A Puzzling Situation

 As one ages, it is common to see recommendations that mental acuity can be improved or sustained by doing puzzles.  I happen to like puzzles, so it doesn’t take much to convince me.  I enjoy Sudokus and logic problems, but my favorites are words puzzles.  When I discovered that I could get a subscription to New York Times puzzles without having to subscribe to the whole paper I jumped on it.

I typically start my day by doing the Mini-crossword, Crossword, Letter-boxed and Spelling Bee.  I don’t worry too much about the timing of the crosswords and whether or not I beat my previous times.  I try not to look anything up, but occasionally the Crossword has too much that relates to pop culture….names of movies or bands or performers.  I can’t be bothered with a lot of that, so I don’t allow myself to feel guilty for finding that information on the internet.  The Letter-boxed puzzle always recommends how many words to shoot for in solving it.  I challenge myself to do it in one less than the suggested number, and I almost always can.

That brings me to Spelling Bee with which I have a love-hate relationship.  I find it frustrating that it is frequent for me to come up with perfectly legitimate words that are not accepted.  I will type something in, and it is rejected…no points for that!  I will then open another window and check the word by doing a Google search…yup, I’m right, that is a word, and I spelled it correctly.  Why won’t the program accept it? 

I found this so annoying that I emailed the contact at the NY Times and asked about it.  I was informed that they don’t accept words that are part of some very specific body of knowledge.  This explanation doesn’t really satisfy me.  Sure, I come up with words that may be science or medicine related, but often they are words that I think lots of people know or are similar to words that are accepted.

For example…octane is accepted, but not octene.  Muriatic was not accepted, but muriatic acid is used in lots of home renovation projects. Aorta is OK, but not otic.  On more than one occasion the letters available have included Y and O, but yoyo is not OK.  In a total lack of logic, in today’s puzzle “nite” was acceptable, but “tonite” was not.

ARRRRGH!

This might not bother me so much if not for an embarrassing fact.  I can’t let go of the puzzle, until I reach “Genius” level….”Amazing” isn’t good enough for me.  Sad, but true.  If I can’t do it in one sitting, I go back throughout the day when additional words pop in my head until I am satisfied.  Yesterday standing in the line to vote, I suddenly thought of “definitive” which gave me lots of points in yesterday’s puzzle.

 I might be an addict.

Normally I do puzzles first thing in the morning, but today, I went on the Prayer Walk and then worked in the garden to avoid the heat later in the day.  I started the puzzles before lunch, but I was still working on them after lunch.  I actually fell asleep sitting up on the couch with my laptop on my lap, and my hands poised over the keyboard.  When I awoke, I had typed an entire line of the letter “O” and Bill was laughing at me.

Oh, yeah…I’m keeping my brain sharp!

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