As part of our year of new and interesting brain challenges, the Missus just finished a jigsaw puzzle she picked up at the Dollar Store.

Who doesn’t love puppies?

Strange thing however, she ended up with an extra edge piece.

I looked at this and immediately knew this was a puzzler for the ages, an allegory for today’s world.

allegory: a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures and events

Ok, not an allegory – I meant a simile. Or a metaphor? Perhaps symbolism?

simile: a figure of speech that directly compares two things through the explicit use of connecting words such as like, as, etc.

metaphor: a figure of speech that identifies one thing as being the same as some unrelated other thing, thus strongly implying the similarities between the two

symbolism: use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense

Ironically, I can’t figure out which to apply.

irony: a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words

I give up – there’s just too many literary devices out there (and if you want a comprehensive list, check out literary-devices.com)

But I do know this about that puppy puzzle:

• Gwen found it quite aggravating to have that extra piece, and trying to find a home for it.
• Anyone who’s done a puzzle knows you tend to put the edge pieces together first, so an extra piece there is a hair-puller for sure (or should I say Fer Shur? It just seems more appropriate here).
• An unhappy person is out there with a puzzle missing an edge piece.

Somehow, this seems to fit the world of today – missing-or-too-many pieces, poor quality control, unnecessary frustration because people did their job(s) poorly, etc. A major lapse of quality in general. Even fun has a taint to it. Etc, etc, etc (or yada, yada, yada).

Or looked at another way, that could be the reason it’s at the Dollar Store, heavily discounted, and the puzzle has elicited just enough pleasure to accurately match its dollar value. Checks and balances exist, and so the world is a wonderful place.

Wait – maybe this in turn is some form of meta lesson, that how we perceive the world is how the world actually exists, since we rely on our senses to formulate our reality. The puzzle is good or bad, in that cup half full/half empty kinda way, and you are at the wheel, making the decision.

Nah.

Somebody screwed up, and now I’m left wondering how much fun it would be to give the puzzle to someone else to put together.

Cute puppies, though – all 501 pieces of them.