Let's Talk with Nancy J. Cohen
The Puzzle is the Thing
January 29, 2026
January 29 is National Puzzle Day. It got me thinking about what types of puzzles I enjoy. Here on Booklovers Bench, we offer you Word Searches and Jigsaw Puzzles. I like word searches and Sudoku puzzles but don’t have the patience for real jigsaw puzzles. A friend of mine is a jigsaw enthusiast whose home is filled with puzzles, many of which she obtains at puzzle swaps. That’s a cool idea but not for me. I’m more into doing newsletter swaps with other authors.
Now I’m getting into escape room puzzles. I took Escape from the Museum with me on a cruise, and it took four of us to figure out the clues and decode the symbols. This is a card game with Indiana Jones-type mental puzzles. It was fun and challenging, and I bought another escape game for my next trip.
Putting together the plot of a mystery is also a puzzling process. We may start with the victim or the killer and then have to weave in suspects and clues to distract the reader. Figuring all this out is indeed a puzzle. The sleuth, as well as the reader, wants to find these clues and then follow the trail to determine whodunit. That’s why we like mysteries so much. It’s a challenge to learn the truth and satisfying when everything fits together at the end.
What kind of puzzles do you like?
Want to know more about our author Nancy J Cohen? Visit her WEBSITE
Posted in Let's Talk, with Nancy J. Cohen • Tags: Let's Talk, mysteries, Nancy J Cohen, The Puzzle is the Thing | 17 Comments
I like jigsaw, search a word and easy crossword puzzles.
Those are all fun. I am not good at Crosswords, though. I also do Sudoku.
I love working puzzles! We do several in the winter.
Winter is a good time of year to sit inside and work a puzzle!
I love the wooden puzzles with the little whimsy pieces — JOY!!!
Those are classics and always fun.
Like you, I don’t have the patience for jigsaw puzzles, Nancy. I’m more into word puzzles. I start each day doing Wordle and Connections. They rev up my brain cells for the day. I also often relax with a crossword puzzle after I’ve stopped writing for the day.
I’m afraid if I get started on Wordle that I’ll get addicted.
When I’m too agitated to read, my go-to is a crossword puzzle, the harder the better. My favorites are in the Financial Times of London, more crpytic than ones from the New York TImes.
You must be very good If you can do those puzzles!
I can’t complete some of them, but at least they take my mind off of whatever might be bugging me!
I like word search puzzles. They are easy so I can do them while my husband is watching TV or while we have baseball games on. But, other than reading, my thing to do is jigsaw puzzles. I usually do at least two a month. And our local library has a puzzle swap twice a year so I can trade out my puzzles and get new ones without spending too much money.
Puzzle swaps are a great way for jigsaw fans to acquire new ones and to trade off ones they’ve finished.
I love number and logic puzzles (sudoku, mathdoku, LinkedIn queens, tango and zip puzzles,….), though I do other online puzzles, too 😁
I don’t want to get started on online puzzles or I’ll get addicted. I use print books, preferably in large print, to do the ones I like at home.
I do Wordle, Murdle, crosswords, word search and suduko.
That’s a good selection!