Friday, March 21, 2008
Cat-Mouse Game and C-Word in Children's Puzzle
On Wednesday of this week (2008 March 19), A Kidspot comic appeared. It was similar to one earlier that I commented on. In this puzzle this array is given:
Also included are pictures of a bat, a panda, a goose, a goat, a frog, a nut, a pig, a pumpkin, and a cake. These words are easily found in the puzzle.
Other words are found in the puzzle too, for example, "sea" in the right hand corner. If you follow a bent path, you can obtain many other words. Some of these are "loose", "moose", "dog", "muse", "rap" (and "par"), and another instance of "bat". If you are willing to jump two spaces at times, you can find "gold". The most interesting is the phrase "cat takes mouse". Start with the C in position (2,6). Go down, right, down, down, diagonal up and left, and so forth. The sinuous nature of this path reminds me of a real cat chasing a mouse in a maze. This reminds me of one of the games in The Compleat Strategyst. That game featured a cat and mouse in a 3x3 maze, and Williams concluded that the cat should travel in small loops and the mouse should stick to the edge of the maze. Isn't that what is happening here? The path is near the edge of the puzzle, and it goes around in small loops.
But notice what is going on in the upper right corner. The C-word appears! This is the word that Jane Fonda used recently on the Today show. If you look in that corner, you will see a C, a U, an N, and a T, in a t-pattern, the same type of pattern as with the F-word that appeared in Kidspot a number of weeks ago. All I can say is look at your puzzle before you publish it. It's OK to include a nut in your puzzle, as long as it is nowhere near any C.
Also included are pictures of a bat, a panda, a goose, a goat, a frog, a nut, a pig, a pumpkin, and a cake. These words are easily found in the puzzle.
| P | U | M | P | K | I | N |
| A | F | A | I | B | C | U |
| N | R | S | G | O | A | T |
| D | O | L | M | U | K | T |
| A | G | O | O | S | E | A |
Other words are found in the puzzle too, for example, "sea" in the right hand corner. If you follow a bent path, you can obtain many other words. Some of these are "loose", "moose", "dog", "muse", "rap" (and "par"), and another instance of "bat". If you are willing to jump two spaces at times, you can find "gold". The most interesting is the phrase "cat takes mouse". Start with the C in position (2,6). Go down, right, down, down, diagonal up and left, and so forth. The sinuous nature of this path reminds me of a real cat chasing a mouse in a maze. This reminds me of one of the games in The Compleat Strategyst. That game featured a cat and mouse in a 3x3 maze, and Williams concluded that the cat should travel in small loops and the mouse should stick to the edge of the maze. Isn't that what is happening here? The path is near the edge of the puzzle, and it goes around in small loops.
But notice what is going on in the upper right corner. The C-word appears! This is the word that Jane Fonda used recently on the Today show. If you look in that corner, you will see a C, a U, an N, and a T, in a t-pattern, the same type of pattern as with the F-word that appeared in Kidspot a number of weeks ago. All I can say is look at your puzzle before you publish it. It's OK to include a nut in your puzzle, as long as it is nowhere near any C.
