Crossword

Dear Elvis:Thank you for agreeing to appear on our cover this Sunday morning to herald the return of the Sun Magazine crossword puzzle, which has been missing in action for a few years. There was a lot of crying in the chapel when the puzzle disappeared -- folks were all shook up.But -- bless my soul! -- a stack of puzzles (marked "Return to Sender") mysteriously surfaced at Sun Magazine, and we figured it's now or never. Beginning today -- and maybe till the end of time -- the crossword will replace the Mind Games puzzle.

Dementia and its evil twin, Alzheimer's, may have moved ahead of cancer on the list of most feared diseases, especially among baby boomers, who have begun to believe it is their inescapable fate if they have the bad luck to live too long. So we grasp at any news about aging, hoping that medical science has indeed found a way to preserve that most essential part of who we are — our memories. Do we protect our minds by doing The New York Times crossword puzzle or by doing aerobics?

STAMFORD, CONN. -- Why should Michael Shteyman have any clue as to the meaning of 14 down: "Epitaph for the Jolly Green Giant?" Why should he care? Five years ago, Shteyman, a Russian immigrant, didn't know English, let alone the finer points of American trivia. As a young teen in a new country, he had enough to worry about. Familiarity with another culture's hoary pop allusions wouldn't necessarily top the list. But here, at the 25th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, the answer to 14 down (RESTING IN PEAS)

Adam Jones isn't supposed to be here yet, but he poked his head into manager Dave Trembley's office early Friday morning and asked if he could do the 9:15 stretch with the pitchers and catchers. "I think he wants to assume a lot more leadership by example," Trembley said. "That's what we need." Jones disagrees, but not in the way you might think. He wants to assume a lot more leadership, period. That is not an easy thing for a young player, and the attempt does not come without some risk.

The answer to Saturday's The Sun crossword puzzle was incorrect in Monday's paper. The correct answer to the Saturday puzzle appears below. The Sun regrets the error.

A READER RETURNSEditor: Thanks for bringing back the crossword in the Sun Magazine. When you stopped the crossword I stopped reading The Sun. Now I'm back.D. W. HodgsonHollywoodEditor: Please, please keep the crossword puzzles coming eacweek. I thought I would never see them again in the Sun Magazine. Boy, have I missed them! Thank you!Norma EnsorParktonREFRESHING READINGEditor: The Sun Magazine of July 12 was indeed a rare delight. It was refreshing, interesting and, as always, Dave Barry's "To Wit" was wonderful.

In the days after The Sun introduced its new design, readers complained about the size and placement of the two crossword puzzles that appear daily in the Today section. Beginning Monday, The Sun will introduce a new format designed to address those concerns. First, the two puzzles will be placed on facing pages. The majority of readers who called in preferred that placement to make it possible for two people in a household to work a crossword puzzle at the same time. Also, the boxes on the crossword grids of both puzzles will be enlarged to make it easier for readers to fill in answers.

Timothy E. Parker lives a puzzled life. But he does it on purpose. In fact, he enjoys making brainteasers for the millions of people who attempt to solve the crossword puzzles he designs for newspapers nationwide, including The Sun and USA Today. And recently, Parker published a book of games and puzzles directed at a new audience -- those seeking to learn more about the Holy Bible. King James Games -- a compilation of more than 200 Bible-based puzzles -- hit stores in February. "It's about 350 pages, and as you solve the puzzle, it teaches you the Bible," says Parker, who is an associate pastor at Tabernacle of Deliverance Christian Center in Baltimore.

Quote: "I'm closing for John Wetteland. He went back to being a starter." - pitcher Mike Lamb, working on a crossword puzzle left by the Rangers closer It's a fact: The home run by the Devil Rays' Miguel Cairo was his first since July 20, 1999. Who's hot: The Tigers' Brian Moehler has allowed one walk or less in 14 of 20 starts and is third in the American League at 1.63 walks per nine innings. Who's not: The Rangers are eight games below .500 for the first time since the end of the 1997 season.

Alfred Hall Drummond Jr., a retired Social Security Administration personnel director who composed dozens of New York Times and Sun crossword puzzles, died of a heart attack March 27 at Memorial Hospital of Salem County in Salem, N.J. The former Timonium resident was 76. Born in Allentown, Pa., Mr. Drummond sang bass with the Bethlehem Bach Choir during high school. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, where he was a member of the Raven Society. He studied at the Wharton School of Finance in Philadelphia before serving in the Air Force during the Korean War. He moved to Baltimore in 1956 and joined the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's personnel staff.

Janet D. Scheler, a retired data processing supervisor and a longtime Hamilton resident, died Nov. 3 of cancer at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. She was 77. Janet Darmody was born in Franklin, Ohio, and settled with her family in the city's Gwynns Falls neighborhood in 1940. After graduating from Seton High School in 1950, she went to work in data processing at the American Can Co. She worked as a data-processing supervisor for 23 years for Pittsburgh Plate and Glass until retiring in 1994.

In the brilliant sunshine at the Inner Harbor yesterday, joggers and bicyclists shared the promenade with walkers and skateboarders. But it was inside the Maryland Science Center, in a windowless lunchroom, where perhaps the best exercise was on display. About 35 people picked up their pencils (or pens if they were really brave) and matched wits in an amateur crossword puzzle tournament sponsored by LifeBridge Health Brain & Spine Institute. For two hours, in strictly timed rounds, they worried over four puzzles donated by crossword guru Will Shortz.

Picture a row of 50-somethings planted on recumbent bikes, pedaling purposefully while working on sudoku. Alas, it's no longer enough to have a fit body as you cycle through middle age. All boomers worth their low sodium know it's a time to be boosting their brain power as well. And a growing number of puzzle-pushers want to help. There are familiar names like sudoku, of course, and the many varieties of crossword puzzles. Other newcomers, some online and some on discs and in video games, include Brain Age, MindFit, Tetris, Posit Science's Brain Fitness Channel, Mattel's Brain Games, SharpBrains and HappyNeuron.

Timothy E. Parker lives a puzzled life. But he does it on purpose. In fact, he enjoys making brainteasers for the millions of people who attempt to solve the crossword puzzles he designs for newspapers nationwide, including The Sun and USA Today. And recently, Parker published a book of games and puzzles directed at a new audience -- those seeking to learn more about the Holy Bible. King James Games -- a compilation of more than 200 Bible-based puzzles -- hit stores in February. "It's about 350 pages, and as you solve the puzzle, it teaches you the Bible," says Parker, who is an associate pastor at Tabernacle of Deliverance Christian Center in Baltimore.

One usually pictures crossword solvers as solitary, studious, anti-social types, bespectacled bards who find bliss only in arriving at the right word in the right place. Not Will Shortz. As editor of what aficionados consider the ne plus ultra of the craft, The New York Times crossword puzzle, Shortz is the gregarious ambassador of puzzledom, the man who almost single-handedly is elevating puzzles to the entertainment mainstream. "He's the Errol Flynn of crossword puzzles," Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show and a committed puzzle solver, says of Shortz in Wordplay, a documentary about crosswords that features Shortz as its central character alongside passionate puzzlers like Bill Clinton, the Indigo Girls and former Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina (now with the Yankees)

Mike Mussina is coming to the end of the huge contract he signed with the Yankees before the 2001 season, and - at least theoretically - could be back on the open market if the Yankees don't exercise their $17 million club option for 2007. So, could the 37-year-old Moose be the No. 1 starter the Orioles have been looking for since the 31-year-old Moose bolted the club during a touchy set of contract negotiations with owner Peter Angelos? The short answer is, probably not, but we can dream, can't we?

`Equinox Tour' Shinedown and Trapt headline the "Equinox Tour," which stops at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place, tonight at 7. Tickets are $24.75. For more information, call 410-244-1131 or visit ram sheadlive.com. FYI Edward Gunts is on vaca tion. His weekly architecture col umn does not appear today.

Still puzzling over last Sunday's New York Times crossword? You could call 1-900-289-CLUE. Or, if you happen to be a Park School grad, save the $1.20-a-minute charge and phone up your old pals from the class of 2001, Ethan Cooper and Michael Shteyman. They are co-authors of the puzzle. Cooper, who went on to the University of Chicago, then returned to Baltimore to work as a linguist, got his first puzzle published in The Times while still in high school. But this is the first time he got one in the Sunday paper.