Puzzle out
先ほどのエントリーと同じ記事から英語表現を拾います。英検準１級くらいの表現ですので、確認程度になるでしょう。
Schumpeter: We want to be your friend | The Economist
But spare a thought for the poor admen. Their industry is going through a particularly difficult time. Not only are they confronting a proliferation of new “channels” through which to pump their messages; they are also having to puzzle out how to craft them in an age of mass scepticism. Consumers are bombarded with brands wherever they look—the average Westerner sees a logo (sometimes the same one repeatedly) perhaps 3,000 times each day—and thus are becoming jaded. They are also increasingly familiar with the tricks of the marketing trade and determined to cut through the clutter to get a bargain. Scepticism and sophistication are especially pronounced among those born since the early 1980s. A study by the Boston Consulting Group found that 46% of American “millennials” use their smartphones to check prices and online comments when they visit a shop.
赤字のPhrasal Verb (PV)、puzzle outについて扱います。研究社の『新英和大辞典』ですと「〈解決策などを〉[頭等をしぼって]考え出す、判じる(solve)」とあります。さらにここで面白いのは、前の表現have toが現在進行形で書かれているところです。つまり、この文脈ですと「広告を作り出す人が、どうやってこの疑い深くなった世代に対して理解させるように広告を作るのか、今この瞬間にも頭を絞っている」という意味合いでなるでしょう。
青い文字のpronounceの使い方も確認になると思うので、チェックしてみて下さい。(Yusuke)
