Last week, The New York Times launched Crossplay, our first two-player game. It has its own dedicated app that you can download for iOS or Android here. For all of the loveliness we ascribe to coupledom, our most popular expressions on the subject tend to sound like threats. When “two can play at that game,” it’s not so much tic-tac-toe as tit-for-tat. If one dancer suggests that “it takes two to tango,” it’s only because the other dancer is a hypocrite. Why is it that all we can hope for is to be the lesser of two evils, and never the greater of two goods? In theory, two heads are better than one — but a two-headed creature is a two-faced one, too, and of two minds about everything that needs deciding. I’m not opposed to the occasional anti-two adage. In fact, as a resident crossword columnist for The New York Times, I’ve made a career of going it alone. Word puzzles aren’t inherently social activities, and I’ve learned to thrive in my solver’s solitude, huddled over my puzzles by candlelight and muttering clues aloud to myself while the raven sitting on the pallid bust of Pallas by my chamber door croaks “Nevermore” (in response to my request for a nine-letter word for [Opposite of eternally]). But there are days when I wish I had a nonthreatening way to ask someone else to come play with me — not forever and ever, but for a little while. It so happens that, last week, The Times introduced its first two-player game. The game is called “Crossplay” — aptly, considering my mood after losing my first three games to my editor. Since its release, I’ve been thinking about those idioms again. Have we always been predisposed to antagonism? After all, if two can play at a game, isn’t that … good? (After reading this, my editor pointed out that “we tied once!”) The best way to reconcile these opposing impressions of partnered activity may be to consider the idioms that embrace compromise rather than competition. There are two sides to every coin. Take the good with the bad. Two can play at that game — but can only take one turn at a time.
Solve the Midi
Cryptogram |
