The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating to a number of businesses – restaurants, retail stores, hospitality, airlines and more The cruise industry may never recover.
Unsurprisingly, there are a few winners (businesswise. Presumably, no one wanted this to happen): Streaming TV services, teleconferencing companies, toilet paper companies, disinfectant producers.
And one more: Those who make puzzles.
Jigsaw puzzles. Sudoku. Crossword puzzles. Heck, had Winston Churchill made his famous description of Russia in 2020 – "Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" – we'd be online looking for how to find the riddle/mystery/enigma.
According to the Wall Street Journal (on the list of America's top five newspapers, along with The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Daily Republic), "puzzles" was the seventh-most-searched item on Amazon March 24 – the most recent date for which there was data. No. 7. For perspective, three weeks earlier, puzzles ranked 1,435th on Amazon's list.
Yes, we want puzzles.
Further information from the Wall Street Journal (I have it ranked in a tie with the Daily Republic as the best newspaper, but it lost in the first tie-breaker: Number of weekly Wade brothers columns) is that Ravensburger, the largest seller of jigsaw puzzles in the world, has seen its sales jump to nearly four times what they were a year ago.
When we're locked down, we watch TV. And eat. And look for puzzles.
I'm included in that.
I already did a few puzzles for show (no one watches. It's my private show). I can stumble through a Sudoku. I can't do crossword puzzles (don't those people know that there are multiple words that fit their definitions?). I am solid with word searches.
But since the shelter-in-place order took effect, I've done puzzles regularly. I do the newspaper Sudoku and other puzzles every evening (I work during the day, so I save them, like a dessert). Mrs. Brad bought me a puzzle book that even includes logic games (I am surprisingly solid on them).
Here's the thing, which I presume is true for nearly everyone: I now think I'm good at them. I consider myself an elite Sudoku solver (although the difficult ones throw me. I just shout that they made a mistake and move on). I have developed a technique to speed up my word-search efforts. I even try the Jumble puzzle occasionally and do all right.
Mrs. Brad and I haven't broken out a jigsaw puzzle yet, but that's coming. And assuming it's like other puzzles, I will soon (like you) think I'm really good at it.
In a time of lockdown, we look for things to keep our edge. Puzzles not only keep us busy, but allow us to compete, even if only against ourselves.
I, for one, am grateful for puzzles. Whether they're on a phone (not a real puzzle, but OK) or on paper (the old-school, true way to do it), they keep our minds sharp and help us pass time.
In conclusion, here are two puzzles: Guess how many times I used the term "puzzle(s)" in this column (including the two times in this sentence)? The answer is at the end.
Oh, one more thing: I've hidden several words in this column, mostly requiring you to search and combine consecutive parts of two different words. See how many of the following words you can find: Cast, chip, dean, dens, done, ewe, hand, hen, less, noon, pour, rear, sand, sieve, Siam, stint, tall, tar, therein, ton.
The word "puzzle(s)" (including this one) was used 23 times (once in the headline).
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.
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