Serendipity and Learning

 In these days of app driven pleasures, somewhere the younger one discovered the pleasure of the crossword. I think it is serendipity because the crossword appears on the page that she tries her hand at other puzzles and one fine day, she decided to tackle the crossword. And I was called to help.  I am an old lover of the crossword. I never quite figured the cryptic crossword beyond a few clues despite my best efforts, but a typical word crossword is something I absolutely adore.  The joy of finding a word in bits and pieces, trying out a word, swapping something - it is fun - plus it increases general knowledge  and vocabulary. Though those are side benefits - the sheer joy of words is what the crossword enables.  Plus nowadays, google helps if we get a little stuck. So, there we are the two of us, pondering over, a word for the crowd with pitchforks or a sailors cry for help or a sanctuary for lions and absolutely enjoying every moment of solving the crossword...