My parents hail from the diehard daily-newspaper generation. For decades they have used newspapers to calibrate their lives: Des Moines Register at sunrise; Ft. Dodge Messenger at 5 p.m.
Now here in rural Audubon County, the papers' arrival at noon is a highlight of their day. They pore over each page, reading passages aloud to each other, and to me if I'm in the room.
So I had good reason to think my father the newshound might enjoy the NYT Friday news quiz I play online.
What I failed to realize was how little of the news he now retains.
I knew my mistake after the first few answers: Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Hubei, The Defense Production Act. He looked at me blankly. But I couldn't think of a way to gracefully exit the quiz. We plodded on: Malaria, Loss of smell, International Olympic Committee (a lucky guess).
With each question, my dad grew more befuddled, and I more embarrassed that I'd suggested this painful game.
By the end, he had answered two of the 12 questions correctly. "You did better than 0% of those who took the quiz. 0% of quiz takers got the same score as you" the site proclaimed helpfully.
That was March 27; the news quiz went the way of Scrabble.
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But last evening I pulled out my phone and invited my parents to play a Penny Dell Crossword, EASY level.
The first clue (base of caviar) gave my mother the opportunity to pipe "ROE!"
We were off!
I read the clues and typed in the words as my parents shouted out the answers. My mom has pretty good vocabulary recall, despite not knowing if she fed the dog ten minutes ago. My dad's word recall is sometimes halting, but he is not as generally confused as my mom. Together they were a good team. They laughed and, as always, thanked me for the good time.
W
ENOUGH
L
L
W
R
I
STAY
E
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