TVSquad

Actually, it's the only crossword documentary I know of, but it's really good. Wordplay, the 2006 documentary about New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz and the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament he started over two decades ago, will air this fall as part of PBS' Independent Lens showcase. If you haven't yet seen the movie, you can save yourself the rental and just catch it on TV.

I love crosswords. I'm not always that good at completing them, but I love the challenge. Naturally, I thought this movie and all of its colorful characters (including Jon Stewart, Bob Dole, Bill Clinton and the Indigo Girls) was a lot of fun, but if you're not into crosswords, it's tough to say whether or not you'd be able to appreciate it. I would say it's worth checking out for the people themselves and their unnatural obsession with the way the written language can be flipped around and turned inside out. I think it even made me a better crossword filler-outter-guy.

No official date for Wordplay has been set just yet, but it will air sometime this fall after the sixth season of Independent Lens kicks off.

UPDATE: Wordplay airs on October 16.