AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
OK, it's time to play a different kind of puzzle.
JULIANA PACHE: Four letters, rude seasoning.
RASCOE: OK, rude - the first thing I thought of was Lawry's, but that's not rude. I guess jerk. Is it jerk? Is that seasoning?
PACHE: Yes. That's correct. It is jerk. That was pretty quick.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
PACHE: You must be good at crosswords.
RASCOE: I'm talking with Juliana Pache, and she's quizzing me using one of her crossword puzzles. Her website, Black Crossword, has free daily, mini crossword puzzles that tap into players' knowledge of Black culture, history and interests. And last month, Juliana Pache also published her first book, "Black Crossword: 100 Mini Puzzles Celebrating The African Diaspora." Juliana Pache, thanks for joining us.
PACHE: Thank you so much for having me.
RASCOE: How did you get the idea of creating a Black crossword puzzle?
PACHE: So I had the idea in October of 2022. I did my daily morning routine of completing mini puzzles, but the puzzle that day felt particularly white, which is not necessarily an issue. If I see something in a crossword puzzle that I don't necessarily know, that's not exactly going to put me off to the puzzle. But on that day, I felt curious about whether or not there was something in a mini puzzle format that existed and focused on Black culture specifically. And so, at first, I was looking for that. I was doing some Google searches. So when I found out that it did not exist, I decided to create it on my own.
RASCOE: Well, I definitely want to try to guess some other ones 'cause I didn't do crosswords, nothing like that. But now I've been bit by the bug because we do the Puzzle with Will Shortz. So do you got some clues that I can kind of see how I do?
PACHE: I sure do. OK. I'll give you one more easy one, and then I think we'll get a little trickier.
RASCOE: OK.
PACHE: So four letters, Ellington of jazz.
RASCOE: Oh, OK, OK. I got that one. Duke (laughter).
PACHE: Yes, correct.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Yes, OK.
PACHE: OK. The next one is four letters. What line sisters might do at a pep rally?
RASCOE: Oh, I was going to say stroll, but I don't think that's four letters.
PACHE: Well, I'll give you this one hint. It's something they might do during their stroll.
RASCOE: Oh. Four letters. But when they do the hand thing - what's that called? See, I'm not part of the divine line. What that do?
PACHE: OK. Are you ready for the answer?
RASCOE: OK. Yeah, yeah.
PACHE: The answer is step.
RASCOE: Oh, step - oh, my goodness, it was right there. It was too...
PACHE: Yep.
RASCOE: ...Obvious.
PACHE: Yep.
RASCOE: (Laughter) OK. So this is a very fun game. You could almost do it - like, could be a good little party game.
PACHE: Yes.
RASCOE: The tagline for your website is, if you know, you know. What's the meaning behind that?
PACHE: I'm approaching this thinking about, what is Black common knowledge? What is Black general knowledge? So I'm operating from that space as opposed to what is mainstream, public or common or general knowledge.
RASCOE: What do you say - because there may be some who I'm sure are like, well, I'm feeling left out, right? Or is the idea that when you do a crossword puzzle, there may be things in it that stretch your knowledge?
PACHE: I think everyone is welcome to play this. I think there's a lot to learn, honestly, even from within the Black community because the Black community is so diverse - our different regions, our different dialects, our different historical figures that we admire. And then anyone outside of Black culture - it might be a great way for them to expose themselves to what's happening in other parts of culture in this country and abroad.
RASCOE: That's Juliana Pache. Her new book is "Black Crossword: 100 Mini Puzzles Celebrating The African Diaspora." Thanks so much for joining us.
PACHE: Thank you so much for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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