The Puzzle Master

All creative work is at bottom a means of self-liberation and a coping mechanism — for the loneliness, the despair, the chaos and contradiction within. It is the best means we have of transmuting that which gnaws at us into something that nourishes, and yet how little of that private ferment is visible in the finished work

Here are some other techniques people use to access and maintain the zone:

• Introducing a long delay between when you do the work and when it is shown to the world. Annie Ernaux writes about this in A Simple Passion, a memoir about how she becomes obsessed in a banal way with a man who is having an affair with her—the thought that others will read th

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1. Matchsticks have been a puzzle staple since the 1800s. Here is one from The Moscow Puzzles by Boris A. Kordemsky (1956), the most popular puzzle book in the history of the Soviet Union. Correct the equation by shifting just one match. 2) Kinship-themed puzzles have also been around for centuries. Here’s a classic: Two girls were born to the same mo

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