IN an ad agency where I worked during my younger days, there was an account executive who spent all his time at the office solving crossword-puzzles. All crossword puzzle sections of the daily papers were filled with his penciled or ball-penned answers. I have to admit, he was good at it. No, he was not only good; he was a master!
He never met deadlines. He postponed meetings with clients. Oblivious to time and his job, of course, he got fired. But because he had a smart mind and a modulated voice and an American twang, he found work in another agency. Then after a while, he got fired again. The circle of agencies that would hire him became smaller and smaller until he landed a job in a fly-by-night unscrupulous agency that soon folded up.
Not too long ago, I was in a fashionable mall somewhere far from our place. There was an alfresco café, with chairs and tables outside. I happened to pass by a table with a man with about three newspapers on his table and a man poring with his ballpen. You bet. My account executive officemate who got fired for solving too many puzzles. After all these years, he was still at it, older but not wiser, I guess. Then and now, the unrepentant cruciverbalist (the dictionary term for a person skillful in creating or solving crossword puzzles, from two Latin words crux [cross] and verbum [word].)
My wife, Aurit, is into sudoku. Mad about sudoku is more like it. She relishes this intricate game involving the placement of the right numbers into a given set of blank boxes. She will work on these puzzles for hours, choosing from the hardest or the most challenging categories, mumbling to herself, pondering on the right answers. Sometimes, when the going gets really tough, she leaves the puzzle there for a while, and after doing her household chores, resumes attacking the problem with new energy and determination. When she finally solves it, she lets out a loud whoop as if she won the bingo or lotto. Lately, she’s having bouts of severe eye strain, and I can only attribute the cause to so many hours working on sudoku puzzles.
All the dailies have them—from the upscale business broadsheets to the most lurid tabloids. I once saw a jeepney driver obliviously solving a vernacular crossword version while waiting for his vehicle to be filled up with passengers. He must have finished the sudoku puzzle because that box was already filled up. Once I had a great time marveling at a commuter-train rider delving into a crossword puzzle while standing, balancing himself skillfully, while the guy beside him was also deftly balancing himself as he surfed through his social-media accounts with a flick of his finger.
Just like the game of chess, these puzzle games force the mind to focus, in a way constraining it. This is why even if I am naturally averse, I cannot help but admire my wife and all puzzle solvers. I am more the conceptualizer type who needs to let the mind go free without restraints.
I admit I am not into puzzle games that involve mental gymnastics which eat into my time. The thing to remember is that whether it’s a crossword or sudoku, it is meant to be just a game, a fun thing, something to pass the time or per passare il tempo, which was originally the name of the game when it first appeared in Italy. They are not designed to consume your time. When one begins sacrificing more important things, then it’s no longer fun but addiction.
That’s why my wife is the ideal mental-game player. She knows when to take it up and when to put it down.
But I have always been mystified how these makers of word and number puzzles and other mental games go about their tasks. Who are these people? It’s not easy to do these puzzles. It takes a genius. And someone with a playful mind and a sadistic bent. The right word is probably “devilish.”
I can imagine the puzzle maker playing games with the solver. Sometimes he or she makes the puzzle easy, inviting the solver ever deeper into the game and when the solver finds it so easy, only to discover at the end that he gave the wrong answers.
In the shadow world of newspapers, crossword compilers are unsung, unknown modest heroes. I once read about a gathering of cruciverbalists at one of Britain’s major newspapers, and in that event, they introduced themselves by the day of the week their work appeared, something like: “Hello, I’m Monday. Glad to meet you, I’m Friday. Hi, I am Wednesday.”
That’s how shadowy they are. Tinker, tailor, soldier spy, Just like in the espionage novels of John le Carre.
Now I have researched that mind games for elderly adults are not only interesting and entertaining, but can also improve memory, daily life skills and overall mental health.
Gerontologists and neuroscientists tell us that to ensure that the brain works as best as it can, the mind needs to be challenged every day. Thanks to quick games like crosswords and sudoku, that can be played anywhere and by anyone, exercising the mind can be fun and easy to do.
They say one doesn’t even have to solve all of the conundrums in a puzzle. Simply trying to figure out the answer, working with other people and putting in the effort, is what makes the difference to brain health. A for effort.
But all this can be naught. My wife tried to infect her senior friends with her sudoku madness. She gifted them with sudoku puzzles, but very few took it up.
One reason is that older people resist mind games because they feel they have to put much mental effort, that you have to be a genius to play.
But consider the amazing benefits: After just a few months of playing, chess can even help to boost your IQ. Another benefit, which is especially helpful for older people who struggle with concentration, is that it can help to increase focus.
If chess, crossword puzzles or sudoku puts mental strain on you, experts suggest you try bingo. It is a fun and easy activity that can be played in large or small groups. It can easily be in or out of the home. Playing bingo is not only fun and stimulating, but it is said to have a number of health benefits for seniors.
There is a diversity of brain-boosting games available online that can help to enhance memory and improve mental health in the elderly. But it may be a fruitless proposition to suggest it to seniors. Many in our age group are techno-averse, and don’t even want to have anything to do with smart phones, preferring to live in a pre-wired world. And even if a granddad would express an interest, no grandson or daughter would have the patience to teach him the ropes, so to speak.
Yes, keeping the mind active in older age is essential. But as I have observed among seniors (that includes me probably), the older you get, the less you are inclined to tax your brain. But research warns us: Use it or lose it.
Maybe the solution can be a compromise. There are other options. If the object is to get yourself intellectually engaged to boost the brain, then you can probably engage in non-mentally taxing meaningful activities, like volunteering or hobbies. People who are into it say they feel happier and healthier. Learning new skills may improve your thinking ability, too. For example, one study found that older adults who learned quilting or digital photography had more memory improvement than those who only socialized or did less mentally demanding activities.
So if you’re not inclined to do mental jogging, leave the mental games to others. That’s the modus vivendi my wife and I have been observing during our conversation cease fire. She plays sudoku with relish while I read my books con gusto. The bottom line is there are many stimulating ways to keep the mind active. Find your own game.
P.S. I just wonder about that addicted cruciverbalist I described at the beginning of this column. Has his obsession succeeded in fending off the onset of dementia? Its a puzzlement, as the King of Siam put it.