WVXU: Test your word puzzle skills with a Cincinnati Edition-themed Hink Pink
UC English professor is a writer who also creates word games
On a segment of WVXU’s Cincinnati Edition host Lucy May spoke with word puzzle experts Anna Shechtman and Michael Griffith about the origins and popularity of word games over time.
For example, the free web based word game "Wordle" became popular during the pandemic when people were isolate and looking for distractions.
“It (Wordle) can be a really gratifying way of maintaining social connection,” Griffith, a professor of English at the University of Cincinnati, told May of still playing the game daily with a friend group.
Griffith, author of “The Speaking Stone” a non-fiction book about Spring Grove Cemetery, says his interest in word games started a few years ago while researching a character for a new novel.
From there his word games interest turned to developing games called “Hink Pink”, which are solved with two, three and four syllable words that rhyme. His Hink Pink puzzles appear in summer editions of The Southern Review.
Griffith also created a Hink Pink word puzzle for listeners to call in and solve, with the answer being "Lucy May/ Juicy Talk."
The experts also discussed word games in the digital age and the rise in popularity of word games during the pandemic.
Image of crossword puzzle at top/iStock photo/LeventKonuk.
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