@Corie Henson - what a great way to learn. Of course one has to want to succeed badly enough and a lot of people lack the dedication to accomplish what your husband has done. Speaking for myself I know I could never do it. There are far too many things I want to do and I can never force myself to focus on any one of them.
I am not too big on crosswords. I have done a few in my time but these were usually the ones that use to be in TV Guide, remember those? Back in the day when TV Guide was a great magazine. Anyway, I find that I prefer doing word search puzzles more then crosswords.