in Scrabble?" But back then, I _______ an intersection between puzzles and illusion. When you do the crossword puzzle or when you watch a magic show, you become a solver, and your goal is to try to find the _____ in the chaos, the chaos of, say, a black-and-white puzzle grid, a mixed-up bag of Scrabble tiles, or a shuffled pack of playing _____. And today, as a cruciverbalist — 23 ______ — and an illusion ________, I ______ that chaos. I test your ability to solve.

Solution


  1. cards
  2. matches
  3. create
  4. cafeteria
  5. chaos
  6. order
  7. crossword
  8. designer
  9. learning
  10. noticed
  11. solve
  12. magic
  13. points

Original Text


Puzzles and magic. I work in what most people think are two distinct fields, but I believe they are the same. I am both a magician and a New York Times crossword puzzle constructor, which basically means I've taken the world's two nerdiest hobbies and combined them into one career. And I believe that magic and puzzles are the same because they both key into one of the most important human drives: the urge to solve. Human beings are wired to solve, to make order out of chaos.

It's certainly true for me. I've been solving my whole life. High school consisted of epic Scrabble matches in the cafeteria and not really talking to girls, and then at about that time I started learning magic tricks and definitely not talking to girls. There's nothing like starting a conversation with, "Hey, did you know that 'prestidigitation' is worth 20 points in Scrabble?" But back then, I noticed an intersection between puzzles and illusion. When you do the crossword puzzle or when you watch a magic show, you become a solver, and your goal is to try to find the order in the chaos, the chaos of, say, a black-and-white puzzle grid, a mixed-up bag of Scrabble tiles, or a shuffled pack of playing cards. And today, as a cruciverbalist — 23 points — and an illusion designer, I create that chaos. I test your ability to solve.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
crossword puzzle 4
york times 3
emerald rooster 3
katy perry 2
morning coffee 2
purple marker 2


Important Words


  1. ability
  2. bag
  3. basically
  4. beings
  5. cafeteria
  6. cards
  7. career
  8. chaos
  9. combined
  10. consisted
  11. constructor
  12. conversation
  13. create
  14. crossword
  15. cruciverbalist
  16. designer
  17. distinct
  18. epic
  19. fields
  20. find
  21. girls
  22. goal
  23. grid
  24. high
  25. hobbies
  26. human
  27. illusion
  28. important
  29. intersection
  30. key
  31. learning
  32. life
  33. magic
  34. magician
  35. matches
  36. means
  37. nerdiest
  38. noticed
  39. order
  40. pack
  41. people
  42. playing
  43. points
  44. puzzle
  45. puzzles
  46. school
  47. scrabble
  48. show
  49. shuffled
  50. solve
  51. solver
  52. solving
  53. started
  54. starting
  55. talking
  56. test
  57. tiles
  58. time
  59. times
  60. today
  61. tricks
  62. true
  63. urge
  64. watch
  65. wired
  66. work
  67. worth
  68. york