San Clemente resident turns a puzzling hobby into a book series

Bob Sandelman grew up playing Scrabble, Boggle, and Perquackey and still loves the daily Jumble. He compares Wordle scores with his adult children each day and cannot resist Sudoku. He's hooked on solving puzzles for fun—and brain health.

Many research studies suggest that puzzles can slow or even prevent cognitive problems later in life. Puzzles demand focus, creativity, and logic—all good qualities to apply to any project at home or work while having fun!

"Use it or lose it applies to my brain—and my golf game," says Sandelman who plays golf three times a week at Talega.

Sandelman had a long career in advertising and market research before retiring in 2021. One of his first post-retirement projects was to update his Crossword Calendar. His original non-tech design was granted a patent in 1978 while his new version is powered by multicolor LED lights. It was soon joined by the Crossword Clock, Diamond Duo, and Roman Clock. These unique electronic timepieces (and two game apps) are available at InnOHvations.com.

In the summer of 2024, Sandelman composed a collection of word puzzles that became his first book: Fragments. Players must reveal the winning word by putting letters and letter combinations in the correct order that has only one solution.

Now Sandelman was not just hooked on solving puzzles, he became hooked on writing puzzle books! His second book, Sequence, is a collection of logic-based number puzzles that are solved by identifying number patterns.

MathMix soon followed and challenges players to rearrange numbers and operands into a mathematical formula to reach the one right answer. His fourth book, Quotables, is a little different. Players must rearrange words to uncover timeless thoughts about life, love, wisdom, and success.

Each book has more than 100 puzzles and each page has room to jot down possible answers.

"I've enjoyed the puzzles in the Mensa Bulletin for many years, so seeing some of my own puzzles in the magazine has been a big thrill," Sandelman says.

Now 80, the puzzle-meister is working on an homage to Tangle Towns, a popular newspaper head-scratcher from the 1950s. Sandelman’s Tangles will present the letters of city names in a mish-mash of typefaces and sizes along with a brief clue. The visual disparity makes rearranging the letters just a little more challenging to the brain.

"While you could cheat and unscramble the letters with online help, where's the fun or challenge in that?," Sandelman asks. "The goal is to give your brain a workout!"

All of Bob Sandelman's books are available on Amazon.