Spoons by Sam

I play Clues by Sam nearly every single day. I wrote about it before, but solving a little crime puzzle adds a micro-thrill to my day. A little blast of logic, misdirection, and wordplay. It’s a frequent topic of conversation in the ShopTalkShow Discord where people share their solves like Wordle scores. L'anarchiste (1982) by Félix Vallotton. Public Domain. It might have been Josh who first pointed it out, but as a group we’ve realized that Clues by Sam is an uncanny proxy for measuring your emotional well-being that day. If you’re a regular puzzler, I think it’s safe to say you should be able to solve a non-weekend edition of Clues by Sam without any mistakes (green days). But there are off-days (yellow days) where I make obvious errors tracking the four or five clues you need to solve the puzzle. And there are worse days (orange days) where even with hints, I have no idea what I’m doing and begin to doubt my understanding of English. Borrowing the metaphor of Spoon Theory from the…