[WOMAN 2]

I am sitting here doing the Sunday Times crossword puzzle

Somehow the words won't come

I am staring at squares but my eyes never focus

And my mind's feeling strangely numb

What's a five letter word meaning—

Here's an example, Two Down

"A Peruvian poison dart"

Why, when Hecky and me

Used to breeze through the puzzle, on Sundays

The answers would leap in my—

[WOMAN 2, spoken]

"Hartebeest"

That's a gnu

G-N-U

Boo-boop-y-doo

[WOMAN 2]

Where is Hecky now? Ha!

He ran off with some floozy

On a boat bound for warmer climes

And he left me here doing the crossword puzzle

In the Sunday—

All the times we had fun here

When more often than not

He'd say, "Hon, what's a pustule?"

And I'd say, "It's a blot"

He'd say, "Afghani nomad"

And I'd say, "It's a Kurd"

I'd let him hold the pencil

He could write in the word

And when he was having trouble spelling "tryst"

[WOMAN 2, spoken]

T-R-Y-S-T

[WOMAN 2]

I showed him, how I showed him

[WOMAN 2, spoken]

Twenty-Three Across: "Lover, archaic"

Amorist!

A-M-O-R-I-S-T, blank!

[WOMAN 2]

I am sitting here doing the Sunday Times crossword puzzle

Somehow the words won't come

Can you figure it, me with my splendid vocabulary?

Maybe I should play dumb

What's a four letter word meaning—

Why should it happen to us?

There was never a moment's doubt

All at once Hecky's jumping and screaming and yelling

I tell you, the four letter words that came—

[WOMAN 2, spoken]

"Out, prefix", that means pro

P-R-O

Bo-dee-oh-do

[WOMAN 2]

Starts you feeling as if having brains or intelligence

Was one of the world's worst crimes

And the sentence is doing the crossword puzzle

In the Sunday—

All the times Hecky'd tell me

"You shut up, this I'll get

Seven blanks meaning airhole

It's fistula, I bet"

I'd say, "No"

He'd say, "Don't tell me"

[WOMAN 2, spoken]

"It's tubulus"

[WOMAN 2]

"Tu-bu-li"

I'd say, "Hecky, it's chimney"

Hecky'd sit down and cry

Perhaps that's why I'm left here on the shelf

Perhaps he wanted to get the long ones by himself

[WOMAN 2, spoken]

Thirty-eight Across: ""She carries a torch"

Statue of Liberty

S-T-A-T-U-E-O-F-L-I-B-E-R T-Y

Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why?

[WOMAN 2]

I am sitting here doing the Sunday Times crossword

And I know why the words won't come

'Cause my mind is miles off on a boat to Bermuda

With some ignorant lousy crumb

What's a five letter word meaning—

Phi Beta Kappa, that's me

I'm as bright as a girl can be

So bright someone else who could not tell a fig from a frigate

Is off with my Hecky at—

[WOMAN 2, spoken]

"Seabird"

That's an auk

A-U-K

Awk!

[WOMAN 2]

If I weren't so dumb I'd be spending this Sunday

In a church hearing wedding chimes

And I'd never remember there was a puzzle

In the Sunday Times