I have been in a literacy desert.  My reading and writing practices have been haphazard (and that is being kind). I am not sure what is preventing me from the focused and purposeful writing that I did in March and April, but at this point, I will regroup when school ends next week.

What hasn’t gone by the wayside is my puzzle addiction.  Every day I wake up and hit the New York Times puzzle apps, most days even before I get out of bed!  It all began in October 2021 with the introduction of Wordle.  I have played almost every day since its inception and almost always use the same starter word.  My current streak is 154 days (hope this doesn’t jinx me).  In June of 2023, Connections was introduced to the world, and I became hooked. Each day I share my results with my sister-in-law and niece, and we commiserate when we cannot solve one of those two puzzles.

Sometime after the New Year, I discovered the Mini-Crossword.  While the regular NYTimes Crossword Puzzle did not fit into my schedule, the mini was perfect.  So I added it to my daily routine and tried to solve it in under a minute or two.  Working on my iPhone is sometimes problematic, and the small screen lends itself to hitting the wrong letter.  

I promised myself that I would not try any of the other puzzles, but I think you may know where this is going. About a month ago, I tried Spelling Bee and before I knew it, I was working on it every day. I even made it to Genius ranking once!  I like that I can go back and work on previous puzzles and improve my ranking.

Thrown into the mix for a few weeks was the Tiles puzzle.  That one only lasted for a little while because I started getting a headache trying to scrutinize the tiles and find the matches on my phone screen.  

I thought my list of daily puzzles was complete, but no.  A couple of weeks ago, my family gathered together to celebrate May birthdays, and my daughter-in-law and I were casually chatting about our puzzle-solving habits when she asked me if I had tried Strands yet.  Of course, I had to check it out and what do you know…it is now part of my daily puzzle play.

Is there a 12-step program for puzzle addiction?  I am kidding but not kidding. The puzzle-playing sometimes is a gateway to a few games of Solitaire which on any given night might turn into MANY games of Solitaire. I may have to move the puzzles to an iPad and schedule an allotted time for gameplay.  Oh, who am I kidding?!?!  Are you a puzzle player?  How do you navigate the minefield of online puzzles and games?