I ran into old friend Jool last week.  We were checking in on another old friend who is under the weather.  She brought a few amusements for herself … librarians read, a lot, so she brought books.  For me and the patient, she brought a puzzle called Scramble Squares.

The game is a simple puzzle with only 9 pieces, each a perfect square.  This version, assembled correctly, shows a slightly magnified square foot of a pansy garden in full bloom.  To be fair she chose one of the game’s most challenging pictures; the easier ones show half of one kind of animal along with half of another.  Flowers images are tougher to suss out than halves of zebras, giraffes, and lions.  But still, only nine pieces, give me a break.

My initial thoughts, formed and sitting there on the tip of my tongue, eager to burst forth into a derisively comedic articulation was this.  “Nine pieces?  And only a few flowers?  We’re old men, but come on!  This puzzle was designed for ages 3 and under.  I can solve this sucker in under 30 seconds!”

Long ago the brightest fellow in my high school class (not me) found this wonderful quote from Abe Lincoln that has served me well ever since.  It goes like this.  “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

You must use the pictures to solve it, and one key in the pansy puzzle may be the ‘eyes”, the reproductive core or pistil and stamen of the individual flowers.  Eyes and color are the only distinguishing characteristics of this picture puzzle.  Jool and I messed with the damned thing for a couple of hours.  Then I experienced an “Ah-hah!” moment:  this bozo is TTFM.  Too tough for me.

Scramble Squares has 95 billion possible combinations.  Every edge is like every other: straight, ending in a 90 degree angle.

Just guessing, I’d say it’s too tough for a lot of people, and I have resolved to not let it annoy me further.

The garbage truck passes tomorrow.