October 4, 2012
The moment of clarity
Some commenters have asked how others are doing on the puzzles that have been revealed so far. I don’t want to get too specific about the scorecard, but here’s a high-level overview (which is an appopriate overview, given the format of Puzzle #4, coming tomorrow!).
Hundreds and hundreds of players have found the magazine password and also solved the second, Web-based puzzle. Puzzle #3, however, is proving a little more, er, challenging. Thirty times harder than Puzzle #2, in fact, at the moment! (But I expect that to change, since people have had two more days to think about Puzzle #2 than they’ve had for Puzzle #3.)
Many people seem worried about the consequences of making multiple guesses. Let me give you some advice along those lines that, I think, will also help you think about Puzzle #3.
Because the first of the ten Web puzzles was a riddle, I think some solvers may have gotten the idea that the other answers are “best-guess” , intuitive answers as well, which may require multiple guesses. This is not the case. Every puzzle except for the riddle has been designed to give you its precise answer, letter for letter.
In other words, I have some good news and some bad news for you. If you think you “might have a guess” about one of the forthcoming answers…you don’t. If you had seen the answer, you’d know.
When you see it, you’ll know.
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Are you saying that one or more people have actually SOLVED Puzzle #3? I have spent two days in an infinite number of “reasonable” rabbit holes, with no specific and correct result yet. Each time, I thought I had it.
By comparison, puzzles #1 and #2 seemed much more specific as to what they “wanted.” The language of #3′s decoded clues seems vague and general by comparison.
I am beyond confused. I have no idea where to even start with this. All my rabbit trails end quickly. Does the marking at the top corner of the page have any significance?
If letter for letter is supposed to be a hint, I don’t know what it’s supposed to convey.
I am having Nic Cage in Wicker Man-level freak out sessions over this.
HOW’D IT GET BURNED??
I’m glad I’m not the only one who scrolled through the Smithsonian’s plethora of lunchboxes and thermoses.
WHOOOOO!! I just got it!! YAY!
Thanks, Ken!
I finally got the correct answer to puzzle 3. I thought that Ken’s hint was helpful, and I’m kicking myself that I wasted so much time going down wrong paths.
@Matthew and lunchboxes
YES!
A little bit of levity is always appropriate in these types of situations. The answer is in the puzzle.
Are these comments “screened” for possible hints or clues? Obviously it would not be advantageous for contestants to help others, but they may inadvertently do so.
We do indeed screen all the comments prior to their going live. So, if you’d like your comments to appear, please do not include details of the puzzles that could serve as clues for others, because we won’t be able to publish them.
– The Puzzle Team
Well, I’m *still* kicking myself, but only because I still haven’t solved the puzzle and all I can say is, “What the CSBB Ken!.”
If we submit a wrong answer, then submit the right answer how will we know since the rules state we are only allowed one email?
Answers to the nine puzzles in the grid are inserted in the window on each icon in the grid. The icon will alert you to whether your answer is right or wrong.
Only after all the puzzles are solved is it required that an email be sent with all the answers.
– The Puzzle Team
Come on, no more hints from people other than Ken please. I solved Puzzle 3 without any help (even from Ken), and think others should have to too. Frankly, I’m a little suprised that people would want to “ease the suffering of others” – it is a contest after all. Furthermore, I hope Ken doesn’t give any more hints in the future unless absolutely necessary. I think the puzzles should be difficult enough that some people just won’t solve them.
Your guidance has apparently solved the problem for some who may have wrongly regarded puzzle #3 text as a riddle.
However, others of us have taken the (decoded)text literally, and that is causing the many rabbit holes for us. I was ready to change my thinking and regard it as riddled with hidden clues or tricks, since trying to simply follow the instructions was leading nowhere.
Can you help us too?
I think the puzzles have been difficult enough that some people won’t solve them. You’ll note Ken said there were “hundreds and hundreds” of people who got through the first two puzzles, not thousands upon thousands. It is a contest – a fun one, and tantalizing hints help keep it fun, in my opinion.
I’m enjoying the puzzle contest, but hating puzzle #3. I hope I’ll get it soon…
I will say that Ken’s and others’ comments to his post have provided useful direction (eg, “letter for letter”) on Puzzle #3, but I don’t think they’ve been spoilers or unfair by any means. It still took a huge chunk out of my day to figure the thing out.
Just got #3 after a many hour marathon! Certainly didn’t need to take that long! My efforts were a testament to the school of not working too long on any one direction before trying others. Call me Rob
I give up. If the answer is right in front of me, I seem to be looking another direction. I haven’t felt this stupid since 5th grade. Good luck to the rest of you….
Don’t lose heart! There are more puzzles to come, and each is different. Remember, the puzzles don’t have to be solved in order. You can always pause on one, work on another, and come back to it later.
– The Puzzle Team
Okay, I’m impressed. Finally noodled through #3. I guess this is a puzzle after all.
are the answers to the puzzles case sensitive?
Answers are not case sensitive.
– The Puzzle Team
I DID IT!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!
I started off feeling like a frustrated and confused Nic Cage in Wicker Man, but now I am finally starting to feel like super-sleuth Nic Cage in National Treasure!
Since this post in Ken’s blog I’ve been walking around muttering “it’s not a riddle, it’s a puzzle” all the time. And finally…YES! My daughter was on the right track days ago without us even knowing it.
Ha. Had basically given up, and just decided to do something — anything — to basically kill time, while trying to come up with another solution. And whaddya know? There it was. Amusingly, I had actually tried to cold-guess some variation of that answer several times.
Success at last!!! Boy, did I over think puzzle 3!