It was July 2021 and, like most of us, Paul Hughes wanted something innovative to occupy his extra time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He loved whimsy and solving puzzles as a child growing up in the Montecito foothills, “where I didn’t have any cable or internet till I was 12,” he recalled. (Hughes was raised in the Mountain Drive community, and his grandfather was Elliott Macy, who built a home on East Mountain Drive in the 1940s. The home was leveled in the Tea Fire.)
To challenge himself, Hughes first solved simple puzzles on cereal boxes and starting drawing mazes, utilizing “delicate lines with lots of details.”
Today, “carving puzzles helps get my creative juices” flowing. He estimates that since summer of 2021, he’s completed between 200 and 300 pieces and has sold about 100.
He shares a website with his winemaker wife, Laura Hughes. She is Sanford Winery’s longtime associate winemaker and in 2015 launched her own label, Lou Bud Wines, where she specializes in sparkling wines, including Brut Rosé, Brut Cuvee, Blanc de Blancs and a (still) rosé of pinot noir.
Lou Bud was her childhood nickname.
For his puzzle line, Paul Hughes, 37, favors quarter-inch thick finished birch wood from Finland. “It cuts very clean, with no rough edges.”
He sprays finished puzzles with a water-resistant sealant to keep pieces safe from accidental food and drink spills — because working puzzles with friends with wine is as fun, if not more so, than completing one solo.
Hughes follows online communities that allow aficionados to exchange puzzles, and encouraged me to follow suit when I mentioned that my mother also loves tackling them.
Since his debut, Hughes also has written crosswords for the New York Times, including themed ones, which he calls “lots of fun.”
Will Shortz, 71, for three decades the crossword editor of the Times, suffered a stroke in early February. While he is making progress with recovery, a substitute editor has stepped in, according to Hughes.
He has submitted both Monday through Saturday crosswords and a Sunday “grid” to the Times, he said. “The more you submit, the more you earn,” he said with a smile.
His favorite aspect of crafting puzzles? “It’s the delighted look on their face when they figure out a small hurdle in the puzzle,” Hughes said. “It’s that ‘aha’ moment.”
In his “Heaven” and “Hell” puzzles from https://www.theartstory.org/artist/bosch-hieronymus/ visions of both, among the pieces Hughes includes are a seahorse, pelican, turtle, elephant and “giraffe-icorn” (unicorn).
He needs to be wary of copyright restrictions on artwork, and prefers those that lack trademark or copyright limitations. Hughes welcomes family photographs that he can turn into puzzles to honor a celebration — or a life well lived.
When we spoke, he was working on an epitaph puzzle for a client’s deceased relative. “Having a puzzle (photo) of a deceased family member helps the survivors with closure — especially during COVID times, when funerals were prohibited,” Hughes noted.
Smaller puzzles, such as “Heaven” and “Hell,” take him about a day and a half to design and cut, while larger ones require about four days’ time, Hughes said.
Hughes designed a custom puzzle for the March Women Winemakers & Culinarians’ Celebration held at various locations throughout the Santa Ynez Valley. The puzzle, Hughes said, included about 500 pieces and 120 “female” symbols.
The https://www.loubudwines.com/ website features both the couple’s Lou Bud wines and puzzles, and they plan to open a tasting room for the wine label in Santa Barbara’s historic El Paseo this fall.
Wines will be available for tasting and purchase, as will his puzzles, Hughes said.