Those who like to focus their attentions on the sometimes frustrating world of word puzzles may lament the news that a weekly puzzle contribution to The Taber Times will have reached its final issue.
Long-time word puzzle contributor Connie Grigor has decided that this month will see her last Hide and Seek, something she obviously has mixed feelings about.
“I thought I’d do it forever, but I guess I can’t. It’s a bit hard for me. It takes me longer to do it now — it’s one of those things.”
The 84-year-old Barnwell resident has always had a fascination with words and puzzles.
“Oh yes I have. I like words — I like to play with words. I always have, as long as I can remember.”
Grigor’s best estimate is that she has been preparing her weekly puzzle contribution for more than 25 years.
“I do it all by hand, first off, on loose-leaf. I figure out what I want to talk about, pick a theme, and I try to find ones that deal with that theme. Hopefully then I have just a few letters left, just to make a couple of words as a solution. I just do it on my own — I just make it up myself.”
Themes have often included holidays, people of interest, or things that are happening. Readers have expressed much interest in her puzzle contribution over the years — or sometimes they’re just stumped.
“It seems like people are trying to tell me I shouldn’t be quitting, because since last week I’ve had so many people that have called about puzzles,” said Grigor.
“I get lots of calls every week, ‘What is this word?’, or something about the puzzle, or ‘Can you do another one like that?’. I guess everyone who does things like that, has things like that happen.”
Grigor is convinced, through her own experiences, that many readers in the area are still devotees of word puzzles. She still finds preparing a puzzle by hand is the most effective method.  
“It seems like they do. But there sure are a lot of puzzles out there. I’ve had some of my kids that want me to put it into my computer, or they’ve found a program that I’ll love. But it doesn’t work out like that, because you’ll never have a solution — they might have a theme, but they don’t have a solution to carry it out with. That’s what I’ve found. I’ve had ones — but they don’t work out. They don’t have a solution, or to me, there’s too many spaces left over. I like just a few — no more than 12, at the most.”
Although she has always enjoyed word puzzles, Grigor had never prepared one herself before she began her long tenure of weekly contributions to The Taber Times.
“When I first started, I used to do short stories, in the Soap Box section, when they used to have a Soap Box. So I used to do short stories, and one day I was in there picking my stories — they used to call me in to pick stories, and I did — and one day I was just in there and I said, you know what’s wrong with your paper? You don’t have any puzzles in your paper. The paper needs some puzzles in it. So I went home, and pretty soon I got a call to come in and see them. So I went in and they asked if I could do the puzzles. I’d never done one in my life — I’d never even thought about it. But they talked me into trying, and I did. And I found I could do it.”
With her incumbency as the area’s reigning puzzle queen now coming to an end, Grigor has some regrets in knowing how much of an impact her puzzles have had.
“I’ve really enjoyed doing it, and I’ve made a lot of friends through it. People are interested in it — strangers I don’t even know, but they know me, and they’ll approach me to talk puzzles. That pleases me, of course. I really would like to keep going, but I’ve had a few health issues lately, and the doctor told me not to do anything that might put me under stress, and the puzzles always have deadlines, obviously.”
Grigor is preparing her farewell Hide and Seek contribution for the Feb. 15 edition of The Taber Times.