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• Eyeful

There is a bee in my hand. What is in my eye?


As the baby boom generation rushes toward old age and its attendant challenges, both mental and physical, there seems to be a response by many 'boomers' to be proactive in directing these changes in their lives. Rather than simply reacting to problems as they occur many are choosing to eat better, to cut back on or eliminate bad habits/vices, to begin taking new vitamins and supplements, and to increase their physical activity and exercise levels. All these actions are now common steps taken to enhance quality of life as the years inexorably advance.

Cunning Lateral Thinking Puzzles is a 'thinking outside the box' word puzzle collection that will definitely ratchet up your mental exercise. While veteran 'lateral thinking puzzle' creators and authors Paul Sloane and Des MacHale do not target Grandpa and Grandma directly, they have assembled nearly a hundred short word puzzles in this book that will challenge thinkers of all ages.

Each puzzle requires much more than simple 'yes' or 'no' questions or half-hearted probing to deduce its answer. You really will need to approach them from many different 'angles'. They will be a tough challenge for senior citizen, yuppie, and student alike.

The short, one page introduction to the book suggests the puzzles be solved by having another person read to the solver clues from the book as needed. Each puzzle has two, three, or four clues at the back of the book. The helper is to read these clues and try to help guide the solver in deducing the desired solution. I found it seemed to work just as well by simply reading the clues myself as I needed them.


• I am holding the bee.
• This has nothing to do with tears, stings, pain, or insects.
• What is in my eye is something abstract—a concept.
• The answer is lovely ...but it may make you groan.


A couple of intriguing puzzles I had my teen kids help me 'puzzle out'. That partnership is good mental exercise for both. That little extra help (the helper reads the answer and may also guide the solver beyond the given clues) also encourages the solver to not simply give up too early and look at the answer and explanation at the end of the book. Kudos to the authors for the 'clues' section, something I have often wished for while reading other puzzle books.


I found the authors' insistence that the reader find "...not ...just any answer but to discover the answers given in the book..." a bit cheeky. So I just ignored their 'direction' and counted my answer as correct if it made as much (or better) sense as the given answer.

As with many word puzzles, some were much more strained than others, much more contrived if you will. The one that leads this review is one of the more elegant ones, to my mind.

Did you know that adding chili powder to the paint before painting the hull of your boat will help keep barnacles from attaching to the bottom of your boat..?? Well, that is the answer to one puzzle in here. Sorry to ruin that one for you. Seems to me you either know that 'fact' or you do not.


The Bottom Line
If you are a word puzzle freak, or even a mild fan, you will like Cunning Lateral Thinking Puzzles and the many hours of puzzling and pondering it will deliver. You can dip into and out of it as needed. Sometimes a puzzle will stick with you until you have a 'eureka' moment when you 'discover' the answer.

And the 'mental exercise' you will get can not be anything but good for you.



A certified 'lean-n-mean' review.


This short but hopefully not too puzzling review is an entry in fellow user dianapinions' best LITTLE Write-Off Ever! event.

See the list of participants and links to their contributions at the invitation essay.

 

Recommended: Yes