116
votes
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Cryptic Clue Guide
(Throughout this post, I will be using cryptic annotations in code blocks. The answer word is made up of all of the capital letters; the punctuation, lowercase ...
- 143k
63
votes
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55
votes
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Is this chromatic puzzle always solvable?
Yes, it's possible.
Start with the various 2x2 squares.
Ignoring symmetries of rotation and color swapping, there are 1 combination of 1 color, 3 combinations of 2 colors, and 2 combinations of 3 ...
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49
votes
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How to make someone open an origami?
Why not open with a short riddle to start with—perhaps a couplet? For example, on the ears, you could write in suitably mysterious type:
Here you are at number one
To start, undo what has been ...
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40
votes
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Guide to Codes and Ciphers
This guide aims to explain various ciphers, help you understand how they work, and how to decode them with or without a key.
This answer is currently being split into multiple posts to improve ...
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36
votes
How to make someone open an origami?
You could have a small part of the QR code visible on the folded origami. Just small enough that it's not immediately obvious what it is at first.
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35
votes
Creating a Kakuro puzzle with a unique solution
Kakuro is a type of puzzle that is better created using a bottom-up process, in which you specify one or two sums at a time and explore the logical implications of those moves.
Take a look at this ...
- 4,599
35
votes
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Why does generating a Sudoku work in lines, but not in a random pattern?
You will be forced to backtrack more quickly if you proceed line-by-line, because the sudoku constraints are enforced line by line (and column by column and in each sub-square). If you fill in cells ...
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34
votes
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Riddles/puzzles having answer hidden in the question?
I'll confess that I've always had a fondness for the Jester's riddle from Zork Zero:
"I once heard of a bookkeeper who, while working on the accounts of the Frobozz Magic Balloon Company, noted ...
- 5,651
32
votes
What are some examples of "cheat-proof" trivia questions?
Here are some things you could try:
Rebus
A rebus is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words and/or phrases. You can draw the pictures on ...
- 130k
29
votes
Help me to find a small but hard and clever maze
Here's a maze of mine.
Start at the top left square. End at the bottom right.
RULES: You must stay on a color for exactly THREE squares. You may not do a U-turn (return to the square you just came ...
- 11.9k
29
votes
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Submitting a puzzle to the NYT
It doesn't seem like this is the proper forum for this sort of question. On the other hand I do have some experience with trying to get things published so I will try to answer the question.
Get ...
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24
votes
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What are the tricks used in making a 'Rebus' puzzle?
I, myself have read about/solved a few rebus puzzles myself recently; And from whatever I have read about them and learnt about them after solving, I can give the following tips:-
POSITION WITHIN A ...
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24
votes
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Is there a puzzle that is only solvable by assuming there is a unique solution?
At least not if the solution space is a countable infinite set, or smaller.
In that case, we can compute the finite time person 2) will need to find the solution found by person 1) by enumeration, ...
23
votes
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Ideas on puzzles for a scientific event
I have no experience making escape rooms, so I can't help too much with the logistics or know if these ideas are practical.
Here are some puzzle ideas:
Use the science of color perception to hide a ...
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23
votes
How does one go about creating a new grid-deduction puzzle?
When constructing a puzzle like this, the important thing to remember is that you should solve the puzzle as you construct it. The general process of construction goes like this:
Place clues to make ...
- 143k
22
votes
Riddles whose answer is "the moon"
Always old, sometimes new.
Never sad, sometimes blue.
Never empty, sometimes full.
Never pushes, always pulls.
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22
votes
Is this a good question for an IQ test?
I don't think this is a good question for an IQ test. The problem is that there are some strategies to solve this kind of meta-question and who know one of these strategies can answer in seconds. Also,...
- 5,052
21
votes
What are some examples of "cheat-proof" trivia questions?
My friends and I did quizzes for about four months, and these are my favourite rounds we did that fit your criteria:
Bad film reviews
There are aggregated lists of film reviews that are baffling and ...
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21
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How to confirm the reader has the right answer without showing the answer?
If all of the answers are one word or one short phrase, then the following might be an option.
Sort all of the answers to all of the riddles in alphabetical order in the answer section in the back of ...
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20
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Riddles whose answer is "the moon"
These are possibly too easy(?), but you probably don't want it to be too hard if a single person is supposed to get it fairly quickly...
When new, he can't be seen at all
But he grows with each ...
- 36.9k
18
votes
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Exponential time in a Blue Eyes variant
This might not qualify as a blue-eyes puzzle because it does not use common knowledge, but it involves chains of deductions based on nothing happening for a particular amount of time:
$n$ villagers ...
- 33.4k
18
votes
Is this a good question for an IQ test?
Bad question.
I would imagine a person who is familiar with the idea of paradoxes and self-referentiality would immediately go "aha, I get what this is" and answer D. Another person may have ...
- 289
17
votes
Riddles/puzzles having answer hidden in the question?
This is more a puzzle than a riddle, but here's one:
There is a common 10 letter English word that can be written with just the top row on a typewriter. What is it?
Answer:
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17
votes
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How can I avoid the "Riddle-maker's Dilemma?"
I looked up the 10 highest-voted puzzles here that are tagged [riddle]. Warning: slight spoilers for those puzzles lie below.
A short, brutal riddle has a one-of-a-kind trick. It also makes use of ...
- 115k
17
votes
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Is this a good question for an IQ test?
I disagree with most of the other answers - I think it is a better question than most actual IQ test questions.
The point is that if you haven't seen something like this before, then whether you're ...
- 2,337
16
votes
Accepted
Creating a Sudoku where all clue numbers are orthogonally connected to the edges of the puzzle
Not necessarily a definitive answer (in fact there's almost certainly a better way) and certainly ignores your final question ("is there a formula for making them?"), but I've made a few rule-...
- 36.9k
15
votes
Riddles/puzzles having answer hidden in the question?
There are two examples in Games Magazine's The Book of Sense and Nonsense (at least I think that's where I saw them, I don't have a copy with me to double check).
What unusual word of seven letters ...
- 13.9k
15
votes
The origin of the blue eyes puzzle
For the muddy children variant of this problem, there are several
earlier sources.
For instance, A.A. Bennett (Problem No. 3734, American Mathematical
Monthly 42, 1935, page 256) formulated the ...
- 45k
15
votes
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Wordplay tricks for "Schrödinger" cryptic clues
It takes a lot of fiddling to get Schrödinger clues to work. A lot of the strategies for making them are similar to those you might use for making &lits, or getting good surfaces -- but here, you ...
- 143k
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