Finding Dreamliner
Think you're a Boeing whiz?
Don't be so sure until you've tried to find the word "rakish" in a jumble of 225 letters. That's just one of about 50 clues that readers will have to search for when Wonderword releases its Boeing-related word-search puzzle April 2. The puzzle is based entirely on Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, to be rolled out this summer.

The puzzle, syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, will run in about 245 newspapers across North America, including The Seattle Times.

The puzzle is the result of Wonderword owner David Ouellet's interest in Boeing. "I've been looking at the Airbus and Boeing wars and I follow it intimately," says Ouellet. Ouellet, his wife, Sophie, and co-worker Linda Boragina create the puzzles without the use of a computer program. The only rule is nothing political or highly controversial.

So you might see something Christmas-related but nothing about Britney Spears' rehab. Wonderword, based in Toronto, was founded more than 35 years ago and produces about 500 puzzles a year. Ouellet won't disclose the company's revenues, saying only that "it's a labor of love." In addition to the 787 Dreamliner puzzle, Ouellet's other favorites over the years have been food and foreign-country related.

This isn't the first time Boeing has been featured. The company was the subject of a word-search puzzle in 1990 when a new Air Force One, a modified Boeing 747-200B, was delivered to former President George H.W. Bush.

Words for the 787 Dreamliner puzzle are based on Wonderword research, a process that typically takes about 45 minutes looking through Internet data and books.

In Boeing's case, research lasted a bit longer because Ouellet is fascinated with the company. Rakish, by the way, is a term used to describe the nose of the airplane and generally means it has a streamlined appearance.

We don't want to spoil your fun, but "aerodynamics" and "commercial" are in there, too. Boeing manufacturing manager Dave Papenfuss, who has been toiling overtime building titanium components for the 787 in Auburn, finds it amusing that all his hard work is the feature of a word-search puzzle.

"It's kind of fun to see something humorous about it," he says. "Except `rakish' is not something you find in the general lexicon of people. That should be interesting to see if people get that one."

— Kirsten Orsini-Meinhard