Breakthrough

Part II of III

It's very important how you work a puzzle, and as far as I'm concerned there's only one way.

First you turn the box upside down so that you're working out of the top. Then you pull out all the edge pieces and put the other ones face up in the bottom of the box. So then you've got the edge on the table and everything else in the bottom of the box. The top is now free so you can work from the picture on it. Then you put together the entire edge. Some edge pieces are always missing at first, but they turn up later as the puzzle takes shape. From that point on, there are different routes.

You can decide to work on one color and then search for that color and put together a chunk of it. Or a pattern, or a subject like a pickle or a doll's face. After a while you've got the edge and several blobs and then you begin to look at the box top and try to reasonably place the sections. Then you fan out and begin to make bridges from one to another. This can take several sessions. That's how you become so intimately involved with your subject.

Whenever two great big blobs are connected, that's a breakthrough. Now this is very important: whether you are alone in the house or someone is there with you, at this point you shout, "A breakthrough! A breakthrough!" Actually it's better to be alone in the house for a breakthrough. Dan always yells in from another room, "What's the matter in there?"

For me there's nothing more relaxing than a half-done puzzle on a card table in the middle of the living room. It's my most calming pastime. When I'm worried and can't concentrate on reading, a good puzzle is just like a tranquilizer.

"Aunt Mary on: Permanent Vacations and Jig-Saw Puzzles", Nancy Westheimer, 1987.

One of the highlights of my small town life was winning the Eric Dowdle Star Mill Puzzle-a-thon with Cristall and Jaime. Three teams showed up. Newlyweds, a girl with her aged parents, and us. The lovebirds canoodled the whole time and didn't even finish their edges. The girl single-handedly did 75% of the puzzle while her parents unintentionally slowed her progress. My team came prepared wearing short sleeves, no jewelry, our hair tied back, chapstick in our pockets, and water bottles filled. We completed the 500-piece puzzle in less than an hour. We won fair and square, although the girl would have beat any of us one on one. If you've ever thought a puzzle was a tranquilizer just have a puzzle race. I think Puzzling should be an Olympic sport. Golf is, and puzzles are leaps and bounds more exciting than golf.

I'm a lifelong puzzle lover. Our house had a 500-piece circular rabbit puzzle which was the rite of passage for any Durko kid wanting to graduate from the oversized Disney puzzle to the next level. Setting the last piece was a trophy we all schemed for by either hiding a piece in a pocket or under the table.

I agree with Aunt Mary's methods. Always do the edges first, followed by the easiest insides, then the solid black sky or the open ocean bit last. For some reason by the time I get to the end of a puzzle the hard parts don't seem as daunting as they did at the beginning. It's like my eyes have gained a spidey sense and can spot specific edges or fractions of a gradient with ease. I quite enjoy being in the thick of it when triumph is palpable. Easy puzzles simply lack triumphant endings.

ANSWER to the puzzle on the previous post: 20. Start at 10 and jump to alternate segments, adding 1, then 2, then 3, and so on.