Comments on: Curiouser and curiouser

By: chris

chris — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:34:48 +0000

wow just got the 5th one, now back to 3 and4. ugh those so far are the hardest

By: Alexandre

Alexandre — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 03:29:18 +0000

Just got the fifth puzzle, by far my favorite of the bunch, took time and thought and reasoning, but every piece played a part.

By: Bob's Big Boy

Bob's Big Boy — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:31:13 +0000

I’m trying like the dickens to figure out Puzzle #4, but I have to admit I’ve lost my bearings and am completely disoriented. Just hoping I can somehow redeem myself,and figure out how to take the right angle of approach to solve the puzzle…

By: The Puzzle Team

The Puzzle Team — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:31:06 +0000

Don’t worry. It’s not a glitch; the “Correct” boxes will be taken care of when the time is right.

– The Puzzle Team

By: The Puzzle Team

The Puzzle Team — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:29:58 +0000

Don’t lose heart! There are many more puzzles to come, and each is different from the others. So you may have better luck with the next one. Remember, you don’t have to solve the puzzles in any particular order; you can always put one on pause and come back to it later.

– The Puzzle Team

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:50:09 +0000

The green “Correct” boxes and the lines between the solved squares are blocking parts of the final puzzle–will this be fixed before the end? If so, will you have to get all nine for the lines, etc. to disappear?

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:26:25 +0000

My daughter and I excitedly began this puzzle journey. She regularly devours Games Magazine and LOVES puzzles. Puzzles 3 & 4 have ended it for us. We are frustrated beyond belief and totally discouraged. A good puzzle is great. An obscure and obtuse one is awful. What began as an exciting thing to do together has ended in fiery heap.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:42:04 +0000

Just got #5… This one wasn’t too difficult but it was time consuming. Looking forward to the next one on Wednesday… these puzzles are GREAT!

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 01:20:44 +0000

I’m going to speak up in defense of Ken and the puzzle team. I got both #3 and #4 – #4 I got lucky on and stumbled onto the right path pretty early, but #3 took a lot of false starts, frustration, and eventually putting it away for 24 hours so I could take a fresh look. But both are really creative and gave a lot of satisfaction once I figured them out – #3 got an actual fist pump out of me when I got it. I’ll second Jon’s advice – it is more about rethinking your approach and trying new angles as opposed to hammering at one idea and hoping to squeeze an answer out.

Great job Ken. Looking forward to the remaining puzzles.

By: BZB

BZB — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 01:07:49 +0000

Puzzle #4 proved relatively easy for me — it was just a matter of changing perspective and trying some different things. Puzzle #3, though, has me at a wall. I’ve trying making it too hard, then making it too easy, and still can’t come up with anything to type into that little box — even with the seeming plethora of hints on the blog and comments. (Well, at least not anything that works!) I’ve sworn 100 times that I was close, but no avail. I’m driving my wife, kids and coworkers nuts!

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 00:36:59 +0000

#4 was quite easy for me, it was the second thing I tried and was solved within 10 minutes of downloading.

#3 took me forever. I finally got it by starting all over again from the beginning and looking at it in a different way – It actually is an easier solve than I tried to make it and the fact that I overlooked the correct path has me kicking myself.

Hang in there!

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:05:59 +0000

I think what folks are struggling with is understanding the style of the puzzle maker. Until you solve a few of his puzzles, you’re never quite sure you’re approaching solving them in the same way the puzzler did.

For example, our local newspaper has multiple crossword puzzles. I can almost never solve the allegedly easier one because, to me, the puzzle maker is thinking on a plane my brain just won’t go to. I have more luck on the NYT crossword most days.

I solved #3 this morning in about 10 minutes after many many hours of over-thinking it. It turned out that I had the correct approach all the time, I was just not taking one last approach and was driving myself half crazy in the process.

Folks – step away from a puzzle when it makes you crazy. There are a ‘lot’ of weeks to go for catching up.

By: diamondgirl

diamondgirl — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:55:37 +0000

Wow, #4 is tough! I have also been a Games magazine, newspaper cryptogram/crossword solver for years, but I have not “seen” a way to make #4 into anything with a solution. Having fun trying and picking the brains of my co-workers just to torment them .

By: Barb

Barb — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:09:29 +0000

Wow, how’s this for being an idiot savant (or maybe just an idiot)? I just got Puzzle #4, but I’m not sure I could say exactly how. The only thing I can say is to repeat Jon’s advice: Play with as many possible paths as you can think of.

By: Smoking Gnu

Smoking Gnu — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Just knocked down #4. As the other posters have noted, more solution paths works better than deeper solution paths. I start out working way too hard! More intuition – less pencil lead.