So in this election year, cannot even the crossword puzzle escape bias? As Americans across the country take their pencils to the daily puzzle, they are more likely to find themselves filling the grid with the name of the senator from Illinois for its "wonderfully convenient alternating series of commonly used vowels and consonants." McCain is simply not "crossword friendly" according to Diane McNulty of the New York Times. It is of course difficult to say how many times puzzle constructors at the Times and others have tried to make McCain's name fit. The science of the crossword is tricky and delicate, and it certainly is no one's fault that the Republican nominee's name is so ill-fitted for the grid. If only he had those evenly spaced consonants and vowels... I don't suppose "Maverick" would fit either.