The choice was mine: if I’d wanted I could have spent half a week compiling a list of the 260 objects (ten for each letter of the alphabet) shown in this puzzle. I was, however, inexplicably overcome with a sudden attack of lazy-itis. Besides, the answer sheet came with the puzzle — not bad, considering this was another of our secondhand bargains; pre-owned puzzles have an alarming tendency to lose such treasures as answer sheets, not to mention crucial pieces.
A quick glance at the solution to this latest Gale Pitt brainteaser confirmed my suspicions: let’s just say I’d have been a while (understatement of the week, that) trying to name such obscurities as the zebu, the xyster and the yarmulke.
In any case, we were too busy trying to work out what had happened to the side panels and front end of the little white van behind the red car in the centre of the picture. It is possible, I suppose, that parts of the van are hidden by what could be a suitcase on the red car’s roof rack. This case is not among the listed alphabet items, though, and is also (if indeed it is a suitcase) very close in colour to the stallholder’s table behind the van. Was this picture subjected to some injudicious airbrush treatment during the production process — or is it finally time for me to get myself down to Specsavers?