The Imitation Game · written by Graham Moore · 2014

Back in Hut 8, Turing answers the team’s staffing problem by posting a crossword puzzle as a recruitment test.

Scene 37 of 130 · ≈ 1 min on screen · First scene of act two

John Cairncross
Peter Hilton
Alan Turing
Hugh Alexander

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 33 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 37

At Bletchley Park, Alan Turing must persuade a skeptical team to build a machine that can break Enigma before the war is lost, while concealing the self the law condemns.

Scenes 1–12
Turing is investigated as a guarded outsider in 1951, then enters Bletchley in 1939 looking for the puzzle he can solve.
Scenes 13–30
He sees the scale of Enigma, believes a machine can solve it, and grows isolated from colleagues who make little progress.
Just before
Scene 34
Turing asks Denniston to fund his machine after Hugh rejects the requisition; Denniston insists on the chain of command, so Turing decides to appeal to Churchill.
Scene 35
At the main gate, Turing asks Menzies to carry his letter to Winston Churchill.
Scene 36
Churchill’s order places Turing in charge; Turing immediately fires Keith and Charles, angering the remaining team and Denniston.
Scene 37
This scene

37INT. BLETCHLEY PARK - HUT 8 - MINUTES LATER

Alan, Hugh, John and Peter walk back into Hut 8 after the meeting — resigned, unhappily, to their fate.

JOHN CAIRNCROSS

... So what do we do now?

PETER HILTON

We’re short on staff.

ALAN TURING

We get more staff.

HUGH ALEXANDER

And how are you going to do that?

Alan takes a paper from his desk and TACKS IT UP ON THE WALL.

ON THE PAPER: It’s a CROSSWORD PUZZLE.