Questions tagged [story]
A puzzle that is dressed up as a story or a longer description of a situation.
1,133
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Leet of Legends
Mr. S, the history professor, offered his class a challenge. He told the class that bonus points would be given in the examination to the first student who deciphered the text. All students received ...
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A Simple Puzzle - A bus Driver [duplicate]
So imagine you are a bus driver.
You have left the depo at 9:00 AM on the dot!
You arrive at the first stop, open the doors and pick up the 3 people waiting at the stop.
At the next stop 2 Adults ...
10
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2
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Three in a lock
In the 1980s, a German spy was assigned a mission to retrieve a set of important documents kept inside a British outpost. The spy knew that the documents were locked in a safe, which the password was ...
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2
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Vulnerable Outside the System
I may be vulnerable here on the outside, back within your reach, but some of my kind run amok within their systems.
Many are protected by fiery walls.
One busies his time running cycles.
Still ...
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The Unknown Prison of Unknown Size
Inspired by The Circular Prison of Unknown Size by @MikeEarnest (Great puzzle, by the way!)
The rules are almost same, so I won't waste time by rewriting them all here. (They're still valid, though.) ...
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Edward's Maze I
Edward's "revenge" on Bob the mute house servant
Edward had enough! This was it! During the yearly sorcerer meet in a
hidden cellar in Léon, Edward discovered a red stain on his precious robe.
...
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3
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Surviving Captain Nefarious
Captain Nefarious has captured you and two of your friends, Alice and Bob. Being a villain, he has a natural desire to monologue, so he sits you down (guarded, of course by his Largely Incompetent ...
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3
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The Diaries of the Old
Some days ago, a young man came into my grandfather's antique shop and wanted to offload some of the old stuff that once belonged to his father. Among them were three really old journals. They were ...
8
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End of piracy and beginning of technology
Blackbeard is no more, and everything seemed peaceful again, but during the last engagement with Blackbeard, my military adviser got introduced to the concept of "computer", and became very interested ...
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The final showdown
I am amazed at my adviser's brilliance once again. Blackbeard's vanguard fleet was quickly sunk. And as luck would have it, the moment we finished cleaning up the mess, the scout returned with the ...
7
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Prepare for the counterattack
My adviser's brilliance crushed the Blackbeard's fleet, and we held a banquet to celebrate. The banquet was short lived however, for a arrow flew right past me and struck a pillar. Attached was a ...
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Help locate enemy fleet
Few days ago, the notorious Blackbeard sunk 3 of my ships carrying exotic goods and treasures from Asia. I was furious and I am determined to send out my fleet to bring him to justice. However, as he ...
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There's a Ghost of a Chance!
It's the eve of Halloween, and everyone is gathering for the Monster Bash at the Monster Mansion. The same haunts are hosting this year's event: Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Wolfman, Mummy, ...
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How can our secret agent produce a cryptographically secure random number?
Secret Agent Michael Scarn enters his hotel room, only to find it having been ransacked. He needs to send an encrypted message to his handler notifying them that his cover has been compromised.
In ...
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Peg the Panel to Procure the Prize
I AM AN IDIOT AND HAD THE WRONG NAME FOR THE NEMESIS
I'm a little worried now that the pattern won't get recognized because it's requires an "Aha!" leap that is only obvious to me because I designed ...
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1
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An Unfamiliar Day in the Life
Let me tell you about the day in my life that everything changed. Maybe it will sound something like your life. Maybe only bits and pieces will seem familiar.
I got up early this morning, but that ...
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Lights in the Dungeon: Hooty and the Message
This is the fifth in a series Lights in the Dungeon puzzles.
previous (4th) <--
There is a lot of flavorful fluff here but, if you want, you can probably just skip down to the map and try to ...
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2
answers
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Lights in the Dungeon: Eighteen by Eleven
This is the fourth in a series Lights in the Dungeon puzzles.
previous (3rd) <--|--> next (5th)
The five by five dungeon was only a little harder than the previous ones. You're feeling pretty ...
7
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1
answer
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Lights in the Dungeon: Five by Five
This is the third in a series Lights in the Dungeon puzzles.
previous (2nd) <-- | --> next (4th)
You are practically skipping as you leave the four by four dungeon. This has been pretty easy so ...
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1
answer
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Lights in the Dungeon: Four by Four
This is the second in a series Lights in the Dungeon puzzles.
previous (1st) <-- | --> next (3rd)
As you exit the three by three dungeon, you are greeted by a grinning Lord Hooty McOwlface. A ...
7
votes
1
answer
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Lights in the Dungeon: Three by Three
This is the first in a series Lights in the Dungeon puzzles.
It is intended to be easy to help work out unpredicted kinks for future puzzles that are built around the same story.
-> next (2nd)
You ...
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The golden chain [duplicate]
A traveling woman arrives in a new city. She enters the hotel of the main street and tells the innkeeper:
"I need to rent a room for 15 days. Unfortunately I have no money with me, however I own ...
7
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1
answer
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Miss Cathy's Patients
Miss Cathy is a psychologist. However, there's a problem. She has very bad short-term memory loss. Although she has this condition, she doesn't let it get in the way of her work. Every time a patient ...
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Similar to knight/knave puzzle: Insane asylum
Premise: These are like the knight-knave puzzles; only now we are visiting insane asylums, where there are only patients and doctors. Moreover, each of them are either insane or sane. Sane inhabitants ...
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I'm Going to the Moon!
You and your friends were having lunch during your break in school when suddenly one of your friends shouted "I'm going to the moon!". One by one, he asked your friends what they are going to bring if ...
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Perfectionist Pete's Perfect Pain: Even Tilings
Pete's room has a rectangular floor with dimensions $15 \times 20$. He wants to tile the floor of his room with black and white coloured tiles. Each tile is an unit square (ie. $1 \times 1$ square).
...
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The London safes and their mysterious combinations
Here's the first riddle I invented for Puzzling SE. Hope you'll enjoy solving it.
This story takes place during World War II. A German spy is assigned the task to sneak overnight into a military base ...
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3
answers
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Who is a real time traveller and who is lying?
A person is locked up in a mental institution because he claims that he's been having clairvoyant visions from ages long time ago. At some point, it becomes evident that he actually tells the truth ...
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A Fairytale Of The Past [closed]
Four friends were travelling together. Their names were Dim, Burk, Lait and Kron. As they walked on, they saw a magician selling a flying carpet.
"This carpet costs 100 gold coins. It will take you ...
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4
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Where Is The Poisonous Plate? [duplicate]
OOOOOOK! So. Here we go.
Scenario
Your friend (a restaurant owner) calls you one afternoon in urgency. Something terrible has happened and he needs your support at once!! You borrow $50 from the ...
6
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Down to a strange and charming story about brothers who hit the bottom, until they got up to the top
My name is Ulysses. I'm the tallest of six brothers and this is our story.
Our father, Henry, was a very huge fan of greek mythology, but he never could imagine that we, his very sons, would live an ...
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1
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They're Watching Me
When I woke up early in the morning, there were 15 of these staring at me.
I closed my eyes for a snooze, and when I opened them, there were still 15.
I arose to get dressed and when I turned back ...
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4
answers
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Rapunzel and the Prince
This is a simple mathematical puzzle, which I decided to improve a bit one year after posting. Some of the answers below consider slightly different, but equivalent setting of the problem.
Rapunzel ...
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5
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Who poisoned Hugh G. Pokitz? (a murder mystery logic puzzle)
Preface
After your last mishap with a heap full of rabbits, you got sick of being lied to. Isn't life just so much easier when you can conclusively tell if someone's been telling the truth or not? ...
4
votes
1
answer
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Headlines proclaim: "Read about this man's amazing life!"
A man wakes up and goes along to get drunk. He talks foolishly, but works hard and gets paid, but passes the money on to a dependent. Every evening he comes home. As he grows old, he is lonely and ...
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Story from Gottingen [closed]
STORY FROM GOTTINGEN
Last summer I spent my vacation in Gottingen - a beautiful city in the heart of Germany. I needed some help reading a map I got from my hotel, so approached a policeman on the ...
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The magic of the primes
A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer found themselves caught in an ancient anecdote. Lacking a chemist to brew them an anecdote antidote, they fell to arguing over which of them was to be the ...
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5
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Measure the height
You wake up with a gentle breeze on your face. Opening your eyes, you suddenly find that you are no longer at your home. You look around and find that you are on the roof of a very high building with ...
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2
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No shoot Sherlock: Test your internet and detective skills with this one!
Clues
I have hired Sherlock Holmes to find something for me. We are near my home at an outdoor event and queuing for the refreshment tent. I suspect that the object is to be found somewhere in this ...
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4
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A Tale of a Hero
Oh woe is he! How cruel is fate!
He pouts and mopes in this hour late.
The subject of some cruel god's whim;
Death the gods have in store for him.
Suddenly a beast of legend!
Our hero's ...
7
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1
answer
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A letter telling my great-great-grandfather's death-day
Yesterday, while I was tidying my attic, I found a letter dedicated to my great-great-grandfather. (Note that the letter was inside a box which my great-great-grandfather transmitted to my great-...
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1
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A love letter - or is it?
George always has had it with the girls. Those who don't find him irresistible at first sight could usually be won over by a ride in his shiny red sports car. If there has ever been a problem with ...
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Evil Kidnappers are the worst!
You wake up to the sight of a lamp hanging from a grey ceiling. You ask yourself, Where am I? The last thing you remember is falling asleep in bed last night. Sitting up, you look around. You're on ...
7
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1
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Somebody has kidnapped Jason Baker!
Jason Baker(from Sci-fi and Fantasy SE) was kidnapped, and is in a cell where he cannot discern dislocation. His kidnapper, who has a fondness for exclamation marks, left him a very long, confusing ...
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Aquaman's Revenge!
After you posted mean things online about Aquaman, he found out where you lived and kidnapped you (using his awesome aqua-powers), taking you to his super-secret aqua-lair. He has placed you in a room ...
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What is this story describing?
You sit in an open space with many others.
You tremble with fear as you hear It approach from behind.
You hear the terrible ominous sound, rhythmic and monotonous
and yet seeming to build in a ...
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5
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Chile to Singapore
Hey guys, I've been into brainteasers since I was little and recently decided to make a puzzle-related website. I figured that this will be the best place to share some of my problems and see if they ...
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My Keyboard Broke
Hey guys, I've been into brainteasers since I was little and recently decided to make a puzzle-related website. I figured that this will be the best place to share some of my problems and see if they ...
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6
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How Can I Safely Double The Length of A Ladder?
I'm posting this from the roof of a building because I can't figure out a safe way down. I've scoured the roof for anything useful, and all I found was a coping saw. I also found a 100 foot ladder, ...
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Emeralds bet - A round world
It was the 15 October 1502, just a few hours before midnight in an old tavern at the docks. Emerald raised two fingers, after repeatedly looking at his three cards, before finally answering the ...