# Mathematics is Material

The instructions for this puzzle...darn it, I wrote them down around here somewhere. Well, you're smart so I'm sure you'll figure it out!

CSV:

O,H,T,N,E,Z,R,I,G,M,R,V,P,O,U,E,N,L,I,O,I,E,D,F,I,E,S
N,Y,F,P,O,P,O,U,N,D,S,E,N,H,E,R,O,I,C,U,N,I,L,A,J,D,T
I,Z,A,R,U,S,W,N,B,N,H,A,C,D,W,P,A,D,E,S,R,D,C,Y,O,M,N
M,T,O,I,T,E,S,T,G,R,I,G,R,A,T,D,A,E,R,B,L,E,S,I,D,R,F
O,F,F,E,R,P,C,I,R,F,N,E,I,N,S,A,D,Q,U,S,G,K,I,D,O,I,B
I,G,R,E,L,E,S,L,R,E,E,M,T,I,O,W,R,A,U,N,K,N,T,H,Y,E,U
A,G,D,E,A,A,K,N,E,I,T,R,U,S,B,Y,O,S,I,O,I,X,R,H,I,N,S
E,X,A,C,T,L,Y,E,L,A,E,F,A,N,R,R,W,R,N,O,S,H,R,U,G,D,N
B,T,A,I,A,C,I,A,T,E,N,U,L,I,A,E,R,S,A,P,D,H,O,R,E,I,C
N,I,P,E,V,P,L,D,S,T,H,E,I,N,S,T,R,U,W,B,O,U,A,N,E,E,H
U,S,U,R,F,U,P,O,I,C,T,I,O,N,S,F,O,R,G,U,O,F,R,I,A,L,N
D,S,A,I,G,T,E,L,S,T,H,I,S,P,U,Z,Z,L,T,E,I,H,F,O,A,S,E
T,T,H,R,E,E,F,A,E,E,A,R,E,W,R,I,T,T,R,K,E,T,I,M,S,S,P
L,E,L,E,S,A,N,T,H,E,N,O,N,A,P,A,R,C,I,T,E,N,D,T,I,E,R
B,R,S,H,E,R,O,I,N,H,M,E,N,T,U,N,D,E,P,P,H,E,W,I,T,S,I
R,E,W,O,L,F,C,H,A,R,M,R,S,I,E,R,P,I,Q,U,E,I,Y,H,U,P,E
O,R,U,S,S,E,E,L,D,N,S,K,I,S,T,A,T,T,C,O,L,I,N,Y,O,G,A
T,D,A,T,M,R,U,I,U,E,R,Y,C,A,R,P,E,T,N,L,W,F,R,K,N,E,D
R,P,T,E,P,R,T,A,N,T,U,R,M,L,I,V,C,N,U,A,T,B,D,F,A,A,L
T,O,L,K,R,O,O,M,Y,C,O,R,K,R,O,I,E,S,O,F,N,E,O,P,L,R,I
S,O,E,D,H,T,W,O,L,K,H,T,L,R,B,Y,E,N,L,A,X,R,M,R,T,A,E
H,Q,I,L,L,B,I,M,E,O,O,M,E,A,W,N,N,A,E,R,L,O,R,D,R,R,T
T,M,D,F,I,N,R,I,S,I,N,G,D,I,N,I,G,E,R,C,A,T,H,E,U,O,T
U,O,F,C,E,L,J,S,E,N,R,N,L,S,L,A,E,F,B,E,R,E,F,T,U,A,W
D,O,D,M,R,E,O,T,E,S,I,P,E,S,N,M,A,A,Y,W,M,E,A,R,T,H,E
P,N,E,R,N,R,N,E,I,N,C,O,S,T,S,L,W,D,E,A,L,F,L,A,I,L,S
P,R,S,A,C,D,A,R,L,W,N,E,S,E,T,M,E,F,E,D,O,S,P,E,B,R,H


Solver Notes: Definition of a word in this puzzle:

1. appears in /usr/share/dict/words:https://gist.github.com/WChargin/8927565
2. appears contiguously in the grid in a single direction
3. does not appear within another legitimate word
• There's no minimum letter count restriction for what counts as a 'word'? – Deusovi Jun 29 at 19:54
• That remains to be seen :-) – Jeremy Dover Jun 29 at 19:58
• @deu rule 3 rules out many. – msh210 Jun 29 at 20:25
• the first word I saw was "Carpet"... hmm – matt Jun 29 at 21:08
• @matt: I would say that technically the first word you saw is "Car", but that would violate the definition of word in this puzzle. – Jeremy Dover Jun 29 at 21:17

First:

The middle 9x9 region of the grid spells out a message. "THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS PUZZLE ARE WRITTEN UNDER SIERPINSKI'S TATTERY CARPET".

Sierpinski's carpet is a mathematical fractal. We can apply three iterations of Sierpinski's carpet to the puzzle...

and this gives two new messages! One is in the deleted 3×3 blocks, and the other is in the deleted single cells.
ITERATE SIERPINSKI DELETION THREE TIMES AND THERE WILL BE A WORD FIND IN THE CELLS LEFT
YOU SHOULD FIND SIXTEEN WORDS FOUR LETTERS LONG OR MORE FORMING A CONNECT WALL.

Deleting all the letters in the instructions gives a word search with 16 words hidden in it:

The words are: APPLE, BREAD, BROAD, CLEAN, CROSS, EARTH, FLAT, FLOWER, HIGH, HOLE, INCH, MAIN, RING, ROWS, TAPE, TRIP.

Now we have to solve the Connect Wall. On the show, the categories can be anything, but it seems here the categories are all words that come before or after the sets.

BREAD, FLOWER, ROWS, HOLE can all come after CORN.
EARTH, RING, INCH, TAPE can all come before WORM. APPLE, CROSS, HIGH, TRIP all make a phrase with ROAD.
BROAD, CLEAN, FLAT, MAIN all make a phrase with SHEET.

Additionally, all four of these connecting words have a connection in themselves: they make a phrase with SILK, which fits the "carpet" theme.

(Thanks to El-Guest and hexomino for helping me fill in some of the final bits.)

• Awesome. You got almost all of it. You should be confident of the stuff you're confident in, and not as confident in the stuff you're not as confident in...though the latter is not far off. I can say your current groupings are not correct. – Jeremy Dover Jun 29 at 21:25
• @JeremyDover Hm, all the groupings are wrong? Interesting. – Deusovi Jun 29 at 21:26