Tag Archives: Puzzle to solve

Dangerous and disturbing this puzzle is.

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I couldn’t resist, it’s the only line in all six Star Wars movies that uses the word “puzzle,” and it’s a Yoda quote to boot!

Greetings, my fellow puzzlers! It’s Star Wars Day, and we here at PuzzleNation simply had to join in the festivities, so we’ve got two Star Wars themed puzzles for your enjoyment!

The first is a standard cryptogram of one of the series’ most famous quotations. This should be an easy one for crypto-fans and Star Wars devotees alike!

UOKOXJH LOKCSZ, POJXW JUC PCB WOXEOT IP VJFGOX ZK FGO MHCKO QJXW. KCQ GO SOUW PCB FC GOHD GZI ZK GZW WFXBUUHO JUJZKWF FGO OIDZXO. Z XOUXOF FGJF Z JI BKJSHO FC MCKEOP IP VJFGOX’W XORBOWF FC PCB ZK DOXWCK, SBF IP WGZD GJW VJHHOK BKTOX JFFJML, JKT Z’I JVXJZT IP IZWWZCK FC SXZKU PCB FC JHTOXJJK GJW VJZHOT. Z GJEO DHJMOT ZKVCXIJFZCK EZFJH FC FGO WBXEZEJH CV FGO XOSOHHZCK ZKFC FGO IOICXP WPWFOIW CV FGZW X2 BKZF. IP VJFGOX QZHH LKCQ GCQ FC XOFXZOEO ZF. PCB IBWF WOO FGZW TXCZT WJVOHP TOHZEOXOT FC GZI CK JHTOXJJK. FGZW ZW CBX ICWF TOWDOXJFO GCBX. GOHD IO, CSZ-QJK LOKCSZ. PCB’XO IP CKHP GCDO.

And the second is a Word Seek featuring characters from all six films (plus Ahsoka from the Clone Wars TV show). The entries in all caps are hidden within the grid, and once you’ve found them all, you’ll reveal a concealed message spelled out by the remaining letters!

AAYLA Secura
Admiral ACKBAR
AHSOKA Tano
ANAKIN
BAIL ORGANA
BEN KENOBI
Aunt BERU
BIGGS
BOBA FETT
BREN Derlin
CHEWBACCA
DARTH Vader
DENGAR
Jan DODONNA
Count DOOKU
EMPEROR
GREEDO
General GRIEVOUS
HAN SOLO
JABBA the Hutt
JANGO Fett
KIT FISTO
LANDO
LEIA
LUKE
LUMINARA Unduli
Darth MAUL
MAX REBO
MON MOTHMA
MOTTI
NEEDA
OBI-WAN
Uncle OWEN
OZZEL
PADME
PALPATINE
PIETT
QUI-GON
RANCOR
RIEEKAN
SHAAK TI
SIDIOUS
SKYWALKER
TARKIN
VEERS
WEDGE Antilles
WICKET
Mace WINDU
YODA

Good luck, and May the Fourth Be With You, puzzle Jedi!

Love and Other Puzzles

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You read stories about puzzle-centric cleverness all the time, whether it’s a real-life treasure hunt or saving Christmas through cryptography. But tales of puzzleriffic romance? Those are far more rare.

So when I was reminded of a particular bit of romantic wordplay fun, I couldn’t wait to share it with my fellow puzzlefiends.

C and G are one of those brilliantly matched couples that makes you smile just thinking of them. Marvelously compatible interests and senses of humor and general weirdness that makes relationships worthwhile.

G had several gifts picked out for C, but he wanted to surprise her with a little something extra, a bit of diabolical sweetness only a true puzzle devotee would love.

So, before C received each small token of affection, she was given a cryptic crossword (also known as a British-style crossword) clue to solve. Cryptic crossword clues involve both cunning wordplay and a definition. The number after the clue provides the number of letters in the answer word.

Here are the clues G created. Hopefully you can figure out the answers just as C did!

Really glitchy web address loaded between Tuesday and first of year (5)

Found, amidst mishap, pyramid’s content (5)

Begin tortured existence (5)

Thine enemy, in the end, belonging to us both (5)

Plus, there’s an added bonus: the four five-letter answers, when placed in order, form a phrase.

As it turns out, not only is romance NOT dead, but it’s far more clever than you may have expected.

 

 

 

[Many thanks to C and G for allowing me to share this lovely story with my fellow puzzlers.]

I’m gonna need a stepladder.

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Plenty of places claim they offer large crosswords for the truly devoted solver, but nobody holds a candle to the Ukraine, whose citizens crafted this 100-foot-tall monument to puzzling.

Located in the city of Lviv (Lvov, to Russian speakers), the puzzle is an art installation perfectly designed to keep visitors thoroughly challenged. The clues are scattered on landmarks throughout the city, further encouraging both tourism and brain-boosting.

The puzzle appears incomplete during the day, but at night, special lighting reveals the answers in fluorescent paint.

I can only hope this will inspire other communities to raise the stakes even higher. Crop crosswords that can only be solved with Google Maps! Landscaping sudoku hedges complete with topiary set numbers! Cowboy-style word searches where you actually lasso words on cattle!

Okay, maybe not that last one. But hey! At least I’m trying! The artists of Lviv have set the bar — not to mention the grid — pretty darn high.

Why do so many puzzles involve crossing rivers?

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Seriously, there’s the one with the cabbage, goat and wolf (and variations thereof), there’s the Bridges of Konigsberg, and this one. When it comes to weirdly common puzzle scenarios, it’s right up there with drawing paired socks at random and turning two triangles into four. Puzzlers might have too much free time on their hands. *laughs*

ANYWAY. I digress.

A buddy of mine sent me a brain teaser the other day, and it seemed like the perfect challenge for my fellow puzzle fans. Although it tends a bit more toward the mathematical-word-problem side than a straight brain teaser, I think it will get your deductive juices flowing!

Bridge and Torch

Four people come to a narrow bridge at night. Among them, they have one torch, which has to be carried in order for anyone to cross.

Only two people can cross the bridge at a time. Person A can cross the bridge in 1 minute, B in 2 minutes, C in 5 minutes, and D in 8 minutes. When two people cross the bridge together, they go at the slower person’s pace.

How can they all cross the bridge in 15 minutes or less?

(Oh, before I go… a quick bit of internet sleuthing reveals that this puzzle originated in Garth Sundem’s Brain Candy: Science, Paradoxes, Puzzles, Logic, and Illogic to Nourish Your Neurons. Credit where credit is due, always. Enjoy!)

Answers? Why, you shouldn’t have!

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Apologies for the delay in posting the answers to the Word Mastery for the Holidays post, my fellow puzzle fiends! The holiday season, so ridiculously hectic.

In any case, here are the answers! How did you do?

1.) Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

2.) Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

3.) Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

4.) Nocturnal timespan of unbroken quietness.

Silent Night

5.) Embellish the interior passageways.

Deck the Halls

6.) An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestial sphere.

Joy to the World

7.) Twelve o’clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

8.) The Christmas preceding all others.

The First Noel

9.) Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

10.) In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children’s slumber furnishings.

Away in a Manger

11.) Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.

Jingle Bells

12.) The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of far eastern heads of state.

We Three Kings (of Orient Are)

13.) Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature’s dormancy.

Winter Wonderland

14.) In awe of the nocturnal timespan characterized by religiosity.

Oh Holy Night

15.) Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as an hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

16.) Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift-giver.

Here Comes Santa Claus

17.) Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of frozen minute crystals.

Frosty the Snowman

18.) Tranquility upon the terrestial sphere.

Peace on Earth

19.) Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

20.) Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders.

Little Drummer Boy

21.) Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Word Mastery for the Holidays

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This has been floating around the Internet for years — I can remember my English teacher challenging us with it in my sophomore year of high school, back in the Mesozoic Era — but I can’t think of a more delightfully seasonal puzzle for the blog’s loyal solvers and verbivores.

See if you can figure out these reworded holiday song titles! Enjoy!

1.) Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

2.) Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

3.) Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.

4.) Nocturnal timespan of unbroken quietness.

5.) Embellish the interior passageways.

6.) An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestial sphere.

7.) Twelve o’clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

8.) The Christmas preceding all others.

9.) Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

10.) In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children’s slumber furnishings.

11.) Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.

12.) The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of far eastern heads of state.

13.) Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature’s dormancy.

14.) In awe of the nocturnal timespan characterized by religiosity.

15.) Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as an hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

16.) Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift-giver.

17.) Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of frozen minute crystals.

18.) Tranquility upon the terrestial sphere.

19.) Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

20.) Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders.

21.) Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.