'My daughter needed help with a spot-the-difference. I couldn't solve it'

“This is driving me up the wall!" 

A mother has been left scratching her head over an unexpectedly tricky children’s menu challenge.

Her seven-year-old daughter had been struggling to complete a spot-the-difference puzzle on the back of the menu.

After finding four differences, the youngster turned to her mum for help—only for her to realise it wasn’t as straightforward as she first thought.

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"The waitress couldn't help"

She shared images of the puzzle on her business’ TikTok account, thethreadpoetsociety, along with a caption that captured her frustration perfectly.

“This is driving me up the wall!” she wrote.

At one point, they even asked the staff for help.

“Even the waitress couldn’t help!” she said.

They managed to find four differences—but the elusive fifth one remained a mystery.

Before we reveal the answers, take a look at the puzzle yourself:

Can you spot all five of the differences in this kids menu puzzle? Image: TikTok/ thethreadspoetsociety

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"I spent time out of my life"

Together, the mother and daughter spotted:

• The walking stick
• Glasses
• Tongue colour
• The boot laces

But where was the fifth?

TikTok users flooded the comments, eager to solve the mystery.

“I don’t know if I’m tripping, but I IMMEDIATELY noticed the one eyebrow is different,” one person suggested.

“It's the cane lengths. I just spent time out of my life to lay the two on top of each other, and the only extra difference is the cane length,” another proclaimed.

Then, one commenter dropped a theory that can only be described as diabolically genius:

“Maybe there’s only four, and it’s meant to keep kids quiet as they search for the fifth.”

Turns out—they might have been onto something.

"A typo"

Two restaurant employees came to the rescue.

“I was told there are only four differences. Not sure why it says five. Either a typo or to get media attention and promotion like this,” one employee revealed.

Another backed it up: “I work at a Zizzi. It doesn’t exist. We’ve never been able to find it.”

So, was it an innocent printing mistake or a sneaky ploy to keep kids entertained for as long as possible?

Either way, maybe we all need a copy of this puzzle next time we want some peace and quiet. 

Originally published as 'My daughter needed help with a spot-the-difference. I couldn't solve it'