When I’m in retail outlets that sell workbooks for children, I always have to sneak a look just to see what the young’uns are up to these days.
I’m always happy when I see pages of simple dot-to-dot puzzles, suitable for colouring once all the numbers have been connected to form a picture. Oh, so often, I’ve been tempted to buy one, just for the enjoyment of going dot-to-dot, with large numbers suitable for children’s eye movements and for seniors who might not have the vision of a six-year-old.
So far I’ve managed to leave the workbooks on the shelves, hopefully to be taken home and enjoyed by dot-to-dotters much younger than I.
And I’ve been saved from spending my weekly allowance by a friend who kindly shares the newspapers her students put together each month. As decent newspapers do, these provide news of the community and most importantly, there are word puzzles to solve, hidden objects to find and yes indeed, dot-to-dot pages complicated enough to explain the black cloud of frustration hovering over the work table.
The latest one offered for readers was not the simple large dots and numbers, with a clear picture lurking between the dots. This puzzle was a mess of dots and numbers, and the starting point was not easy to find — until I passed the paper to someone much younger who easily found the beginning. I thanked her, but not with the graciousness that she deserved.
But with a starting point marked for me, I figured I could finish this puzzle in a short period of time, allowing me to go back to the word search in hopes of finding some hidden words, awaiting my discovery.
My expectations for my superior skills at dot-to-dot were sadly below what I anticipated. Whoever heard of having numbers clear up to 789 and expecting to finish in one sitting?
Two days later I was still trying to find numbers that must have been forgotten when the puzzle was developed. Wait a minute: there’s 440 right there beside 462 that connects with 463 a good distance away.
It is sure a good thing I was doing this in pencil, with a convenient eraser, when I made a mash of connectivity.
With one side mostly completed, the picture appeared to be a man with a beard and wearing a suit jacket.
The other side of the puzzle was still a puzzle, but I kept at it, doing a few numbers at a time as determined by tired eyes and a fuzzy head.
Finally, I came to a halt with every number connected to what I hoped was the correct appendage.
Now what had I created?
It looked like a chair to me. To Housemate it appeared to be an old-fashioned crank telephone. I couldn’t see it, but he pointed out what he thought was the dialling mechanism and a handle on the side to power up the device to make a call.
Perhaps the guy was Alexander Graham Bell. Perhaps the man was someone else. Upon looking into Mr. Bell, he did have a bushy beard similar to the beard in the puzzle. Maybe Housemate was onto something here.
More research indicates that dot puzzles exercise the left and right brain at the same time. And oh joy, some puzzles contain more than 1,400 dots and cover a two-page spread.
No matter who or what is in the picture, both sides of my brain were tired but still eager to find the word “relax” in the word search.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
