Ripening Tomatometer

After just one more Tomatometer-approved critic reviews the movie, Wordplay will get its very own Tomatometer rating (the minimum number of reviews needed is five). With four "fresh" reviews, even if the fifth one is "rotten," the movie will still be deemed a an 80% fresh tomato.

One of those four reviews is new to me: Eric Snider says It's growing safer and safer to be a nerd in our society, and "Wordplay" is the latest clarion call, a delightfully unimportant and entertaining documentary about the New York Times crossword puzzle and its editor, Will Shortz.

And what about Stamford? Snider writes, Champion puzzle-solvers are the sort of lovable geeks and non-photogenic types you'd expect, happy with who they are and cheerful about the annual competitions, which are a cross between summer camp (with friends you only see once a year) and fierce intellectual combat. Uh, yeah.