The Imitation Game · written by Graham Moore · 2014

People across different homes and workplaces attempt the difficult crossword as the recruitment challenge spreads.

Scene 39 of 130 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 33 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 39

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 36
Churchill’s order places Turing in charge; Turing immediately fires Keith and Charles, angering the remaining team and Denniston.
Scene 37
Back in Hut 8, Turing answers the team’s staffing problem by posting a crossword puzzle as a recruitment test.
Scene 38
A newspaper reader finds Turing’s crossword advertisement offering a secret job to anyone who solves the puzzle quickly.
Scene 39
This scene

39INT. OTHER LOCATIONS - SAME TIME

SERIES OF SHOTS: Other people — MEN, WOMEN, STUDENTS, RETIREES — open up their papers and see Alan’s ad. They all try solving the puzzle.

It’s really, really hard.