Category Archives: Puzzles

Riddles of the Heart!

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puzzlelove

I’ve always been a sucker for a story where puzzlers help make someone’s life better, their world a little bit more magical. I’ve had the privilege of constructing and facilitating several puzzly marriage proposals, for instance.

But there’s something even more heartwarming when it’s anonymous puzzlers helping a stranger with a puzzly dilemma. Like the time online puzzlers saved Christmas by decoding a kid’s encrypted wish list to Santa for his baffled mother.

This time around, it’s not Christmas magic, it’s a potential romance.

In a recent Reddit post, a request for help went out the puzzliest of D&D players:

I asked someone out using a riddle, and they responded with another one, but now I can’t solve it. We both dm at our local game store, and we’re running games tomorrow, I need a quick solution. I don’t need someone to give me the answer, but can someone please help walk me through how to solve this?

First off, that’s very cute.

Secondly, my dude, they responded to a riddle with your riddle. That’s a yes, my friend! Congrats.

As you might expect, his fellow riddle fans and puzzle fiends quickly explained how to find the solution, hoping that this marvelous exchange of riddles leads to more! Everyone loves a meet-cute, especially a puzzly one!

But what about you, fellow solver? Could you crack it?

I’ll give you a bit of space before I reveal how to solve it.

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Ready? Okay, let’s get to the riddle itself.

Egt y ryew nzc uslyc

This is clearly a single substitution cipher, also known as a simple substitution cipher, where each letter represented by another.

You could tackle this in a brute force way, treating it like a cryptogram. We know that “y” is going to be A or I. The most common three-letter word is “the”, which is a good place to start. At the very least, we can probably assume that “c” is the letter E, since it’s at the end of several words.

But the poem tells us how to solve it.

Start with the “letters in heaven,” your alphabet.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

We get references to a mirrored screen or a shadow’s flip, so let’s try the alphabet backwards and placed underneath.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

We’re told to count backwards with steps no more than seven.

So let’s take the first letter in our secret message, E. Counting backwards (and wrapping around the alphabet again), that brings us to X. And in the mirror of X, we have C.

Continuing, seven letters back from G is Z, and in the mirror, A. Seven letters back from T is M, and in the mirror, N.

Egt Y ryew nzc uslyc
CAN

Continue for all the letters, and you get your answer written in the stars (presumably replying to his riddle):

Can I pick the movie?

Here’s hoping we get some updates in the future (or more riddles) from this pair of dice-rolling riddle-crafting delights.

And let’s offer one more huzzah for the anonymous puzzlers who helped crack the code!

Puzzlers… is there anything they can’t do?

A Way to Make Impossible Objects… Less Impossible?

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One of the most remarkable things about humans is that we can envision impossible things. Our imagination allows us to go well beyond what is physically and scientifically achievable to ponder the furthest reaches of creativity.

And no, I’m not just talking about the mythical 15×15 crossword with only fifteen words across and no black squares. THOUGH WE CAN DREAM, CAN’T WE?

Sorry, I digress.

When I say impossible objects, I’m talking about things like the impossible trident (pictured above) or the Penrose triangle (pictured below).

These are impossible objects, things that play with our perceptions in a two-dimensional environment like a drawing, but cannot be created in a three-dimensional environment without cutting or bending them.

Or they couldn’t, until very recently.

Researchers at MIT have announced their new software program, which they call Meschers, designed to create representations of these impossible objects with greater dimension than a drawing.

It’s not quite three-dimensional, because the shapes are impossible, but these “2.5-dimensional” representations allow us to process them visually as if they were completely three-dimensional.

Usually, the optical illusion of an impossible object falls apart when viewed from a different angle.

But the Meschers program — the name combines M.C. “Escher” and “meshes” — allows scientists and mathematicians a better model they can use to perform calculations and study different variables without the limits of two-dimensional representations.

It’s hard to predict where programming like this will take us. MIT PhD student Ana Dodik says the program could eventually aid in research across fields as varied as thermodynamics, architecture, and geometry.

They also said the code for the software will be released to the public, so you’ll have the opportunity to create some impossible objects yourself soon!

But, until then, please enjoy this Meschers rendering of the impossible dog, complete with different lighting effects.

Happy visualizing, everyone!

Mo(i)re Mind-Bending Art!

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Back in January, I shared a visually baffling image I’d stumbled across: a glitch quilt. The quilt was purposely sown with opposing colors to make it look BLURRY, and it’s as clever as it is hard to look at.

I’ve always been a sucker for optical illusions, which I consider puzzles for the eye. They’re a visual treat that tricks you into seeing things that aren’t there. These inspired bits of perceptual trickery can fool you into thinking near is far, big is small, or two dimensions are really three.

And I’ve been fascinated ever since by this growing subset of glitch art where incredible precision is required to create physical art that looks fuzzy, uncertain, or even moving from the right angle.

So you can imagine my joy when I found this YouTube short:

This is the work of artist Enzo Prina, a physical media artist who specializes in Moiré art.

What is Moiré, you may ask? Well, XKCD has a fun explanation:

But please allow me to elaborate.

Moiré, which is both a mathematical and an artistic term, is the use of two or more overlapping grid patterns with regular spacing to create an interference pattern.

By overlapping these intricately formed and carefully spaced patterns at an angle to each other (and not directly lined up), you create the eye-catching patterns you see above.

Moiré patterns are all around us. If you’ve ever seen a Houndstooth jacket on an old television program, or tried to photograph a TV screen or computer screen at the wrong angle, you’ve no doubt noticed a Moiré pattern.

Here’s an example a bit too close to home: one of the images from my recap and review of Mystery Island: Winner Takes All.

While making Moiré patterns isn’t difficult, you can see that Prina’s work is far more complex than simply layering two patterns. He maps out his designs with tape, meticulously pulling layer by layer of tape strands from his work as he paints it, making the creation process as gorgeous and mind-bending as the final product.

It’s truly something to behold, both during and after.

Prina claimed on LinkedIn back in January that he’d just started making art again after a ten-year break, and clearly that break has reenergized him, as his work continues to evolve and diversify in fascinating ways.

This intersection of art and mathematics really struck a chord with me. It’s not surprisingly, really, given that I’ve had Tom Lehrer on the brain for days, and he similarly combined math and artistic whimsy to create works of art that played with perception and imagination.

What a treat.

Now everyone, go stare at something boring and rest your eyes for a while.

Happy puzzling, everyone!

Farewell, Tom Lehrer.

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The world of puzzles and games is larger than constructors and game designers. There are artists, writers, editors, wordsmiths, hosts, musicians, and influences that help shape puzzles and games in so many different ways. Their efforts enrich and popularize these beloved pastimes, contributing to the world by celebrating wordplay, creativity, and nerdy pursuits.

And sadly, the world grew a little less witty, a little less clever, and a lot less bold and outspoken about so many important topics when Tom Lehrer passed away a few days ago.

It’s hard to know where to begin.

How do you describe the cultural influence of a man whose songs still delight, inform, and push boundaries today, even though he wrote most of them over sixty years ago?

How do you describe a successful musician who walked away from public performance after three brilliant albums — thirty-seven songs, each an intricately-crafted dissection of some aspect of culture, science, or current events, often as poignant and sharp-tongued as they were hilarious — and spent the bulk of his life as a teacher and college professor instead?

How do you describe the genius of a man for whom wordplay flowed as easily as scientific lingo or political commentary, a man who could make you laugh (and think, really think) about nuclear annihilation, questionable post-war government programs, or even the Catholic Church itself?

His influence on pop culture can’t be overestimated. Across generations, his songs educated and inspired, and his legacy is bulletproof. He created songs for The Electric Company, Square One TV, and That Was The Week That Was. (Those shows were decades apart!)

He inspired performers like “Weird Al” Yankovic, and I think his fingerprints are unmistakable on other hilarious and educational projects, like the songs of Randy Rogel for Animaniacs. (Trust me, you can’t listen to “the Multiplication song” from Animaniacs and NOT think of Lehrer’s “New Math”.)

Tom retired from live performance in the late 1960s, having felt like he’d said everything he wanted to say with his music. (Plus, as he famously pointed out, “political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize.”)

But his songs wouldn’t be denied.

Dr. Demento’s radio show brought Lehrer’s work to new ears in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, and Honest2Betsy has brought him to yet another generation’s attention with her videos over the last few years.

His songs are timeless. “The Elements” alone has appeared in Better Call Saul, NCIS, Gilmore Girls, and The Big Bang Theory. (Not to mention Daniel Radcliffe’s famous rendition of the song on The Graham Norton Show, where he called Lehrer his hero. This actually led to Radcliffe starring in the film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.)

Speaking of “Weird Al,” his New York Times crossword puzzle with constructor Eric Berlin namedropped Tom as part of the grid fill in this pun-heavy collaboration:

And it is a love of wordplay that sparked this tribute today.

Lehrer’s work is absolutely riddled with clever puns, comedic craftsmanship, and playing with the listener’s expectations: all things that great crossword cluing employs.

You can’t listen to songs like “Silent E” or “Without an S” and NOT imagine clues or themes that Lehrer’s linguistic legerdemain could inspire.

Not to mention this gem:

There’s a playfulness there, paired with technique, creativity, and an absolute willingness to bend conventions to their breaking point in order to make something new. How can you not love it?

But wordplay, commentary, and scientific and mathematical literacy weren’t Lehrer’s only gifts to the world.

He claimed to have invented the jello shot while in the military (to skirt rules about alcohol consumption). He wrote the song “Don’t Major in Physics,” which would have been good advice to me in freshman year of college, had I cared to listen.

Image courtesy of warhistoryonline.

And he also made the incredible gesture in 2022 of transferring the music and lyrics for all the songs he had ever written into the public domain. He relinquished the copyright and performing/recording rights for his songs as well, making his music and lyrics free for anyone to use. Downloadable lyric and music files are available on his website.

His statement releasing all his works into the public domain concluded with this note: “This website will be shut down at some date in the not too distant future, so if you want to download anything, don’t wait too long.”

For now, at least, the website remains online.

And it seems so apropos that the man who walked away from music decades ago to share his love of mathematics, science, and teaching with others is also the man who would happily sign away the rights to his music to enrich the lives of others once again.

The humanities and the STEM fields both owe Tom Lehrer a debt that can never be repaid.

The world was blessed with his presence for 97 years, and I have no doubt that his words, his music, and the forceful spirit that infused both will be around for many many years to come.

Farewell, Tom. Thanks for warning us about Shakespeare.

Oh, and for this lovely little ditty:

Puzzles in Pop Culture: Pinky and the Brain

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As you might expect, I am always on the lookout for puzzles on television.

Sometimes, a complete solvable puzzle appears, like in the seesaw brain teaser from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Sometimes, they’re only referenced, like in a murder mystery involving a crossword editor on Bones.

Other times, a major portion of an episode revolves around them. We’ve seen this countless times from shows as diverse as The Simpsons and NCIS: New Orleans.

But I didn’t realize an entire plot for world domination once hinged on a puzzle.

Pinky and the Brain was a spinoff of a recurring series of animated shorts from the show Animaniacs, and the concept was simple.

Two mice plotted to take over the world from their lab cage, and their plans were invariably foiled by either Pinky’s idiocy or Brain’s almost magical ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The schemes ranged from time travel and mind control to hypnotic songs and (my personal favorite) a papier mache duplicate of Earth.

But on February 21st, 1998, the show aired its 53rd episode, The Family That Poits Together, Narfs Together.

The Brain’s latest plan for global domination targeted the intellectual elite by sabotaging the daily crossword in every newspaper in the world.

Here, I’ll let The Brain explain his diabolical endeavor:

This is the Sunday crossword puzzle. The most educated people all around the world spend hours each weekend deciphering its complex web of interlocking verbiage. But change just one clue, and the whole puzzle becomes impossible to solve…

I will change one clue in the crossword puzzle in every newspaper around the globe, throwing the intelligentsia into a hopeless dither. While they frantically ripple through their dictionaries and thesauri, I will step into the breach, and take over the world!

Unfortunately, he needs $25,000 to fund this operation (including the cost of bagels with cream cheese), so he plans to reunite Pinky’s family and put them on a talk show to win the prize for the world’s most perfect family.

Naturally, shenanigans ensue — and Eric Idle plays both Pinky’s mom AND dad, which is very entertaining — but the family actually wins the prize!

A trip around the world valued at $25,000.

The Brain’s dastardly plans have been scuttled once more.

But that does raise the question…

Would it have worked?

(Let’s ignore for the moment the fact that the intelligentsia for the most part aren’t currently in positions of power, especially in the United States.)

In a world before resources like Xwordinfo and online forums where solvers can share their grievances, it could have given the puzzle solvers of the world pause.

Especially on a Sunday, where you’d think at least some of them would be at home and not at their various important duties.

So there could have been a window.

But was The Brain equipped to seize that opportunity? Did he have the manpower to be in all those places? To snatch up those resources and reins of power for himself?

I don’t think so. Not on a budget of $25,000 (which again, covered the crossword modification and snacks, NOT the ensuing power grab). That’s barely gonna cover a few henchmen, even at 1998 prices.

So, sadly, I think the plan would have failed.

BUT!

He would have had the personal victory of denying that moment of solving satisfaction to puzzlers around the world.

Which is arguably even more villainous.

What do you think, fellow solver? Would it have worked? You can watch the episode for free here on Dailymotion.

And to close out today’s post, let’s enjoy an earworm together and listen to that marvelous theme song:

Happy puzzling and/or plotting world domination!

The Riddle of the Two Guards

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Hey there, fellow puzzler. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

Ah yes, the riddle of the two guards. Also known as the two doors puzzle, the two guards/two doors puzzle, and, my personal favorite, that awful crap riddle.

It’s easily the most famous example of a Knights and Knaves logic puzzle, which all work off the idea of individuals who always lie or always tell the truth, and a solver who needs to deduce how to proceed.

I think the best and most colorful presentation of the riddle was in the film Labyrinth, thanks to Jennifer Connolly and some very lovely puppetry:

I’ve always wondered about this riddle. Is there a sign posted that explains the rules? Because otherwise, you’d assume the guard who tells the truth would have to explain the rules…

Unless the one who lies tells you the rules, which are a lie, and it’s a trap and you’re totally screwed!

Geez, this is getting complicated already.

Oh good, I’m not the only one who agonizes over this sort of thing. Image courtesy of Crabgrass Comic.

Let’s assume the rules are fair. There’s a guard who always lies and a guard who always tells the truth, and you need a single question to root out which door is the safe one to enter.

The traditional answer is to ask one guard which door the OTHER guard would say leads out.

But what if one of the guards is INVISIBLE?!

If the guard you asked is the one who lies, then he will lead you astray by telling you (falsely) that the other guard—the truthful guard—will point you towards door B. This makes door A the safe bet.

If the guard you ask is the one who tells the truth, he will tell you (honestly) that the other guard—the lying guard—will point you towards door B. This makes door A the safe bet.

In both cases, the outcome is the same: walk through the opposite door.

Naturally, people have tried to find ways around this.

Some suggest that you ask the guards to walk through their respective doors and report back what they see. I don’t know that this would work, because it’s not clear if the guards would have to follow your orders. Also, we don’t know if certain doom for US would be certain doom for the guards. If they both walk out totally fine, it probably won’t work.

For another option, you can act in typical Dungeons and Dragons-fueled fashion and use what I call the direct approach:

But unfortunately, it misses the meat of the riddle. It’s not just knowing which guard lies and which guard tells the truth, it’s about knowing which door to take as well.

Of course, if you believe the folks at XKCD, there are consequences for cleverness as well:

Although it is a riddle easily given to weasel words and pedantry, it has led to some wonderful comedy.

This joke, for instance, gives us some much-needed backstory to the guards and their current circumstances:

In a similar vein, this one lets us see one guard’s life after clocking out for the day:

I also enjoy this one, which ponders what sort of person would employ a riddle like this as a security measure in the first place:

So I put it to you, fellow puzzler: how would you tackle the riddle of the two guards? Labyrinth style? Barbarian style? Or have you conjured up a different question to ask the guards?

Let us know in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you!