Everyone Loves a Good Puzzle

     Everyone loves to solve a good puzzle. From detective and game shows on TV to crossword and number games, our choice of puzzles may be different, but our interest in them runs strong. Our most recent Find of the Week on the Used Book Floor is full of puzzles, as both the book and the discovery require sleuthing and/or problem solving skills (in more ways than one).

     The keeper of our find (or, book) is a 1982 edition of “Uncollected Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.” If that name sounds familiar, that is most likely because you are familiar with Sherlock Holmes, Doyle’s most famous literary creation. While Doyle’s success with Sherlock Holmes, the puzzle-solving sleuth, has been well-documented, many of his other stories have been misattributed to other authors, lost, or pirated. The “Uncollected Stories by Arthur Doyle” brings together thirty-three fascinating and diverse tales written by Doyle – ten of which were previously unknown works written by the famous author. This is a great book that is full of literary puzzles, as Doyle is known for.

     Hiding between pages 5 & 6 of Doyle’s unknown works was our first discovery: a double-sided math flashcard that displayed two simple subtraction problems. On one side, large pink numbers showing the equation of 7-2 = were boldly printed, while the other side showed the problem of 16-9 =. Here is where the puzzlement comes in, as someone (presumably the reader of our book) wrote the answers in black pen to each problem on the flash card, but the answers are WRONG. On one side, the number 4 was written as the answer to 7-2= and the number 8 was scribed on the other side as a solution to the 16-9= equation. 

     So, maybe the reader struggled with math, we thought. Not all of us received the “subtraction superstar” or “mathemagician” award for math achievement in school. That is ok. Just as we were beginning to grasp this thought, however, we discovered our second find towards the end of the book and it threw us for a loop. Hidden away between pages 361 & 362 was a Sudoku page (noted to be of moderate difficulty level) that was fully and correctly completed. If you are not aware, Sudoku is a numbers game that requires the player to place the numbers 1-9 in appropriate boxes within a 9x9 grid using logic and problem solving. Surely your puzzle-loving self has come to the conclusion that we have a reader who struggles with basic subtraction, but can master a good Sudoko game. Figure that one out!

     We also think that it should be noted that it is always possible, due to the power of books, that the reader sharpened his/her puzzle and/or problem solving skills from the beginning of the book (where we found the erroneously answered flash card) to the end, where the reader completed the Sudoku handily. Could it be that the reading and absorbing of Arthur Conan Doyle’s unknown works helped to hone the problem solving mind of our book owner, much like hanging around with Sherlock Holmes would? This is the answer that we have decided upon, of course, and we are sticking to it.

     The copy of “Uncollected Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle” (with the puzzling mathematical finds) is available for $14.00 here at Bayswater. You can catch up with our previous finds of the week from the used book floor at bayswaterbooks.com and on facebook. Better yet, stop by our store in Center Harbor and check out the used book floor for yourself!