National Puzzle Day.

 National Puzzle Day. 

In the age before high tech wizardry and challenging computer games, the old hobbies and distractions now seem like light-years away. Remember the days when none thought of anything of digging out dusty Hornby railway sets, piecing together plastic Lego bricks to create the most fabulous looking petrol station, a house, the most elegant stately home or just some very impressive castle complete with portcullis and drawbridge. What about some well-manicured park or maybe your own team's football ground. It would have been your choice entirely. 

But we seem to have conveniently overlooked perhaps the most absorbing of all pastimes, one we'd never have believed would ever be replaced by modern-day I Phones and Smartphones with card games of online Solitaire, chess, Scrabble or any other word game that would just leave you with a permanent glow of satisfaction even if it had been comparatively straightforward. 

The leisure pursuit we have in mind is the famous puzzle. And you'll never guess what today is. No we're not kidding and this is no joke so be prepared for what has to be the most relaxing of all interests. So if you've just finished your evening meal or found some rainy day during the middle of the week this maybe the time to complete a jigsaw puzzle. 

Now in the general scheme of things jigsaw puzzles are designed for people who just can't be bothered to do a reproduction of the Mona Lisa or give us their very personal interpretation of the Sistine Chapel with their very own paints. We did think of that thought-provoking and cerebral game of chess or perhaps some basket weaving for good measure. On second thoughts there has to be something we used to do years ago without ever thinking for a minute that it would come back into fashion. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls. Today is National Puzzle Day. So there you are and now we're all enlightened if only because it just seems highly unlikely. There is something though about the penultimate day of January which lends itself easily to looking for 5,000 jigsaw puzzles or crossword puzzles, some innate desire to pick up the Rubik's cube, that splendid invention of modern times. a multi-cubed and colourful object that apparently the Hungarian inventor of the same name had enormous difficulty in working out. He just couldn't get the hang of it no matter how hard he tried although he did crack it eventually in double-quick time.

Who ever thought it seemed like a good idea to have a day devoted to a National Puzzle Day is quite ironically baffling. But you have it on good authority so let's go for it. We know there is no particular reason for going back to those old fashioned puzzles on today of all days. But whyever not. Besides, there's no law against it and those pieces which normally result in the creation of a farmyard tractor or cows grazing and ruminating in lush green fields, are the stuff of life and nature. 

For some of us the crossword puzzle is still just compulsively fascinating. What prompts us to fill in the missing words that fit so seamlessly into their correct order and just be drawn into its intricacies and complexities? In a sense crossword puzzles should be simple, a piece of cake and no trouble whatsoever and there can be no shame in admitting defeat if one or two clues do catch you out somewhat unsuspectingly. 

My wife and I discovered the joys of crossword puzzles on luxurious cruises in recent years and it didn't occur to me for a minute that anybody would want to retire to the ship's library and finish off a huge jigsaw puzzle in 80 degrees of heat outside the vessel. But there it was right in front of you and rather than sample the exotic delights of a Mediterranean, South American or African tourist magnet you preferred to sit in a quiet corner and search for the appropriate missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  

But this is the day. It's a day for mind-blowing conundrums, trying to find out the meaning of life, to working out why things happen in the way do and convincing yourself that nothing makes sense any more. Puzzles are, by their very nature, mysterious, annoying, irritating and a  nuisance at times. They can leave you feeling totally flummoxed, scratching your heads for days on end and questioning yourself at times, doubting your ability to carry out a task you may have thought would come naturally under any other circumstances.

For a large part of the British population who read their quality national newspapers The Times has been compiling one of the most testing, demanding and fiendishly difficult cryptic crossword puzzles for decades and quite possibly centuries. It was invariably situated on the back page of the paper and tucked away next to the sports page. For those with an aptitude for disentangling plays on words, palindromes and cunningly hidden phrases, The Times has been the one paper to work our minds to the limit, giving our minds the Jane Fonda work out, the full aerobics session. 

So there you have it folks. It's National Puzzle Day and that's a fact that can't be denied. If you think about it for any great length of time the current global pandemic simply can't be fathomed at any level. How did what seemed at the time a minor outbreak of illness onboard a cruise ship suddenly turn the whole world into at first an accident and emergency case before hitting rock bottom and millions of deaths on a monthly basis?

Still here we are at the end of January and the puzzle is that nobody knows quite how we've come to this pass without being made aware of the real source of the crisis. Conflicting reports still rage from wet markets in China to scientific laboratory experiments that seemed to have been gone belly up. What we do know is that puzzles are here to stay with us for as long as mankind. The human race is both terribly fragile and vulnerable although most of us know that anyway. This puzzle will, quite assuredly, sort itself out and a permanent resolution will be found. For now let's all sit tight, keep our chins up and never be pessimistic. The vaccines are rolling off the conveyor belts and if you keep that unwavering faith then the viurs will disappear. Sooner rather than later.