Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Puzzle

Calculate Possible Combinations

rahnefan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:38:19 -0800

How many combinations are possible in this grid? I have a grid with four cells in it; two rows by two columns. Each cell has a symbol in it; either Sun, Moon, Star, or Egg. Each symbol has four potential orientations; 0°, 90°, 180°, & 270°. An example layout might be:

Sun-90° Moon-180°
Star-90° Egg-270°

How many unique layouts are possible, if each symbol must appear once and only once in each unique layout? Also, by unique, I mean do not rotate the entire grid -- for example, the below would be unique because it is not the same as the example above, even though the "markup" here has been "rotated:"
Star-90° Sun-90°
Egg-270° Moon-180°

But the example below would not be unique:
Star-180° Sun-180°
Egg-0° Moon-270°
Because it is the same as rotating the entire grid in the first example.

Puzzle Me This

aspo — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:00:27 -0800

I love logic/word puzzles. Where can I find more/better puzzles? I've getting into word puzzles like the stuff you find in Games Magazine, or those PennyPress books. Are there other good periodicals or sources of puzzles I should know about? Preferably offline puzzles, as doing puzzles on the computer just isn't the same. I used to only do crosswords or the purer logic puzzles like the ones nikoli publishes. While there's tons of Sudoku and Kakuro books out there, one big book of the same kind of puzzle gets old. (Crosswords are a different story, but there's no shortage of those.) And after picking up a few of those PennyPress/Dell collections to keep me busy on a plane, I've realized that there's a ton of crossword/acrostic/anagram type word puzzles I've never really given a fair chance.

Are there better sources of puzzles? Those PennyDellPress periodicals are ok, but not fantastic. (And what's the difference between the two magazines anyway? They are published by the same company, are they supposed to be significantly different?) Games magazine is ok, but there's really only a few good puzzles per magazine. Oh, and while I prefer variety is there a good source of American Cryptic Crosswords out there? (I say American because cryptics are already a bit too hard for me, but when all the clues rely on UK puns/references I'd have more fun just making up words that fit the spaces.)

Elusive jigsaw puzzle - Mad Magazine related?

routergirl — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:25:42 -0800

Seeking old jigsaw type puzzle from my childhood. Possibly Mad magazine related, or drawn by Al Jaffee... slim details inside. When I was a kid I had this puzzle. It was a small one, perhaps 5x7 inches or so when complete. Each piece was a strange character, and it was accompanied by a poem that gave clues as to how they all fit together. One piece was either Alfred E. Neuman's face or a face very similar to his. Other pieces included a cartoony type white dog with one arm held high, a woman in heels, a desk cluttered with several things, a seemingly drunk man with a party hat (I think he was reclining, with legs sprawled, on the floor at the bottom of the puzzle), a red telephone, and various other people/cartoon-ish animals. I lost it some years back. It's been nagging at me over the last year or so, but my google fu is failing me. I expect my search terms are too broad (mad magazine jigsaw, mad magazine puzzle). I've tried doing some searches on ebay but come up empty. We kept it in a plastic box, but I can't guarantee its the box it was sold in - it was just a non-descript little box that it happened to fit in, and we kept the poem folded inside with the pieces. The pieces were cardboard - not prime jigsaw puzzle material, but not paper, and it didn't seem thin enough to be a bonus Mad Magazine insert.

I was born in '73, but had older siblings/step-siblings and my older brother collected Mad Magazine for some years. From what I remember of the artwork (the pieces I remember, I remember vividly) it was probably put out in the mid to late 70's or early 80's.

I suspect I'm out of luck, but generally I don't give up without trying the hive mind. Also - is there a name for a jigsaw puzzle where each piece consists of a character or item, or are they all just... "Puzzles"?

Cross Thread

cmoj — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:09:52 -0800

Why do crosswords have to be symmetrical? I've been constructing crosswords and reading about constructing crosswords. There are all kinds of conventions, but some of them seem to exist solely to make construction more of a feat.

What does a symmetrically gridded puzzle give the solver?
Ditto for symmetrical theme answers?
Why does the size have to be odd (I've seen it explained that it leaves a central row and column, but so what?)?
Is it all just because the NYT has said so for a hundred years?

Puzzled IRL about online puzzles!

siclik — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:08:23 -0800

I'd like to make an embeddable flash jigsaw puzzle out of a photo. Can you point me in the right direction? I've tried using the free puzzle generator on Flash-Gear's website, and I thought it would work, but it's not as customizable as I'd like it to be (particularly, the ability to scale within the browser).

We're trying to share the news of our expectant baby with the family, and are making a puzzle page on our own website, so we're trying to get a puzzle put together today that can be embedded.

I tested the flash gear puzzle on a friend last night. They used a netbook with a small screen and half the puzzle pieces were hidden unless she scrolled down. This was ok in this case, because I was talking her through it (took about 30 minutes!), but I want to make sure that others don't have to scroll around to find pieces.

I tried downloading the SWF puzzle object from Flash Gear's website, but it's embedded in a way I'm not familiar with. An example of the embed source is:

http://two.flash-gear.com/npuz/puz.php?c=f&o=1&id=2599364&k=42505416&s=90&w=630&h=450

I'm used to a simple http://website.com/puzzle.swf

Ideally, I'd like to use this puzzle if someone can tell me how to download it in its entirety so I can use it on my own website.

Another option would be to use a more powerful puzzle generator online (a little less desirable because I've already made a video tutorial to show older relatives how to maneuver the flash gear puzzle).

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

"I got all five senses and I slept last night..."

Inspector.Gadget — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:06:35 -0800

Soundtrackfilter: Please recommend to me mostly-instrumental, sometimes dark, contemplative soundtrack albums (or even compilations or regular albums) in the vein of Michael Andrews' work for Donnie Darko or Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd's soundtrack for Mysterious Skin. As you might imagine from me citing Donnie Darko, I'm also open to soundtracks with a considerable 80s synth cheese element - even better if the songs are tweaked a bit a la M83 to not be so cheesy. Anything on the brooding <> inspired spectrum is especially welcome. As a point of reference, I very much enjoyed the recent movie Brick and would like to find soundtrack or ambient songs that capture that sort of "pieces fall into place, and it's awesome/terrible" feeling.

Thanks in advance, hivemind! My guess is that anyone with broad exposure to ambient, modern classical, guitar-based instrumental, electronic shoegaze, post-rock, etc. albums is sitting on at least a few recommendations.

Identify this 90s puzzle/action game

gentle — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 07:23:14 -0800

Identify this game. I played it in the late 90s on the PC or the Amiga. It was an isometric puzzle/action/adventure game set in the future in a tall skyscraper where all the robots (cleaning bots, security bots etc.) had suddenly gone crazy. The opening sequence showed you, the hero, entering the building (via a helicopter?). I remember the game as being quite colorful as well as graphically elegant and spare.

The game was rendered isometrically, with each floor of the building being a level. Rooms were typically offices with cubicles and computers. On each floor, you had to navigate through the various rooms and avoid or destroy the robots and (I think) reach some kind of computer. The robots typically moved in a predictable pattern, and so usually the puzzle was about avoiding/disabling them in a certain order.

As the game progressed, you traveled higher and higher in the building until you finally reached the penthouse. I seem to remember there being some guy you had to rescue there, but it could be that he was the mastermind behind the whole robot uprising.

Circular puzzled

cashman — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:03:01 -0800

Trying to find a dark circular puzzle image. I'm looking for an image of a circular puzzle I owned from the 70's/80's. It is a darkish illustration with I think a small seahorse or house, and may have had a wizard on it. I've recently looked at ebay without luck, and it is not "Undersea Enchantment".

what does this puzzle mean?

compound eye — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:07:03 -0800

i've given up,
i cannot solve this rebus puzzle on the wall of the great britain hotel in richmond, melbourne, australia can this be solved or is it just gibberish?

i also think it's funny that google maps has automatically blurred the face in the painting over the door

looking for a specific picture book

assasinatdbeauty — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 10:16:49 -0800

Trying to find a picture book, it had something to do with figuring out the clues in the book.... ....in order to find some sort of object (gold, i think) in real life....i remember amazing, trippy illustrations and something about an "enigma"...maybe? any ideas? thanks!

What do I do with square pegs and a square hole?

scrute — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:53:02 -0800

What is this game? It belonged to my dad's cousin and she would have played with it during the 1940's, I think. It has found it's way to us through a circuitous route, and the people who would have played with it, including my grandmother, great-uncle and their neice, have all passed on.

It consists of a wooden grid (with a bottom so the pieces stay in place) along with square pegs in four different colours, and a bunch of triangle pegs in the same colours (two triangles fit in one hole).

I assume it's a game and not just a toy with which to make pretty patterns - Anyone have any idea how to play?

Wooden Spatial Relations Puzzle From Alias TV Show

CMcKinnon — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:48:56 -0800

I'm looking for a wooden spatial relations puzzle that was featured in the Alias TV Show. My wife is a huge Alias fan, and as we were re-watching some episodes the other night, we saw Season 2, Episode 5 ("The Indicator"), which featured Sydney quickly solving a wooden puzzle, which we find out later was used to measure spatial relations aptitude in children, to see who would be a good spy.

I would love to get a puzzle like this for my wife, but I have been unable to locate one. You can see one at this link on YouTube (sorry for the Spanish; it was the only working video I could find online).

I've Googled for many variations of "wooden" "puzzle" "alias", etc., with no luck. Does anyone know what this is called, or better yet, where I can buy one? Thanks.

Hotel Uniform November Tango

itstheclamsname — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:55:14 -0800

I'm creating a scavenger hunt for friends and family, and the first step for participants is to figure out what they're looking for through a series of riddles, codes, and puzzles. I'm looking for fun ways to encode or otherwise obfuscate the clues. The clues (objects or signs the participants must find) are generally single words or short phrases, like "mermaid," "bird decoy," "the words 'great fun'" and "lighthouse." Each one will be the answer to a puzzle of some sort. The teams include both kids and adults, so I'm particularly interested in obfuscation techniques that are fun to figure out and don't require a lot of time or outside resources.

Some ideas I'm using are a rebus, a substitution code, and hiding the clue in a find-a-word puzzle. What other riddling means can I employ?

Hmmm....

reformedjerk — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:58:23 -0800

Can you help me solve this picture puzzle from Roland Soong's Eastsouthwestnorth website? Here's the link to the story: http://www.zonaeuropa.com/200905b.brief.htm#016"

and here's Roland's hint: "Answer: Okay, this is looks to be too hard for some people, so I'll have to offer more hints. First, divide the photo into two halves down the middle. How many people are on the left? How many people are on the right? That is the first part. By this time, you know that what you need to look for in order to find the second part of the answer. You can see it quite clearly if you take this photo and invert the colors (i.e. black into white and white into black). As I say, you have to very sharp-eyed (or paranoid) to be able to spot the message."

I've been staring at it for a few minutes and don't see anything wrong with the photo even after inverting colours.

MANF ANGWA RDASM ORT = ?

0xFCAF — Sat, 16 May 2009 00:14:55 -0800

MANF ANGWA RDASM ORT. What does it mean? Mike Doughty's guitar has letters (like the stickers you'd put on your mailbox) that spell out the above words, one per line. It's not rot13 or any other Caesar shift. Google turns up nothing. Nothing obvious looking at anagrams. Any ideas?

Longest sentence where all words are anagrams?

pmdboi — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:01:54 -0800

What is the longest valid English sentence whose words are all anagrams of each other? This puzzle occurred to me earlier today and I realize that it may not have a good solution. The longest satisfying one I can think of is "Cats cast acts."

Help me remember the name of this game?

TheTorns — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:55:54 -0800

Trying to find a certain monochromatic 3D / isometric puzzle game I saw a video of once... I have no idea where I saw the video, though perhaps it was MeFi. Spent a while searching though, and no joy.

As I remember, the part I saw the video of at least, was a white background with simple, clean black lines depicting platforms. It appeared isometric, but then one could rotate the view showing platforms that weren't visible before.

I think it was a preview or perhaps just a proof of concept video. I remember thinking 'oh, dang, that looks cool'. It's been a while... Surely it's out there by now?

Any ideas?

Texan mystery

gleuschk — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:31:09 -0800

What city in Texas could be represented by the number 93711195? Or the string GECAAAABA? My sister, who's going to school in Texas, sent me a "scavenger hunt" puzzle asking for my help. The information given was:

1. 0979839153
2. GECAAAABA
3. 123011221963
4. 3332828
5. 35.1931, -101.7492
6. 4326851112
7. 156sw197
8. 93711195
9. DPSQVT DISJTUJ
10. 76134
11. 01110111 01100001 01100011 01101111

She and her friends have worked out almost all of them. Turns out they're all cities or towns in Texas.
1. ISBN of a book set in Marathon
2. ???
3. time and date Kennedy was shot in Dallas
4. patent number for astroturf (Houston [or Leander?])
5. map coordinates in Amarillo
6. phone number in Midland
7. a law case in San Antonio
8. ???
9. some government code associated with Corpus Christi
10. zip code for Ft. Worth
11. binary for "Waco"

She's missing 2 and 8. I think 2 is probably a string of musical notes, but have no idea about 8. Help me look like the omniscient older brother?

Sudoku constructor?

team lowkey — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:48:01 -0800

Is there a program that will take an already solved sudoku and create a medium difficulty unsolved puzzle? I'm making a word sudoku. You enter nine unique letters instead of numbers, and once it is solved, there is a word spelled out on the diagonal. I've worked out the solution to the puzzle, and would now like to make a playable board. Rather than randomly delete things and test its difficulty, I was hoping there might already be a tool out there that will take a solution and make a solvable puzzle out of it.

Looking to recall a cube-based game or puzzle

DandyRandy — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:47:17 -0800

Help me remember the name of a game/puzzle from the early '70s that featured dice-sized clear acrylic cubes. As I recall, there were five or so cubes, and they each had a colored square painted on each side. The square may have been filled in or just an outline, and the colors were basic primaries like red, blue, yellow, green, etc. I don't even remember the object of the puzzle, but I remember it as beautifully-designed, even elegant. I'd love to track down whatever that game/puzzle was called.

I recall seeing it in drug stores and other such non-toy retail stores as well as in regular toy stores. Ring a bell for anyone?

How do I solve this puzzle?

Steph1en — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:09:20 -0800

How do I solve this puzzle? before I destroy something beautiful...

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

PowerCat — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 14:13:00 -0800

So I played Professor Layton and the Curious Village on DS and I think it's one of the funnest game on the system. Which other game is similar, for older system that can be emulated, or maybe even a website with a good collection of puzzles? Hook me up! I need to satisfy my puzzle solving urges. Thanks!

Puzzle people, here's a challenge - what should my dear ol' dad get for Christmas?

Lesser Shrew — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:33:06 -0800

Puzzle people, here's a challenge - what should my dear ol' dad get for Christmas? My father's hard to shop for and I've already bought everything I know he would want - or he got it for himself. He has done every Martin Gardner puzzle known to man. All the available Harper's Magazine Acrostics. He does the Atlantic puzzles online as soon they appear so he doesn't have to "read that commie rag." Does NYT puzzles in books so he doesn't have to read that "liberal propaganda." Also does puzzles online and has zillions of books of grille blanche and other word puzzles I can't keep track of. Don't ask me about the math puzzle stockpile as they are way to far over my head.

Problem is, I'm not bright. Don't do puzzles. Are these wooden boxes challenging? Do those of you smart people who enjoy Martin Gardener puzzles like them? Should I try for some Erich Fried puzzles? They look like they might be kind of simple to someone who understood the concepts...

The Panda magazine from this thread seems to be defunct.

Help. Tell me what, on the list of stuff my dad likes, that you do like, and then tell me something you think he might also like.

Help. Otherwise, the old man gets socks.

Why, yes, yes he does have The Complete Far Side and the boxed set of Calvin and Hobbes and all the Bullwinkle DVDs.

Name-That-Retro-Game: top-down, moving travellator floors, color coded keys

dcbarker — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:01:26 -0800

Name-That-Retro-Game: top-down view, moving travellator floors, possibly color coded keys. Possibly on C64, Amiga A500/600/1200 or Atari ST/E. I've been trying to remember the name of this old game for a while and it has been nagging at my very soul. I played it years ago (many many years ago). I remember it from my gaming days as a kid - the only platforms I imagine it being on are the Amiga A500/600/1200, Atari ST/E or Commodore C64.

I wish I could narrow it down further. It was definitely top-down perspective, color (not greyscale), had these moving floor strips like little travellators (I want to say they were yellow but that's just a guess). I think the goals were puzzle driven (get the red key to open the red gate that then lets you do X, Y and Z to clear this level). I've spent the entire night trawling screenshots of classic games via Google and have had no luck.

Bonus if you can link to screenshots (then I'll know for certain that's the game!).

Please, help me preserve my sanity!

Looking for a dark circular puzzle

cashman — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:57:15 -0800

Looking for image of circular puzzle of a dark ocean/sea illustration from the 80's. I'm looking for an image of a circular puzzle I owned from the 70's or 80's. It is an illustration. I've previously looked on ebay and I've also contacted springbok in case it was them. I used to do it and redo it when I was at home sick, so it is possible some of the details could be slightly off, but I love this puzzle. I really want to see the image again.

Circular puzzle
Ocean/Sea scene
Mostly black/dark
Small seahorse on it?
Tiny house/cove in the middle/bottom of the image
May have magic/fantasy theme elements

I also looked here. It is not "Undersea Enchantment". I'm almost completely certain it was indeed a circular puzzle.