As a Nancy Drew gamer, puzzles are an everyday part of my life. I think I'd go insane if I didn't have a jigsaw puzzle going or didn't have a game to play. I have so many sudoku books in my possession I may never finish them all. Today I'm going to talk about every type of puzzle I can and how to do them, including tips and tricks to solving them.
Chris Ramsay and others on Youtube have channels that explore solving physical puzzles. So many Nancy Drew gamers stream and post on Youtube it'd take you months to watch them all. Markiplier and others play a variety of strange and fun games (horror and otherwise) consistently and for charity. Youtube is a treasure trove of people who solve puzzles for a living or just for Youtube in their spare time. I'll let you look these people up later, but for now, we'll start with categories of puzzles.
The categories of puzzles I'll talk about today are physical, numbers, letters and words, logic, and jigsaw. Physical puzzles are described as puzzles you hold in your hand and play with using your hands. Number puzzles involve the use of numbers. Letter and word puzzles involve letter arrangement. Logic puzzles have to do with the use of logic and deduction. Jigsaw puzzles are interlocking pieces that create a picture. Most of these are obvious, but I include this breakdown anyway.
Physical
The types of physical puzzles out there are vast and priced in many ranges. My husband loves these. I am incredibly frustrated by them. It takes someone who plays with everything in front of them to love these brilliant little and big objects. I don't exaggerate when I say that you have to find every button and moveable piece possible to solve some of these complicated physical puzzles. They come in metal, wood, and lego. Chris Ramsey says a puzzle is solved not only by taking it apart, but by also putting it back together like you found it. The latter part of the process sometimes takes the most time. These are known as brain teasers, technically.
I said I'd include tips and tricks to these puzzles. The best advice I have is to find whatever moves and go from there. This really is messing with an object until you find the answer. Don't think too hard or you'll miss it. They are vast in form, too, so if you are truly stuck you can contact the company or find a tutorial online (hopefully). Some have pins that need to be moved and switches in them. Some are slider puzzles that create images.
It would take forever to categorize the variety of these things, so I won't. I'll put a link to Chris Ramsay instead and let you explore the rest of his channel to find that variety on your own. Click here for Chris Ramsay's Youtube channel! Happy exploring!
Numbers
Sudoku, Hidato, Nonograms, and Yohaku are all number-related puzzles. They all include logic, too. Sudoku is putting numbers in a square so that none repeat in any line. Hidato is putting all the numbers in the box in a way that creates an unbroken string of numbers diagonally, horizontally, and vertically. Nonogram solving is coloring in specific boxes specified by numbers on the side (no, not color by number). Yohaku is newer and I don't have a simple explanation for it. It is, and I quote, "a new type of number puzzle that will test your number sense and problem-solving skills. Each yohaku is either an additive or a multiplicative puzzle (as indicated by the symbol in the bottom right of the grid). Your task is to fill in the empty cells such that they give the sum or product shown in each row and column."
Given Yohaku was last described, the tips and tricks for that involve being good at math. I am not. I found a good description of this, however, from somewhere else, and here it is. I know I have seen this puzzle in one nancy drew game somewhere. I purely guessed at it or cheated. All it is, truly, is basic math and time.
Sudoku is one of my favorites. You start by looking at what numbers can't be in certain squares. Go square by square until you can logically eliminate what numbers can't go in a space and what can. Usually, they give you enough set numbers in an average puzzle to put at least a few numbers down. If you are doing a sudoku with five connected puzzles that share corners, do the corners first and then finish the middle. I do these rather well, but everyone has their own strategies to use, which you can find several of in this link. There are fancy and complicated versions if you need more challenge than the average human.
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| Sudoku Example |
Nonograms are a pain to do, at least for me. What I do know is that you do the rows that indicate a whole row of colored squares first. Then you logically deduce where the rest go based on that. Even then, you can find yourself guessing and checking the back of your book or cheating on them (cough couch, Shadow At Waters Edge, cough cough). The bigger it is, the harder it is. Someone explained this rather nicely in the link here. They even give you a sample one to try that isn't massively hard to do.
Hidato, also known to Nancy Drew gamers as "renograms", is creating that string of numbers based on where the set numbers are placed. My husband also loves these. I literally bought him a book of them for Christmas because he exhausted the supply of them in Shadow At Waters Edge. This is basically logical reasoning. The shape of your box can be anything, so some are rather creatively shaped. I found a tutorial for a small hidato, should you want to try it. This is the tutorial.
To be fair, a lot of these do go in the logic category, too. Some Sudoku also begins including letters. Challenge levels of these go from beginner to massively creative large ones that are nearly impossible. You can find the level you want. Start with beginner, though. Don't overwhelm yourself with a task that takes practice when you didn't start with the basics.
Logic
Here we have chess problems, grids, brainteasers on paper, and visual trick puzzles, as well as many other types.
Chess puzzles require you to know how to play chess, obviously, so I'm going to go ahead and assume you know how to play chess if you are doing these puzzles. I have a video below that will give you a bunch of chess tactics. Chess is logic with long-term thinking. I do know how to play, but this man in the video below is much better than anything I can come up with on my own.
Visual trick puzzles have to do with illusions. These are something related to how many triangles are in a picture, and you have to count the tiny triangles within the bigger ones. You have to think outside the box. Not too many tricks for this type of puzzle, sadly, so I can't give you much help. This is the one puzzle that has no tip with it.
Logic puzzles go broadly in many directions, and yet, I can give you one guideline on multiple types in one shot. Eliminate the impossible and you're left with the possible. Start by eliminating what can't be the answer and go from there. I notice that some people are shockingly good at logical thinking and others miss what I see as the obvious. No one is stupid, to be clear on that, but not everyone has a natural inclination for logic.
Logic is important for many reasons, one of which is that everyday problems can be solved using it. An example from my work is people asking where a resident sits, even though they (except for a few new ones) have name tags on their tables. When one is given a table number and a name, logically they could reason out who at the table it should go to (minus those without name tags). That is an everyday logic problem. You can find more in adult life all the time. Adult life is a series of logic problems, even down to prioritizing stuff on my office desk.
You'd be surprised who's not strong at logic and who is. Those who have that strength are generally not asking questions that can be answered by basic logic (especially introverts). We simply figure it out ourselves and go, rather than ask what we know the answer to. We may doublecheck sometimes, though, just to be safe when something is critical. Pay attention to the use of logic around you today. You can Sherlock Deduce about anyone through learning more about logic and observation.
Jigsaw Puzzles
Another favorite of mine is jigsaw puzzles, particularly in 500 to 1000 pieces. You can find challenging and extra challenging ones in pieces into the 1000s and puzzles with no edge. Some are all corners or all black and solid colored or with transitioning colors. Again, whatever challenge level you want is out there. I adore the mystery puzzles that have no image to go off of and have a mystery booklet to read.
Here I count mechanical puzzles as related to Jigsaw. This is still interlocking pieces and creates something. It may be slightly different. All the same, I consider it the same strategy, especially with jigsaw puzzles that create buildings and 3D images. It is the same concept. The only difference is sorting is only by shape.
My strategy is simple. I also have a patience level that allows me to counted cross stitch and embroider for months. It takes patience and time to do this type of puzzle. If you have no patience or attention span you shouldn't start a puzzle (and ditto for counted cross stitch).
I begin by dumping the puzzle pieces out of their box/bag and sorting the edge pieces out. I often have to do so again while constructing the edge of the puzzle (the missed-a-piece curse). After the edge is all nicely constructed and correct I sort them by color or pattern or both. I suggest getting a bunch of bowls to sort pieces into or investing in a simple, cheap puzzle sorting set. You take one color/pattern and put together all the pieces you can, repeating that process for all of the sorted bowls. You do this until you are stuck with a bunch of pieces that are multiple colors or you finish the puzzle. In the case of multiple colors, sort them by shape and try to fill the holes in the puzzle using shape. Eventually, you'll get there and have a beautiful image on your table or surface.
You can frame it, put it away for future solving, or pass it on. When I solve it I give it a victory lap (aka leaving it up for a day) and then put it away, making sure the corner pieces are in a bag for when I solve it next. If I didn't love it the puzzle goes to one of my relatives. Much like books I dislike, puzzles I dislike leave my personal collection.
Words and Letters
The arrangement of words and letters involves crosswords and word searches, as well as board games like Scrabble. It comes down to how big your vocabulary is and knowing what your words mean in some cases. Scrabble boils down to knowing exactly what words can be placed in valuable spaces (which takes talent). In the general sense, avid readers and writers ace these types of puzzles. Also in this category, codebreaking is a real thing. Ciphers and anagrams are word puzzles.
Codebreakers that broke Enigma machine codes used the art of arranging letters to do so. Some of our puzzles today and fun codes we know about were used during the war for real message sending. Ciphers are challenges that real men and women faced for the sake of war and espionage, which is amazing. Word puzzles were actually useful. Ciphers involve a keyword and shift in letters. You'll find tips for that type of puzzle right here.
Crosswords are all about knowing what your words mean and arranging them in the correct spaces. This blog is getting a bit too long, so I will let you explore this link of tips yourself. When it comes to word searches you simply have to be observant. For more pointers, click here. Anagrams are word scrambles. Click here for some help on anagrams.
Sources:
https://www.yohaku.ca/
Pictures:
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