A group of men celebrated on and on in a sports bar. "Here's to 94," one of them toasted. "Hip-94-Hooray," another of them cheered. "Ninety-four, Ninety-four," "Ninety-four," they chanted in unison.

The waitress could take the mystery no longer. When one of them left for the men's room, she intercepted him and asked, "Why the big deal about 94?"

"It only took us 94 days to finish this puzzle we've been working on."

"What's so special about that?"

He replied, "Hey, the box reads 5-7 years."

Puzzles are not just for kids – though it might take us longer to figure them out. My favorite kind of postmodern novels are the ones called jigsaw novels, which are at least as old as Charles Dickens' Bleak House (1852). In a jigsaw novel, the author throws out a lot of pieces throughout the text. …