“Aha!” puzzles have always appealed to me more than any other type of puzzle. There’s just something about them that strikes a chord with me. In case you’re not exactly sure what they are, they’re the ones with those frustratingly ‘obvious’ answers. Yes, that’s right. Those ones! When the answer, which is usually startling, hits you, you get a sudden flash of inspiration popularly known as an “Aha!” and it feels very much as though you’ve been hit by a bolt of lightning. It’s a wonderful, energising feeling and it is this, in part, that makes “Aha!” puzzles so very rewarding and addictive.
Frequently the solution to an “Aha!” puzzle pops into your head unexpectedly while you no longer appear to be consciously working on it. Surprisingly, this is the result of a complex parallel process that synthesizes the input from both of the brain’s hemispheres. These are the right hemisphere, which is the more imaginative and intuitive side, and the left hemisphere, which is the more logical and analytical side. The data is relayed between the hemispheres via the corpus callosum, a thick band of more than 200 million nerve fibres.
In many ways “Aha!” puzzles are ideal for stimulating creativity because, by appearing impossible, implausible, bizarre or paradoxical in some way, they immediately arouse our curiosity. Also, because you know the answers are usually very simple (well, once you know them!), you feel you really ought to be able to get them. It’s just a matter of when and how. These factors along with the prospect of an “Aha!” and the often humorous nature of the answers awaken our childlike sense of playfulness, which is the key to unlocking our creativity. Another BIG plus is that no specialist or unusual mathematical knowledge is needed to solve them, making them much more accessible to everyone.
When I design my puzzles I try my best to make them exciting and intriguing so that they really grab your attention. Because of this, they hopefully stimulate your creativity and imagination, teach you to think ‘outside the box’, improve your ability to switch easily from one perspective to another, increase the fluency with which you generate ideas, develop your intuitive powers, make you better at finding unusual associations and patterns and, with any luck, even make you laugh a little too. So, all in all, they should provide your brain with a truly comprehensive and mind-altering lateral work-out.
Lloyd is a puzzle designer based in the UK.
He specialises in creating novel and unusual puzzles with often humorous "Aha!" answers. Most of his puzzles require lateral and "outside the box" thinking. His puzzles have appeared on BBC1, in OMNI, The Times, The Independent, GAMES and many puzzle books, including Test Your Creative Thinking and Amazing "Aha!" Puzzles.
Some of his puzzles may be seen at his official website Aha! Puzzles, where there is a monthly puzzle contest called The Puzzle Wizard Challenge.