People 'Going Crazy' Trying To Solve Bizarre Fifth Grade Crossword Puzzle

A crossword designed for fifth graders has left the internet very confused.

For many, crosswords represent an opportunity to engage our mental faculties in a fun way that puts our memory and vocabulary to the test.

But the mind game can play a more important role than that. In 2019, a study published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry identified a link between doing word puzzles like crosswords and better brain function in later life.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 17,000 healthy people aged 50 and over. As part of the study, participants were asked how frequently they played word puzzles like crosswords.

Using online cognitive test systems to assess core aspects of brain function, researchers found the more regularly participants engaged with word puzzles, the better they performed on tasks assessing attention, reasoning and memory.

But while crosswords may benefit us in later life, the good news is it's never too early to play word puzzles of this kind. There are crosswords for all ages groups and ability levels.

However, as English teacher Christian Saunders found out, some can be trickier than others. Saunders teaches English as a foreign language to kids over in Spain. This particular crossword came from a textbook he was using and was one he initially shared in one of his private student groups.

However, he soon decided to post an image of it to Reddit under the handle u/CanguroEnglish after he was left "stumped" as to what the answer to one particular line of the crossword could be.

Up until that point, everything had seemed straightforward enough. The crossword was made up of four six-letter words. The first three—sailor, saddle and eleven—had been worked out using a picture-based clue.

But the fourth word had people confused. Based on the other answers, the final six-letter word began with 'r' and ended in 'n'. What made it especially strange, however, was the accompanying clue which appeared to depict a man in a suit, holding a book, raising a cane above his head.

"At first I thought it was simply a mistake: it's not uncommon for a textbook to miss things during proofreading," Saunders told Newsweek. "But there was something immediately intriguing about the missing word and its associated image: Why were there stars? Why was he trying to hit them? Why was he dressed like that?"

The puzzle sent his students into meltdown. "Immediately after sharing, my group was filled with people guessing, Googling, and generally going crazy trying to figure out the answer," he said.

Eager to find the answer, Saunders turned to Reddit. The resulting post earned over 33,000 upvotes but, at first, seemed to spread more confusion.

Saunders said soon people began doubting the other answers on the grid, asking: "Was the other word sailor or seaman? Was the number eleven or eighty?"

For a long time it felt like the answer would never come with one Reddit user reflecting on the fact: "A 5th grader is supposed to know this yet an entire Reddit comment section full of adults can't figure it out."

The answer did eventually emerge, but people were still confused.

According to one user the solution was "rattan," which was a "type of cane or stick used to punish school children." The answer was confirmed by another user who wrote "It is 100% this. The dashed line indicates it specifically means that item," adding: "what year is this workbook from, 1975?" A third user chimed in: "Hey, I'm from 1975 and this looks more like 1935."

Commenting on the solution, Saunders said: "I don't know the full context of the crossword from the workbook, but I'm afraid that it's probably another example of foreign learners of English wasting their time learning useless or obsolete vocabulary."

He puts the Reddit post's popularity down to the fact there is an "expectation that something so simple, that is designed for children, should be, well, simple."

"It touches on many current themes about what kids are learning and why," he added. "It makes people wonder about the quality of teaching their own children might be receiving."