Games World of Puzzles December 2021

Believe it or not, the winter holidays are upon us once more! To help you get in the spirit of the season, we bring you this December issue full of gifts for the mind.
Our holiday-themed offerings include Annie Fillenwarth’s “Call Our Bluff: Holiday Edition” (page 34), which presents you with a dozen stories describing winter holiday traditions the world over; your job is to pick out the three fake ones. Be forewarned: This may be tougher than you think!
For more festive fun, turn to Donald Kerr’s “Happy Holidays!” (page 40), a quiz that will test your knowledge of seasonal trivia. Finally, check out Jonathan Schmalzbach’s “This Old Game” (page 48). In this column, Schmalzbach reviews the How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Game, which is based on the classic Christmas tale by Dr. Seuss. The heartwarming moral of the story—that Christmas is about more than gifts and shiny decorations—is well worth remembering amid the holiday stress and bustle.
Solvers looking for something new should try Rodrigo Jorquera Jorquera’s “Klick-Klock” (page 36), an original pencil-and-paper game. It can be played with a friend or solo; puzzles are included if you opt to play by yourself. We highly recommend taking some time to check it out.
As always, there is no shortage of puzzles to entertain and challenge you. For word puzzle specialists, we’ve got Will Shortz’s “Trimming the Tree” (page 29) and “Some Assembly Required” (page 54), a solver favorite from Patrick Berry. Those who enjoy visual challenges won’t want to miss Mark L. Gottlieb’s “Look Again” (page 64), where each picture tells two stories. For math and logic lovers, there’s “Gray Area Sudoku” (page 30), a tough new Sudoku variant by Argentinian puzzle creator Rodolfo Kurchan, and “Dicey Decisions” (page 49), a logical challenge by Joel Nanni.
We at GAMES WORLD OF PUZZLES wish all of our readers a safe and joyful holiday season full of puzzling fun. See you in the New Year!