My family now only does Wordle, the daily five-letter puzzle that must be guessed in six attempts. We also like Worldle, a geographical version, where you have to identify a country.
And there may well be other options to explore.
I like Wordle’s background story – a Welsh software engineer, Josh Wardle, living in New York, invented it as an interlocking game for his partner, who loves word quizzes. After playing it obsessively and then sharing it with friends and family, Wardle released it to the public in October 2021.
By Christmas, it had become an international phenomenon. In January, The New York Times bought Wordle for an undisclosed seven-figure sum, but so far it has remained free and fully accessible.
British author Patricia Nicol has rounded up a selection of the best puzzle books, including Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and SJ Watson’s twisty thriller Before I Go To Sleep
Sudoku I can take it or leave it, but I love Wordle, Crosswords, Spelling Bees, and competitive word games like Scrabble and Bananagrams. Quizzes too.
There is a puzzle element to a lot of fiction. Mysteries, in particular, rely on uncovering clues and chasing leads.
Gillian Flynn is a writer who likes to scatter breadcrumbs to mislead her reader.
His bestseller Gone Girl is told by two unreliable narrators. One of them, Amy, is obsessed with quizzes. She wrote them for a living and created elaborate treasure hunts for her husband, Nick.
But when she suddenly disappears, is it a treasure hunt or a forgotten trap?
Another super twisted thriller is Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson. Its protagonist suffers from anterograde amnesia. She wakes up every day not remembering who she is and tries to rediscover her identity through her diary. But is it sometimes misdirected?
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is the story of a fired tech nerd who accepts a job at an eccentric book depository only to discover that his dusty tomes contain closely guarded knowledge, leading him to a society centuries-old secret.
This week, take some time for yourself to enjoy a satisfying gnarly puzzle.
