S/o reading thread, do you do crosswords or other mind games??

[Prairie~Phlox]

Do your parents?. My MIL has always done crosswords, sudoku ect. I just started doing 7 Little Words daily puzzle (finished the 40 free) Also do a crossword puzzle game on my phone. What do you do to exercise your mind? Anything?

[Junie]

My dad plays computer solitaire and other similar games.  My mom plays Words With Friends.

 

 

[marbel]

My mom did crosswords daily, up till the day she died.  She was a strong believer in doing that (among other things) to keep her mind sharp.  She also listened to baseball on the radio in season - better than TV because she had to pay more attention to keep track of things.

 

We started getting the Wall Street Journal print edition and try to do the puzzle most days.   I would like to do more of that sort of thing.  I dislike playing games on the phone or computer. 

Edited August 16, 2016 by marbel

[Pawz4me]

My mom loved doing crosswords and similar puzzles.She always had a few puzzle books scattered around the house. I do Word Bubbles on my Fire.

[Onceuponatime]

My parents both did crosswords. My father taught me how to do cryptograms. I do both. I also do acrostics and cryptic crosswords. I find British style cryptic crosswords the most challenging, but I try them anyway. I keep my books in the car for the frequent times I have to sit and wait.

 

I do solitaire on the computer occassionally, with particular goals to beat my highest score in particular ways.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Onceuponatime

[dirty ethel rackham]

I am a crossword, Sudoku and mathdoku addict. I go through withdrawal on Mondays and Tuesdays because the local paper prints easier puzzles on those days and I leave them for my husband.

My parents were huge crossword fans.

 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[J-rap]

Well, my dh and I play Words With Friends.  :)

 

 

[Annie Elle]

I love sudoku and play it daily. My mother has always enjoyed crossword puzzles.

[SKL]

My dad likes to do crosswords.  My mom likes solitaire type games on the computer.  My mom also likes to watch financial news for some reason.  :P

 

As a kid I loved pencil puzzles, especially the ones where all the info was there and you just had to unscramble it.  I was the queen of those puzzles where you have a whole paragraph but the letters are scrambled.  (I don't remember what they are called now.)

 

I haven't had time to do pencil puzzles for years.  I would probably still like them.  :)  Though I've never been a big fan of crosswords - they tend to use obscure words and I don't feel like looking outside my own brain for answers.  (The ones in the plane magazines do get easier as I get older and more experienced.  So maybe that was my issue when I was young.)

 

My kids don't sit around doing pencil puzzles, at least not so far.  One of mine has vision problems.  The word searches assigned in early primary were torture for her, so I certainly didn't push them at home.  (They seem to be easier now.)  They do crosswords as part of their school work at times.  I guess they don't mind them, but they don't beg for more either.  They would rather spend their free time playing computer games and such.

[Cinder]

I am a crossword, Sudoku and mathdoku addict. I go through withdrawal on Mondays and Tuesdays because the local paper prints easier puzzles on those days and I leave them for my husband.

 

 

Same here. :tongue_smilie:  I do Sudoku and the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. I like the NYT puzzle in the Sunday paper. But the price of newspaper delivery has doubled so I guess I'll have to buy myself the NYT puzzle books like my MIL does.

 

My parents never did puzzles; they didn't even read books.

[Joules]

Dh always works the NYT crosswords, and sometimes we work the Sunday together.  I don't usually do crosswords without him, but I do number puzzles.  One of my favorite sources is Krazy Dad.  Right now, my puzzle of choice is the Killer Sudoku, a combination of a Sudoku and a Kakuro.  I've also liked the Hex Sudokus and the Krypto Kakuros.

[Joules]

Same here. :tongue_smilie:  I do Sudoku and the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. I like the NYT puzzle in the Sunday paper. But the price of newspaper delivery has doubled so I guess I'll have to buy myself the NYT puzzle books like my MIL does.

 

My parents never did puzzles; they didn't even read books.

 

There is an online subscription to the NYT puzzles.  We print them, but you can also do them online or on mobile.  I already subscribe to the digital paper, so it's pretty cheap, but even at full price, it might not be much more than a couple of books.

http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/games/lp897H9.html?campaignId=49W8Y

 

ETA: You have to scroll down to see the price.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Joules

[purpleowl]

I have a Sudoku app on my tablet that I play a lot while we're watching TV at night after the kids are in bed. I don't usually seek out crosswords or other puzzles like that, but if I come across one I'm happy enough to do it. I remember in high school when my mom would do the crossword in the paper and she would leave it out with the ones she couldn't get right away, and the rest of us would take a look to see if we could figure them out.

 

I used to enjoy Fill-In puzzles, but I haven't picked up one of those books in a while.

 

These days, I solve a good many word search puzzles upside down for my kids who want "a hint" on the activity sheets at restaurants. ;)

[rebcoola]

My dad does crosswords and sudoku daily he used to do whatever was in the daily paper now he has apps on his Kindle.  I do off and on.

[elegantlion]

I do solitaire games on my tablet. I also play 2048 every once in a while. 

[Guest]

I binge on crosswords or sudoku (sp?).  I like the NYTimes crossword books.  They start easy on Mondays and get harder throughout the week.  I can do up to Thursdays, but Friday and Saturday baffle me.  I can usually get a Sunday puzzle, if I stay at it.  

 

But I am on a cross-stitch binge at the moment, instead.  

 

My dh does NYTimes crosswords in PEN, all the days, and my MIL does the ones in the paper and in the...oh never mind...it's embarrassing.  OK, the Enquirer.  LOL.  

[dirty ethel rackham]

I do all mine in pen.  Not because I am that confident of my answers, but because I just can't see the pencil well enough against newsprint. 

[luuknam]

Sometimes I'll go through a phase. But rarely crosswords... I suck at crosswords.

[Joules]

I do all mine in pen.  Not because I am that confident of my answers, but because I just can't see the pencil well enough against newsprint. 

 

You guys will laugh at this.  I started doing the crossword in pen when ds was a baby.  He was one of those never sleep kids, and then only in the sling or next to me.  Everything woke him up, even the scratch of pencil across newsprint.  I switched to pen because it was quieter!

[Cinder]

There is an online subscription to the NYT puzzles.  We print them, but you can also do them online or on mobile.  I already subscribe to the digital paper, so it's pretty cheap, but even at full price, it might not be much more than a couple of books.

http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/games/lp897H9.html?campaignId=49W8Y

 

ETA: You have to scroll down to see the price.

 

Ooh--thanks for the info!

 

I do all mine in pen.  Not because I am that confident of my answers, but because I just can't see the pencil well enough against newsprint. 

 

Pen here too. When MIL saw this she thought I must be so clever. But I told her the truth--that I can't stand the sound of pencil on newsprint and it's difficult to see besides.

[LucyStoner]

Scrabble and other similar word games.

[Night Elf]

I don't know about my dad because I have few memories of him but my mom has never played such games. I like very easy crosswords although some of the clues are just too hard and I have to ask DH. I also play the easy version of Sherlock, a logic game. I also like Sudoku on my Kindle but I usually have to reset the game at least once because I work myself into a corner. I don't have a very logical mind like my children and DH, but I do try!

[Baseball mom]

Me -- sometimes - find a word, spot the difference and crosswords 

 

Mom -- word with friends

 

Stepdad -- crosswords, find a word and spot the difference

[Debbi in Texas]

My dad plays Solitaire. I like Sudoku and Solitaire, but not crosswords as much. I download the Solitaire app on my phone, but uninstall it regularly. If I leave it on there, I am like an addict.

[Guest]

Yes. I love word searches and crosswords. I keep a couple physical copies and a pencil beside my bathroom throne. :D

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Well, my dh and I play Words With Friends.   :)

 

Our whole family plays Words With Friends and also Word Streak (which is like Boggle).

 

I also recently found Grabby Word, which is like Words with Friends but you steal each other's points when you use a letter in a new word. It's a fun twist.

[Denise in Florida]

I love sudoku! My favorite "author " is Will Shortz. I will do multiple pages every night and fall into a puzzle zone. Ha

[Stacia]

My mom has always done crosswords. She is much more skilled than me at them & she will pass on ones that are too easy for her to me.  :tongue_smilie:  :lol:

 

My dad is more of a sudoku kind of guy, but he also sometimes switches out & does crosswords. (He's more my level -- we do the ones that are too easy for my mom.)

 

I often give/renew a subscription to Games Magazine to my parents. They generally like different types of puzzles, so they can each find various ones they like to do in each issue. When they're done w/ it, they then pass it to me (for stuff like cryptograms, visual puzzles, etc...).

 

I love crosswords & especially cryptograms. I sometimes do sudoku.

 

My mom, sister, & I love to play Scrabble together. We make up all kinds of rules & variations to keep it fun. One time, we had it where you had to create words (nothing in existence), but it had to sound like a real word. That was a fun version. Lol.

[Stacia]

My father taught me how to do cryptograms. I do both.

 

I love cryptograms.

 

As a kid, I always wanted to figure out how to do them because I would see my mom doing them. It took me a long time to figure out a system or way of doing them, but I hung in there because I was so intent on emulating my mom.

 

And, then, one day when I was an adult, I saw her flipping to the answers, seeing one of the words, flipping back to the puzzle, filling that word in, & THEN proceeding to finish the puzzle! :eek: What?!?!  :toetap05:  I asked her about it & she said that's how she's always done them because she could never figure them out otherwise.

 

I still laugh about finding that out! :lol:

 

This reminds me that I need to dig out my book of cryptograms & get to work. I haven't done any in quite awhile.

 

ETA: And does anyone remember the old Barney Miller show? I still remember an episode where one of the guys was doing a crossword. Except, he would flip to the answers, then flip back & fill in the answers. One of the other guys called him out on it. First guy's response? I find that reading the answer first gives me a better perspective on the question. Lol.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Stacia

[Onceuponatime]

I love cryptograms.

 

As a kid, I always wanted to figure out how to do them because I would see my mom doing them. It took me a long time to figure out a system or way of doing them, but I hung in there because I was so intent on emulating my mom.

 

And, then, one day when I was an adult, I saw her flipping to the answers, seeing one of the words, flipping back to the puzzle, filling that word in, & THEN proceeding to finish the puzzle! :eek: What?!?! :toetap05: I asked her about it & she said that's how she's always done them because she could never figure them out otherwise.

 

I still laugh about finding that out! :lol:

 

This reminds me that I need to dig out my book of cryptograms & get to work. I haven't done any in quite awhile.

 

ETA: And does anyone remember the old Barney Miller show? I still remember an episode where one of the guys was doing a crossword. Except, he would flip to the answers, then flip back & fill in the answers. One of the other guys called him out on it. First guy's response? I find that reading the answer first gives me a better perspective on the question. Lol.

😄

My dad was a cryptologic technician in the Navy. I learned the spy way.

 

Really there are just few basic tips. The rest is understanding word usage and patterns. I'm impressed that you figured out a method by yourself.

[Stacia]

😄

My dad was a cryptologic technician in the Navy. I learned the spy way.

 

Really there are just few basic tips. The rest is understanding word usage and patterns. I'm impressed that you figured out a method by yourself.

 

I would love some tips, if you ever have the time to PM me. (My dad was in the Navy too, but wasn't a cryptologist, so I don't have any help there!)

 

I mostly solve them based on word usage & letter patterns.

[Seeking Squirrels]

I have a couple crossword puzzle apps on my phone and I play those often. I really like sudoku and kakuro but don't do those as often. I used to when I did them on paper, but I'm just not a fan of any of the apps I've found for them. I used to love logic puzzles and get the magazines for them. I should see if there is an app for those. I play a few other games that are semi-mind games, though fairly simple. Sometimes it feels like it's working my brain and sometimes it feels like it's just mindless time-wasting. Probably pretty relative to whether it's 2pm or 2am haha! 

 

My mom does not do any mind games so far as I'm aware. I introduced her to an addicting puzzle app not long ago and I know she did that for a while. But I've never known her to do crosswords or sudoku. 

[Jane in NC]

Kakuro is my latest addiction. My newspaper doesn't offer cryptograms currently but once upon a time they were a fav.

 

My son and husband enjoy crosswords although they both turn to me for help with authors and books.

[Guest]

I am not very good at puzzles, but I do like a good mah jong or jigsaw.

[lllll]

nm

Edited November 7, 2016 by cathey

[trulycrabby]

Nope, but I do Art of Problem Solving algebra problems in order to teach math to DS.

[regentrude]

No crosswords or puzzles.

I exercise my mind by solving physics and math problems - that should suffice.

My dad plays competetive chess.

My mom does some solitaire and puzzles, but I think for her mind, the extensive reading of difficult literature does more than shuffling cards on a computer screen.

Edited August 17, 2016 by regentrude

[Ali in OR]

I do the Sudoku in the newspaper Mon-Fri. Dh gets the Sat-Sun puzzles. He's the one who inspired me to do them in pen and he never has to write down "possibilities" for a square, which I have to do for the hardest puzzles. Every once in awhile I do a crossword puzzle. I like to play solitaire too--been playing a difficult double-deck game that I almost never win.

[Um_2_4]

My Gma always had a book of crosswords going. For me I love the Dell books of logic puzzles. I used to always carry one when I traveled.

[Shred Betty]

Went thru a sudoku phase then mahjong phase and THEN I started reading classics & Dickens and trying to speed read the easy books. Pretty proud of the speed thing! I suggest reading for keeping mentally active :)

[Alice]

I like logic puzzles and do those. I used to like cryptograms but haven't done them in awhile. I always get frustrated with crosswords because it seems like so many of the answers are pop culture references that I don't know but maybe I am doing the wrong kind.

 

My oldest really likes sudoku.

 

My parents don't do kind of puzzles and never have.

[Alessandra]

I do all mine in pen. Not because I am that confident of my answers, but because I just can't see the pencil well enough against newsprint.

I do NYT crosswords in ballpoint pen, writing lightly if I am unsure. The puzzle HAS to be in the actual paper, the section folded over, or I cannot do it.

 

I do Kenken and Kakuru every day too. Soft #2 pencil for those. Cannot stand Sudoku. And I start my day with jigzone.com.

[Kareni]

I don't recall my parents doing puzzles; however, my father was an ardent bridge player.  He was so ardent -- he played for blood -- that none of us wanted to partner him and be told off for our errors.

 

I used to do logic puzzles for pleasure when I was younger.  Over time, I've enjoyed doing crossword puzzles, the Jumble, and cryptoquotes.  I'd like to play Clue if anyone wanted to join me.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[TravelingChris]

My dh does the crossword puzzles in our paper.  I help.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

If anyone wants to play, I'm on Words with Friends and Word Streak as Chocolate Chip Chooky.

 

I'm also on Grabby Word as Chooky.

 

Love to see you there  :001_smile:

[KungFuPanda]

Sudoku is like a mini brain spa, but I can only have one puzzle or I waste too much time with it.

 

My 93-year-old grandmother does solitaire and a word search most days.

[EmilyGF]

Hubby and I do crosswords together on the computer. We started when a neighbor moved away and didn't cancel their NYTimes. Now we do crosswords online because we like the format better. We've been doing them for five years. We're sort of in a rut, though, because we'd need to know pop culture better to get into the weekend but Wednesdays are pretty easy for us. At the height, we were doing 3-4 per week. Now we do one every other week.

 

My grandmother did crosswords all her life. She experienced memory loss as she aged. One day, she was trying to tell someone her diagnosis:

 

"It has eight letters and starts with D."

 

It was dementia.

 

Emily

Edited August 18, 2016 by EmilyGF

[Jenny in Florida]

I love solitaire. Recently, I have been enjoying themed, computer solitaire games that incorporate simple stories and additional puzzles or challenges.