One of the youngest fans, who now lives in Germany discovered WONDERWORD in Vietnam which publishes WONDERWORD. She can’t get WONDERWORD in any newspaper in Germany and has convinced her father to buy her books. Her father writes to me regularly about how WONDERWORD has touched their lives. Thanks for your support Peter and Anh Virginie.

As you can tell, we have fans of all ages and we’re thrilled about that.

WONDERWORD really appreciates hearing from everyone.

12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, May 27, 2010
By KATHLEEN GREEN / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Kathleen Green is a Plano freelance writer.
Today, for the first time, a newspaper is the theme of the Wonderword puzzle – and it's our very own Dallas Morning News.

Be on the lookout for words such as "classified," "articles" and "broadsheet," along with local editors' names. Wonderword is a word-search puzzle, so knowledge of the paper's inner workings isn't a requirement to complete it.

Wonderword creator David Ouellet says Dallas holds a special spot in his heart. He was pleasantly surprised by the city's generosity and friendliness on each of his visits from his native Canada.

"We went to some steakhouse, and we couldn't get a taxi coming home," Ouellet says of his late-night outing with his late mom, Jo, who started Wonderword in 1980. "Believe it or not, the waitress drove us back to our hotel. You don't get that very often."

The professed foodie says he's been wowed at Fearing's restaurant, intrigued by conspiracy theories at The Sixth Floor Museum and astonished by our love for Dallas Cowboys football. He took a trip to Southfork and all points Dallas when the TV show was in its heyday. He's even spent time at The News.

"I met the features editor when I was there seven years ago," he says. "What was really funny ... down in the lobby, the receptionist was doing the puzzle."

When Ouellet isn't traveling the globe – he just got back from Europe – he's busily working on Wonderword themes. He says he and the staff try to stay current with pop culture, including Avatar and Sex and the City puzzles. Beach and cooking themes are reader faves, but they absolutely stay away from anything political.

"We won't touch it," he says.

Wonderword has run in The News since 1989. The syndicated puzzle is published in about 250 newspapers. Ouellet estimates about 1 million people do the puzzle daily, and many of those do it to keep their minds sharp.

"We get so many people saying we've changed their lives, sometimes when they're a little bit older or when they've had a stroke, and this is very touching for us," he says.

For those who can't get enough of the Dallas theme, an upcoming Wonderword book will include an entire puzzle devoted to Big D.

Kathleen Green is a Plano freelance writer.

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[March 2010]
WONDERWORD was featured on Regis and Kelly.

We have included the puzzle for you to enjoy.
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[March 2010]
On February 21, 2010 our Editor Linda went to go see the Cake Boss at the Seneca Niagara Casino in Buffalo. After the show she had the opportunity to meet Buddy Valastro and his family and tell them about the puzzle that Wonderword was featuring on the Cake Boss. Buddy was honored and he posed holding up the Wonderword puzzle. Please enjoy the puzzle attached.

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