Miscellanous Monday - Puzzle Day (29th January)

[Hana Kučerová]

No matter how it is celebrated, National Puzzle Day can be a healthy and fun day! Spending time working on puzzles improves memory, cognitive function, and problem-solving skills. It is also a great way to relieve stress.

The most people immediately imagine jigsaw puzzle, when you say "puzzle". London cartographer John Spilsbury is often credited with making the first commercial jigsaw puzzle. The dissected map has been a successful educational toy ever since. While most people play jigsaw puzzles to relax and be inspired by beautiful paintings, some take it more seriously and have made jigsaw puzzling into a competition.

There are plenty of types of puzzles. Have you heard of The Stomachion? The oldest puzzle In the world was invented by Archimedes. It’s what we know today as a dissection puzzle and is 14 piece of wood, normally, set inside a square. The challenge is to try and fit all 14 pieces back into the square after you’ve removed them. 

My husband has a great story connected to the puzzles. Back in 1995 he bought a jigsaw puzzle with a painting of New York. He liked the city very much and wished to visit it someday. Before the next Christmas, his father had a car accident and the whole family visited him in the hospital. His mother realized, she forgot to buy batteries and the only possibility was to buy them during the way home from the hospital. Usually would buy some cheap ones, but this time she had to buy the only one available. A battery manufacturer was holding a competition and the main price was the trip to New York. You can guess, who has won the main price. So the whole family traveled to US next year. Later my husband bought a jigsaw puzzle with a painting of mountains. The same year they saw them during the trip to France. After some time he bought a jigsaw puzzle with a cat. A few months later they found a cat and adopted it. After that he stopped buying jigsaw puzzles :-).

So, what about you? Do you like puzzles? Which ones? Do you have any stories connected to puzzles? Thank you for sharing.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I'm quite fond of puzzles, as you say, I like to challenge my brain sometimes.  More so since my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's - one of the few things we know that can slow the progress is remaining mentally active, playing puzzles and games.

I'm reading this after returning from one of my gaming groups.  We do quizzes regularly, but also play board and card games, which I think of a form of puzzle.  Tonight's games were a co-operative whist (rather than winning the most tricks, you have to work together to ensure certain players win tricks with certain cards played in them), and, of course, "one night a werewolf" where the villagers have to work out who the werewolves in the village are, and the wolves try to get the villagers to execute one of their own.  Absolutely love throwing other people under the bus!

I am partial to, but not very good at crosswords, mainly the cryptic ones.  Every two weeks, New Scientist and Private Eye give me a cryptic crossword.  I have never scored lower than 3 answers, nor finished one (best case was missing one answer). 

I got into them <mumble> years ago when there was a sitcom where a character was struggling with one, and spent the whole episode telling everyone not to help him, only to have someone blurt out the answer at the end of the episode and make him utterly furious:

gegs (9,4)

I quite like the ones pTerry Pratchet put in his books too.  Things like "reflected sound of underground spirits" and "hotel, drain, insect, parrot, ocean".

I also got https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/368467/doomensions-pop-mystery-manor for Christmas.  Really want to make a start, but not sure if I should share all the puzzly goodness with my gaming group in case they ruin any of the puzzles for me.

But I'm not into jigsaws (unless you're talking horror films rather than puzzles).  I don't bother with plain Sudoko, but I do give the "killer" ones a go when I visit my parents, and the odd Futoshiki.

Sadly, no stories to tell about them.

[Matt Doar]

Yes for the harder Sudoku, crosswords with my mother and then daily knowledge quizzes. 

[Hana Kučerová]

Exactly, killer sudoku is my favorite.
Thanks for sharing so much detail, I really enjoyed reading your post.

[Amanda Barber]

Oh wow, I love those puzzle connections!

During Covid, we started doing so many puzzles. We haven't been doing as many now that our lives have been filled up with kids' activities again. My favorite puzzles we purchased during that time were the Magic Puzzle Company puzzles.  You can see them here: https://magicpuzzlecompany.com/

Spoiler in the thread!

[Hana Kučerová]

Oh wow, these are interesting!

[Darryl Lee]

Ah, sorry I didn't see this. Yes, we did the same ones!

Oooh, kind of a spoiler there. Ah well, they've been out for a few years, so statue of limitations I guess?

Testing whether spoiler HTML is possible here. (NOPE!)

Maybe use https://www.piliapp.com/cool-text/strikethrough-text/ to make it a little hard to read?

 ̷W̷h̷e̷n̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷ ̷c̷o̷m̷p̷l̷e̷t̷e̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷m̷,̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷ ̷c̷a̷n̷ ̷m̷o̷v̷e̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷m̷ ̷a̷r̷o̷u̷n̷d̷ ̷a̷n̷d̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷r̷e̷'̷s̷ ̷a̷n̷ ̷a̷d̷d̷i̷t̷i̷o̷n̷a̷l̷ ̷l̷i̷t̷t̷l̷e̷ ̷p̷u̷z̷z̷l̷e̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷t̷ ̷c̷h̷a̷n̷g̷e̷s̷ ̷u̷p̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷ ̷p̷i̷c̷t̷u̷r̷e̷.̷

[Amanda Barber]

Haha, I thought they shared that bit in the promos, @Darryl Lee! 

[Darryl Lee]

Oh maybe after the release of the puzzles to places like Target or whatever, yeah. But the way it was hyped in the Kickstarter and in the packaging made it seem like, "SHHHHH, it's a secret!" :-}

[John Funk]

Thanks for the post, @Hana Kučerová !  I also love to work jigsaw puzzles. But I like many types, like seek-a-word, find the hidden item, etc. But I would say that jigsaw puzzles are my favorite. It is one of our family traditions to buy a new puzzle for Christmas each year and then work it together when everyone is together. 

[Hana Kučerová]

That’s nice! 

[Aswin Raj D]

Wow Interesting

[Andy Gladstone]

Wow @Hana Kučerová! They say art imitates life, but in your case I think life is imitating art - pretty cool coincidences related to puzzles.

When my wife and I first got married we tried to build some jigsaw puzzles together. I don't think we ever finished one though. I personally enjoy crosswords (New York Times is the gold standard), Sudoku, and Wordle (anyone else still play?). I grew up in a house where the monthly arrival of Games magazine was a celebration - my mother would complete most of the games but leave some for us. When Games Jr. was launched my brothers and I would split it up each month.

Similar to @Nic Brough -Adaptavist-'s situation, my mother has experienced a few Strokes which have affected her cognitive abilities. She continues to build puzzles and attempt crosswords to limit the damage and progression of decreased cognition. I'm not sure if I am more into crosswords and puzzles now having seen her struggles, but I am thankful to have the calming challenges part of my week. 

[Darryl Lee]

Hey @Andy Gladstone - fellow NYT crossword solver here. I subscribed to get access on my phone back in 2017, and have a decent, although far from perfect record of completions. 

Started trying to do them daily with my youngest son (16) last year, and our current streak is my longest: 167.

I LOVED Games magazine, and it made complete sense when I later learned that during the era when I was subscribed/buying it in high school, Will Shortz worked there.

Speaking of puzzles and brain diseases/damage, I'm reminded that crossword constructor extraordinaire Merl Reagle (R.I.P.) created a crossword/puzzle competition to benefit the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, in honor of his mother-in-law's struggle and her caregivers. (A friend and I entered and well, I'm happy that we finished.)

If anyone is interested in how crosswords are constructed, and seeing top solvers, as well as celebrities, solve and talk about solving, I highly recommend watching Wordplay. (Alas not streaming on any services, but available for rent/purchase, and you could also check your local library to see if they have the DVD! San Jose has 3 copies!)

[Darryl Lee]

Oh yeah, Wordle! I'm really bad about consistently doing it on time, but It looks like I've been trying to do it regularly since Jan 2022.

I always use the same starting word, so I've gotten it in one exactly two times, as I am now on my third starting word.

I feel like my stats are a little off, since I definitely have gotten it in one twice, but oh well, close enough:

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Yes, @Andy Gladstone, I still play Wordle (when I remember). I've gotten it in 1 twice—once when it was the word I use to start every day and once when I overheard people talking about it on air before a town hall meeting at my company.

I also like to do jigsaw puzzles, which I find relaxing and a nice change from looking at a screen all day. I feel that jigsaws are something you can do over again (as long as you separate all the pieces when you take them apart!).  

Once upon a time, I wanted to go into cryptography, which I guess would have been a life of puzzles, but a different path was in my future.

[Amanda Barber]

My mom, sister, and I all still share Wordle scores daily! We also love Connections and Keyword if you want a new puzzle game!

[Hana Kučerová]

I had to google Wordle, I’ve heard of it many times, but didn’t know what it is exactly… :-)

[Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM]

My kids got me this about a year ago, and I am still working on it.  https://www.amazon.com/Original-3D-Crystal-Puzzle-Duck/dp/B00C7M3SAS/

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Wow @Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM, the duck looks hard enough, but when I scrolled down to the Frequently Bought Together section and saw the hedgehog one… Wow! 

[Jimmy Seddon]

Great post @Hana Kučerová!

When it comes to jigsaw puzzles and not as much of a fan as my wife, who is currently working on a 2000 piece Disney photo mosaic.  I will come in here and there and find a single matching piece and call in a night.

On the other hand, solving riddles/puzzles like in an escape room I find extremely enjoyable.  I've only been to a couple of escape rooms, but after trying them a few times I definitely want to go through more of them!

[Dave Liao]

My puzzle? Trying to remember the last time I worked on a puzzle... 🤣

I remember when the Jigsaw Puzzle app came out in Mac OS 7.5 - https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Jigsaw_Puzzle_(classic_Mac_OS)

Crazy how time flies!

[Summer Hogan]

I love puzzles of all kinds so thanks for this question @Hana Kučerová! I love puzzle games on my phone and building Lego sets (not sure that counts as a puzzle), but my absolute favorite are Galison puzzles - https://www.galison.com/ . They make the absolute best jigsaw puzzles as they are very high quality and have tons to chose from. Here's one I finished recently. 

[Matt Doar]

If you are color blind, you may find regular jigsaw puzzles a bit frustrating sometimes. I know I do. I quite like blank jigsaw puzzles because they have to be done with just the shapes of the edges. Which I happen to quite like sorting out and categorizing. Other family members don't think that is much fun though. Obviously, their loss.

[Dave Liao]

✋ I'm color blind, but thankfully not enough where it's screwed with my ability to do puzzles.

But screwed up enough to tell people "I love your red/purple dress" 🤣

[Darryl Lee]

Oh funny, I just saw a video about a clear puzzle (which I guess is the same brand as @Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM 's duck.)

https://www.tiktok.com/@viralyvideo/video/7329870558483467562

(You can click "Browse as Guest")

I'm with your family on this one, Matt. :-}

[Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_]

Puzzles have always been a family activity on holidays. In the smaller Appartments it's always been a pain to tidy up the table before dinner just to return to puzzling afterwards ;) So the goal was always to be finished within the afternoon.

[Darryl Lee]

Jigsaw puzzles are not my favorite, as I'm often daunted by the sameness, and the tedium of sorting, etc.

When the puzzle approaches its end though, I can't help but jump in, which I think sometimes annoys my wife because I "didn't do the hard part", hehe.

I am a sucker for a compelling Kickstarter though, so I backed and received these Magic Puzzles which conveniently arrived in time for a "fun" family COVID Christmas project. Here's a fun timelapse of completing one of the puzzles. 

SPOILER ALERT: If you're considering buying/building this one, you may not want to watch as it reveals the "secret" (gimmick) involved.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VLu48KAKKTjK3xxF7

[Amanda Barber]

Ha, I shared about these, too! 

[Josh Shepherd]

Puzzles (as in the cut up pictures into 1000 pieces) were always the highlight of family gatherings at my grandparents. It would be ongoing on a table and people would "graze" at it on and off over a couple of days and as a group effort it would get completed. Puzzles make me think of my grandparents.