Some months ago, I got rid of a Sudoku puzzle book. I kept getting the puzzles wrong and felt anxiety that my mind was beginning to disintegrate. The book was a constant reminder of my stupidity.
Those fears have abated now that I am doing two jobs and running my brain at full capacity all day every day. Nevertheless, I still can't for the life of me figure out how to do a Kakuro puzzle.I consider myself to be a very logical person. I score well on the analytic portions of standardized tests. I do financial forecasts and calculations at work every day. But I can't get even partway through the simplest of these Kakuro puzzles, which have been likened to the mathematical equivalent of a crossword puzzle. The puzzle was imported from the brilliant Japanese, probably in hopes of giving them a trading edge while all of us here in the U.S. chew our pencil erasers.
Rich gave me this book of Kakuro puzzles many, many years ago. It has gradually been getting yellower and yellower on the shelf all these years, as I tell myself that someday, I will figure it out.
Meanwhile, I've virtually stopped using paper for gaming. I use the word "virtually" with intent: I do my puzzles virtually these days. My latest obsession is setting the Sudoku puzzle app on medium difficulty and attempting to complete the puzzle in under five minutes.
Meanwhile, I seem to be reading less and less and puzzling more and more.
Maybe what I should be getting rid of is the iPad.
I enjoy being the beneficiary of some of your virtual puzzle-ing!
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