MISFITZ BECAUSE

What doesn't fit and why? Nationals Blackhawks Rays Astros. Not so tough. ANSWER? Blackhawks because the other teams play Major League Baseball but the Chicago Blackhawks play in the National Hockey League. OK try this one: cucumber tomato radish avocado. A little harder right? ANSWER? Radish because the others are botanical fruits (they have seeds) that we treat as culinary vegetables but a seedless radish is a root vegetable. But most of the mind-puzzlers in this fun book don't test your knowledge of special-area facts or trivia-your vertical thinking. Nope. Most of the puzzles in this book test what Edward de Bono calls lateral thinking: your ability to think creatively-to leap outside the box. Take this example: poker chess skate score. (Answer inside.) Artist Eliot Plum (a pen name for Jeffrey Hildner) created MISFITZ BECAUSE when he lived in New England where he spent as much time as possible at the ocean keeping track of the tides . . . and the three phases of twilight. Now he lives in California where he dares not fly too close to the sun.