I spend a lot of time working puzzles. I love cryptograms & cryptoquotes & word searches & jumbles & picture puzzles… It’s vastly entertaining to me to bring order out of chaos (too bad that doesn’t translate to bringing order out of our house’s chaos – sorry sweetie). Well, this week I’ve been totally fascinated with
Hangman. It’s the only puzzle I can do at work – my other
puzzle site has been banned. Lately, with my overdose of hangman I’m really noticing how my brain works. Or not really
how it works so much as
that it works. I see the spaces for the letters and I type “a e i” until there are enough vowels to work with (I’ve decided that it’s now legal to end a sentence with “with.” So there.). Then I type “s t r l m n” and see what’s there. And usually – 99% of the time – I have the word figured out by then. It’s like Wheel of Fortune without Pat & Vanna (do they still do Wheel of Fortune?). And I am the Queen of this little game.
But I wonder. What is all this frantic letter tapping about, really? I’m a great one for not delving too deeply. I know there are worries at the corners – if I turn my head quickly I’m sure I’ll see them face-on. But I think my worries are all constructed of Paper Mache – a good rain would turn them to mush that I could sweep out the back door. So right now I’m looking straight ahead. I’m watching words formed out of thin air. Let’s keep the little bugger from getting hanged, shall we?
I used to work the cross puzzles in the paper at breakfast and lunch until I realized I was cutting into my reading time so I went back to reading at meals instead.
ReplyDeleteum...that would be cross WORD puzzles.
ReplyDeleteThey say puzzles of any kind have a beneficial influence on the workings of the brain , on memory maintanance, So, if you like solving them and have the time, Go Ahead!
ReplyDeleteI love crossword puzzles!! I get the Sunday's LA times crossword and work it all week!!! When I get stuck I cheat on-line with clues that involve someone's name first. Sometimes I acutally finish it before the next Sunday!!
ReplyDeleteSo much fun and gets my mind focused!!
Amy
I love cryptograms! I used to like logic puzzles, but they are a bit of a challenge for me now. I still have mounds of puzzle books all over the house waiting for me to work them. The computer has taken me away from them for the past 2 years. That is when I started blogging. Ha...
ReplyDeleteWhatever works, I reckon. I used to be a big sucker for hangman. :D
ReplyDeleteMe, too! I love word-related puzzled of all kinds. There used to be a great version of Scrabble on Facebook that I played with friends, but the meanies who own the copyright had it banned. Cryptic crosswords - yummy! Sudoku also rattles the brains cells around a bit. We ought to give the little hanging man a name and start a campaign to save him :-)
ReplyDeleteI love crosswords and Scrabble!
ReplyDeleteWe used to play that game all the time as kids. Puzzles and games are great for the neural network.
ReplyDeleteWish I could get into crossword puzzles - allegedly they are the best in terms of keeping the brain active in older age. But I freeze up and can't think of a single word when I look at them. Dang, man.
Oh the poor sod! Behold the look of resignation on his little, round face. Never has a stick figure conveyed so much with an expression.
ReplyDeleteWe can't save him now, but we might be able to save his right foot, thereby creating a sequel to that Daniel Day Lewis' film.
Why yes, I did eat my Extra Goofy Flakes this morning, thank you for asking.
Whatever keeps your brain nimble, Bug. Solve on.
Ellen – I like the idea of cross puzzles! A whole new quirky genre!
ReplyDeleteDuta – I hope that I am keeping my mind agile, but I still worry that I’m in a fog most of the time. Time will tell if the puzzles help!
Amy – I like crosswords too, but the online ones I’ve found are annoying and apparently I’m incapable of doing paper ones anymore. Dr. M & I need to subscribe to the local paper – I should see if they have a crossword.
Brenda – that’s why I do online puzzles. I don’t have to leave the comfort of my computer keyboard to do them!
Natalie – time will tell if it actually works!
Argent – hmm, a name… Maybe I’ll have a contest!
Willow – I wish I could get Dr. M to play scrabble with me. That would require us to lift our fingers off the keyboards…
Reya – crossword puzzles are kind of like another type of clique – so many of them use the same clues or style of clue – makes it easier to do them.
Alane – you really are a nut. Thanks for making me smile!
My brother and >I used to play hangman which is called Galgen in German, meaning gallows. Pretty sinister, isn`t it? For kids? But the main bother was that my brother couldn`t spell properly at the time and made up words which I definitely could not get right. I remember we kids drank Kaba-Kaffee then, which had the underline Kaffeesurrogat-extrakt and my brother had read it as Kaffeesurrogat-text-trank (Trank meaning drink). So the poor guy had to get hanged because of my brother`s stupidity!
ReplyDelete