Tags
A tag is a keyword or label that categorizes your question with other, similar questions. Using the right tags makes it easier for others to find and answer your question.
This is NOT a general tag for all puzzles that are somehow indirect. A riddle gives indirect clues about an unnamed object or concept to be identified, often in a poem format.
6006 questions
A puzzle related to mathematical facts and objects, whose solution needs mathematical arguments. General mathematics questions are off-topic but can be asked on Mathematics Stack Exchange.
4106 questions
A puzzle that requires formal logical deduction to arrive at the solution. This suggests more than merely reasoning through clues to find an answer (you might want [situation] for that).
2860 questions
A puzzle whose answer will be a word or a set of words but not a phrase or sentence.
2779 questions
A puzzle whose solution relies on external sources such as tables, dictionaries, Wikipedia, or specifics that may not be common knowledge.
2399 questions
A puzzle which incorporates a form of wordplay, such as puns, or which requires wordplay in order to find the solution.
2040 questions
Puzzles where the genre or solving strategy of the puzzle is not explicitly stated; puzzles where the puzzler must deduce what type of puzzle it is.
1972 questions
A cipher is a simple method of modifying messages to make them unreadable, but still possible to recover. Common ciphers are Caesar, Vigenere, Atbash, and several types of substitution cipher. Other c…
1675 questions
A puzzle in which you spot the pattern that links a set of given data items (like numbers, letters, music tunes). Usually, you use your insights into the pattern to find one or more new elements of th…
1668 questions
A puzzle that incorporates a visual component like pictures, diagrams, drawings, etc.
Do not use this tag for puzzles that discuss geometric objects without displaying them.
1619 questions
A puzzle solved through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable only using logic.
1195 questions
A puzzle that is dressed up as a story or a longer description of a situation.
1033 questions
A puzzle that involves numerical calculations, such as multiplication and addition. Use with the [mathematics] tag.
1028 questions
A puzzle related to shapes, geometric objects (polygons, circles, solids, etc.) of any number of dimensions, the relative position of figures, and the properties of space. Use with [mathematics]
991 questions
Puzzles such as Sudoku or Kakuro, where the final state of a pre-existing grid must be deduced logically through clues placed within and/or around the grid. Use with the [logical-deduction] tag. For p…
812 questions
A puzzle that asks for the pattern (and usually the next term) in a given number sequence. Use with [sequence]
796 questions
A puzzle designed to be solved without using calculators, online decoders, or computer programming. Using a computer to type and post the answer is allowed; the spirit of this tag is to make people so…
731 questions
A puzzle based on combinatorics, which is the study of counting discrete structures. Use with [mathematics]
727 questions
A puzzle that uses images and/or text, where solving the puzzle requires examination of the components' attributes. Typically wordplay combining the images/text will yield a word or phrase.
689 questions
A puzzle whose solution is a methodological plan of action for realizing a specific goal.
670 questions
A puzzle where you have to optimize a certain objective function (maximize profit, minimize cost). There should ideally be a provable best answer, to avoid making the puzzle into an [open-ended] game.
618 questions
A puzzle related to chess, a two-player board game with white and black pieces of varying ranks.
547 questions
A puzzle that requires finding hidden data in various media forms, such as text or images.
502 questions
For puzzles which ask the solver to determine a hidden property of certain words (or phrases), given a set of words with that property and usually also a set of words without it for comparison. Puzzle…
457 questions
A puzzle centered around geographical features, such as countries, continents, cities, mountains, rivers, and climate.
443 questions
A puzzle that heavily depends on linguistic features; for instance it may concern foreign languages, or only work in some particular language, or be built around a peculiarity of the English language.…
425 questions
A tag for puzzles dependent upon some degree of computer literacy - for instance, requiring basic familiarity with operating system usage, encryption or programming.
408 questions
A puzzle that involves cryptic clues of the type found in cryptic crosswords, but is not a cryptic crossword. DO NOT use this tag for puzzles that are stated cryptically; use [enigmatic-puzzle] instea…
406 questions
Puzzles that crucially depend on some feature of the English language or that only work in an English formulation.
400 questions
For puzzles about forming numbers using other numbers and mathematical operations. Use with [mathematics]
384 questions
A mathematical puzzle whose essential nature involves randomness. Use with [mathematics]
373 questions
Puzzles that are presented in the form of any of the various types of poetry.
345 questions
A Sudoku is a puzzle consisting of a grid to be filled with symbols, such that each constraining unit contains each symbol exactly once.
The typical example is a 9x9 square to be filled with the nu…
339 questions
A mathematical puzzle whose solution is heavily based on the arithmetic properties of the integers. Use with [mathematics]
322 questions
Cryptic crosswords are a special type of crossword puzzle where clues combine a definition with wordplay. Use [crosswords] where the clues don't obey the conventions of cryptic crosswords; [cryptic-cl…
302 questions