Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with puzzles

Music listening as puzzle solving

martinX's bellbottoms — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:15:53 -0800

Nick Hornby wrote an essay p15 where he compares listening to a new song over and over to figuring out a puzzle. Can you point me towards any other writing about this same idea? Any type of writing would be great. I'd love to read personal essays from other music fans, music reviews, neurology papers, fiction, you name it.

How do you solve this puzzle?

widdershins — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:59:44 -0800

Please help me understand how to duplicate the solution to this puzzle: What is the largest amount of postage you cannot make exactly with 7- and 11-cent stamps? (Spoiler inside, so don't look if you want to figure it out yourself - I have the solution but would like to learn how it was solved.) So apparently the solution is 59 cents. But how would you figure that out without trying every combination manually? I feel like there's something really obvious that I'm missing.

Thx!

They have hands!

Netzapper — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:43:41 -0800

Can you suggest some food-filled puzzles to give my backyard tribe of raccoons? I have a tribe of raccoons that live in the brush that surrounds my house. They eat out of my compost heap (and never touch my trashcans). And I absolutely adore them. They're our bush kitties.

Having read that they can solve puzzle locks, I filled a half-pint Bell jar with dogfood, put the lid on, and tossed it outside for them when they rolled up on evening patrol. Half an hour later, it was open and empty (and surrounded by baby raccoons).

What other puzzles can you think of that I can test them with? I'd rather not have to build stationary edifices, but I'm quite good with my hands and can build all manner of mechanism. I'd rather not give them anything that they can just tear through, 'cause that's no fun. Likewise, I'd like to avoid tiny pieces that they might ingest.

[And if you came in here to tell me not to feed the raccoons: I'll accept reasoned arguments to that effect via email, so long as you don't feed any wildlife either (including birds).]

Help me make my boyfriend's birthday awesome with fiendishly delightful present wrapping and delivery!

t0astie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:32:15 -0800

It's my boyfriend's birthday soon, and I want to make the present giving AWESOME! Have already purchased presents and booked flights to be with him. Am organising special birthday meals for him, and a couple of activities too, so most of the day is pretty much sorted. But I really really want the present giving/opening experience in particular to be super fun for him. I'm thinking along the lines of a treasure hunt with clues so he has to hunt for the presents... Or wrapping the presents in a giant box and painting it like a cake with sparklers on top! Or multiple layers of wrapping disguising the present...Or, um, something else. But I don't know what exactly. I just want to make it a completely excellent fun surprise for him. Some background

Him: mid-thirties engineer. Likes:dinosaurs, robots, sci-fi, machines, beer, puzzles, poker.

Me: mid-thirties journalist / photographer. Handy with glue, cutting, drawing, writing, pics, collage and general crafty stuff. But even simple woodwork or electronics would be beyond me.

Equipment available: minimal. Can go to the hardware store, and there's a not-very-good craft store in his town too. I don't have a sewing machine. Everything basic like glue, paint etc is easily available where he lives, but more complicated stuff not so much.

Finances: low. Am broke after present and plane-ticket buying. Could go $20-30AUD extra. Aiming for ingenuity and surprise over extravagance.

Location: Outback Australia. Really.

Timeframe: Nine days til I catch the plane and another eleven days in his town before B-Day. If it's going to be massive in size, must be constructed in 11 days. I won't be bringing a papier-mache fort or birthday banner on my discount flight, for example.

Help me hive!

He is really the best boyfriend in the world and deserves the Best Birthday in the History of the World Ever.

Sudoku masters, what are your favorite challenging sudoku books?

macguffin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:00:44 -0800

PuzzleFilter: What books would you recommend for a sudoku addict who's already worked through a "fiendish"/"super fiendish" sudoku collection and would like to try more challenging puzzles? There seem to be a zillion sudoku books that are available. Please help me narrow down the selection, based on a few other things I'm looking for... I'd like to give someone a book of sudoku puzzles, but would appreciate help from sudoku experts since I'm not a sudoku fan myself. Some quick background:

She's mentioned that she enjoys really difficult puzzles, and I know she's finished "New York Post Fiendish Su Doku" by Wayne Gould -- the puzzles in there are labeled "fiendish" or "super fiendish."
She also has "Let's Play Sudoku: Over the Edge" by Will Shortz -- the puzzles in there range from "difficult" to "beware: very challenging" and she's said they're about the same level of difficulty as the other book.
She has tried the difficult-level puzzles from free online sudoku generators and websites, but apparently they are not as hard as the books she has.

I was thinking of getting a book that includes a few puzzles in the "super fiendish"/"beware: very challenging" difficulty range and a lot of harder puzzles that she could really dig into.

Some additional criteria for an ideal book, based on what I remember about her preferences:

Doesn't have tiny print and has room inside the puzzle grid boxes for pencil marks.
Has relatively decent paper quality that can withstand pencil marks and erasures with a plastic eraser without becoming messy. e.g. the Will Shortz "Over the Edge" paperback has fairly rough paper that isn't too suitable for this sort of thing, while the "New York Post Fiendish" book has paper that's thin but has a smoother surface.
Puzzles are logical and don't require guessing.
Only contains difficult puzzles (i.e. not a mix of easy, medium, hard).
Doesn't have to be super lightweight and portable, but ideally it shouldn't be something you have to lug around (not heavy, and not too big).

I noticed the "Mensa Absolutely Nasty Sudoku" series (ranging from levels 1 through 4) by Frank Longo, and "Second-Degree Black Belt Sudoku" also by Longo. Based on the reviews I've read, it sounds like the level 3 and 4 books are maybe the toughest books out there -- would you agree? Still, I'm not sure which of the four levels would be most appropriate. It would be really helpful to know where all of these Longo books (or any other books you can recommend) fall on the general difficulty scale when compared to Gould's "super fiendish" or Shortz' "beware: very challenging" puzzles.

(The "Mensa Absolutely Nasty Sudoku" books also sound pretty nice in quality, with more puzzles than a typical paperback, plus spiral binding and slightly larger pages, albeit with two puzzles per page instead of one. However, my local bookstore didn't have the Longo books so I couldn't tell if the puzzle boxes were smaller than the Gould book.)

I'd really like to avoid giving a book that might be too easy or too hard and have it turn out to be something that she won't enjoy. Also, it would be nice to know about the really tough books for future gifts. Thanks for your help!

Space Moose/Old 7 the Baffler

UrineSoakedRube — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:23:54 -0800

Old 7 the Baffler and Space Moose: was the answer ever revealed? I was recently looking at an archive of the old Space Moose comic strip, and I saw this page. Apparently this is meant to be some sort of puzzle based on the Space Moose strips, but I find the entire thing to be completely incomprehensible.

There's always the possibility that the entire thing was a prank Adam Thrasher was playing on his readers, but if so, it's completely out of character with the rest of his oeuvre, given the general level of subtlety he displayed in his strip. But whether or not "Old 7 the Baffler" is a real puzzle, there doesn't seem to be any discussion anywhere about it.

Can anyone figure this out, or does anyone have any information about this?

Fixxed by James F. Fixx

fantasticninety — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:15:46 -0800

Can you make the equation true by moving only one match? The following is from "More Games for the Super-Intelligent" by James F. Fixx.

i i = v i

By moving one match, the answer becomes:

i = v t

The t is made by taking one of the matches on the left hand side and putting it on top of the match on the right hand side.

So, I have the question, and I have the answer, but James F. Fixx felt it was obvious without giving a written explanation.

I don't know what i=vt refers to. Could someone tell me?

Thanks so much!

Simple, fun, online two-player games?

Robot Johnny — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:15:29 -0800

Can you recommend some simple, fun, online two-player games suitable for two people chatting over a webcam? Long-distance relationship here. When apart we like to use Skype and play games together online, and I'm wondering what else is out there.

We're big fans of Scrabble and Scramble on Facebook, so suggestions of any other Facebook games that let us play together/against simultaneously (or back-and-forth like Scrabble) would be welcome. Word games and crosswords are particularly welcome.

We've also enjoyed iSketch.net. No Puzzle Pirates or MMORPGs, please.

Mildly Multiplayer Office Runaround Puzzle Game

TheSecretDecoderRing — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:48:34 -0800

I need help coming up with an idea for a short, simple, but immensely entertaining activity at work (banking office). There's about 20 people, and maybe a 15-minute time limit. Half knowledge/trivia test, and half scavenger hunt/capture-the-flag type game. Initially I'm thinking of separating into four or five teams. Maybe each team has a "base," consisting of one member's cubicle. Each team goes from one question/clue to another, so they get to run around the office (there's also a big break room right across the hall).

The questions might be multiple-choice stuff like "Who's the Secretary of the Treasury?" and "Who's on the dime?" Also observational stuff about the building that people may have never noticed, like "What color are the walls on the first floor hallway?"

The "war" aspect I'm having trouble with. It'd be cool to have each team have a "captain" and if they're somehow captured, they're eliminated. And/or each base has a flag, which the other teams try to steal and return to their base.

Another idea I had was that each correct answer corresponds to a letter, and by unscrambling them to form a certain word, it "defuses" a bomb. And/or each answer leads them to another part of the office, and if they're wrong, they realize they have to go back and guess again.

I'm looking to pare down from a collection of ideas from video games, old-fashioned outdoor games, scavenger hunts, and board games, as well as stuff like the competitions on Survivor, the Amazing Race, and the Mole.

Thanks in advance, and I'd be more than happy to provide follow-up details if necessary.

Is there a book on the history of the crossword?

Del Chimney — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:15:16 -0800

My girlfriend is mildly addicted to cryptic crosswords. She’s also mad about History. Is there a book available that combines the two? I want to buy her a book about crosswords as a Xmas present. I’ve taken a look on Amazon and there are many how-to-solve-cryptic-crossword guidebooks available, but ideally I would like to find one that deals with the history of the puzzle, its most celebrated setters, and so on. A biography of the crossword, for want of a better term.

Would anybody have any recommendations for such a book?

Need a very clever puzzle(s).

foodybat — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:06:40 -0800

Need a clever puzzle for someone recovering from heart surgery. I don't just want basic sudoku puzzle type games... I'm looking for a website or two++ that sells puzzles... something very clever & will give him something to do... as he has several weeks of recovery.

Background.... he is 45, an executive in the scrap metal industry.... So i was thinking of somekind of puzzle with a heart theme or scrap metal theme.... just an idea... Perhaps I could put a care package together with many different puzzles?

I don't know much about what he likes or dislikes, but he is rather a spiritual person... recently re-married... has 2 grown kids (1 fighting in Afghanistan, 1 in military school)... however, he is a bit of a tequila connoisseur.... (btw he can't drink now, obviously)

Solve my Sudoku

cosmonaught — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:17:17 -0800

Is this a medium difficulty Sudoku puzzle? Am I a Sudoku idiot? I've just started playing Sudoku (on my iPhone) and this puzzle comes up under medium difficulty, and apparently is going to keep coming up until I solve it. I'll get through it eventually, I'm sure, but it's requiring a lot more thought then I was expecting. Is the difficulty of this puzzle off, or have I not given Sudoku puzzles (and their solvers) enough credit?

How can I sharpen my mind?

decoherence — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:24:36 -0800

I've been feeling slow lately. How can I sharpen my mental powers? I've been feeling mentally sluggish over the past month or so. I'm having a bit more trouble locating the right words when I speak, and I'm getting tongue-tied more than usual. My general problem solving abilities also seem to have taken a hit. Nothing too serious though -- just the consequence of staying in an understimulating job a bit too long, I suspect. (I'm in my mid-20's, I'm healthy, and I'm not taking anything.)

Does anyone have any suggestions for proven ways to "sharpen up" one's intellectual faculties? Not looking for anything gimmicky or quick fix-ish. Some sort of project or daily activity I can do for the next couple weeks would be great. And please, no suggestions to change my circumstances -- I'm already doing that in the very near future. Thanks.

The ultimate self-discipline is not peaking at the answer.

Christ, what an asshole — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:11:13 -0800

I need some mind-bendingly difficult brain teasers. I used to tackle these all the time back in high school, and my passion for them was recently rejeuvenated when I picked up Professor Layton for the Nintendo DS. I've been searching online, but all I come across are sites with crappy little riddles and math problems. I need some big guns. If you have any really great ones or know of a site that catalogues a trove of them, please post them here.

4. good crossword puzzle book

horseblind — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:31:27 -0800

Looking for good crossword puzzle books. I enjoy the Boston Globe puzzles online (alas, no Sundays unless I subscribe) and usually get a kick out of the themed puzzles in the print edition of The Onion. I tend to find puzzles from both of these fun, witty, clever and pretty fast paced. FWIW, I also enjoy the NYT puzzles but they just don't have that same feel as the previous sources. Dell books and the like are usually too easy and too repetitive within a given book (they drive me crazy.) Spiral bound or a spine that allows it to lie flat is a plus. I am willing to entertain the idea of puzzle to print from the internet provided it consistently comes close to the description I gave. Also, all crosswords, no other puzzles, no filler. I have read other MeFi/Ask MeFi crosswords posts and see nothing that stands out to me.

how many words in METAMORPHOSIS

LizardOfDoom — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:35:15 -0800

How many words can be made from the letters in the word "Metamorphosis"? Is there a website where you can type in a word and find out how many words can be created from its letters? I work in a public library and want to make some puzzles, but don't trust myself to come up with every single possibility...

Thanks!

Help me puzzle-hack with Python!

cowbellemoo — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:41:53 -0800

What are some fun and simple puzzles or cryptography I can solve with Python to help me learn the basics? I'm working my way through Dive Into Python for fun and I'm itching to get some enjoyable coding done. I've found PythonChallange.com, and cryptographic tasks appeal to me, but I'd appreciate some handholding if I'm stumped.

I'm not fantastic at math, so I'd enjoy string/list-based parsing, ciphering, and sorting puzzles -- especially if there's 'starter' examples and lots of interesting input sources or messages to work with. For example, coding an Enigma machine or similar mechanical cipher would be lots of fun (as long as I can look up actual implementations to compare). Are there any puzzle-y Python tutorials? Or just cryptographic tutorials not prog. language-specific (with pseudocode)?

Simple puzzles that require time travel to solve?

TimeTravelSpeed — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 13:13:35 -0800

Can you think of time-travel puzzle rooms for my D&D mini-campaign? (2 other categories of puzzles I'd like are described inside) Let's say player A has a magical hourglass which is labeled "Past" on the bottom, and "Future" on the top. When sand falls "into the past", she goes back in time. Turned horizontal, to the present, and turned the other way, the future. I provide the amount of sand in each room, and that controls the distance and duration of her travel. (For example, "30 seconds of sand" would mean she goes back 30 seconds, and can remain in that timeline for 30 seconds before returning) Additional notes: 1) her physical location is preserved over the "time jumps", 2) when she goes back in time there will be two of her, 2.1) if she jumps back in the same physical location she was in, she'll just appear next to her clone from the past -- no overlap, and 3) the sand disappears when she exits a room.

I would like simple and interesting puzzles that require this ability. An example might be that she enters a room whose floor begins to raise slowly toward a ceiling of spikes. The solution is to go forward in time 30 seconds so that the floor has now raised over head, revealing the room underneath the raising floor with the lever that stops it. Also, don't worry too much about time paradoxes -- the players are much more interested in simplicity and coolness-factor than ones that are consistent with physical laws :P

The two other players also have special abilities. One can turn into a titan or tiny creature at will. The other can shift gravity toward any wall or ceiling. Puzzles of this type would be great too. I would be VERY grateful to anyone who can come up with a puzzle that requires ALL THREE abilities cooperatively in a clever way.

Please be as outlandish as you like. The rooms are the creation of a trickster god, so the setting allows for pretty much anything. If you have any questions, please ask. Thanks!

What sudoku game do I want for my new Nintendo DS Lite?

booksandlibretti — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:32:50 -0800

I got a Nintendo DS for Christmas! Given my logical style of solving sudoku, which of the scores of sudoku titles do I want? I solve sudoku 100% logically, so I definitely don't want a game that includes puzzles that make you guess. If the puzzles can be solved with logic alone, any difficulty level is fine for me. A variety would also be fine.

Because of the style I use to solve sudoku, in each square that winds up containing one number, I need to be able to write nine smaller numbers (or place nine dots, or whatever). For example, Brain Age did this perfectly. This is my main requirement -- it's absolutely crucial for me.

It's also important that the game have a ton of puzzles -- I solved all of Brain Age's sudoku puzzles in a week, when I borrowed my brother's DS after having my wisdom teeth removed. Obviously I won't usually play anywhere near that much (maybe one a day?), but I don't want to run out.

I'm interested in plain vanilla sudoku, and I probably won't be really enthusiastic about playing any variants that are included. Missions would be cool, though. A timer might be nice but isn't crucial -- and if there is one, pausing or saving/resuming should be simple and fast.

It would be nice if the DS were held in its usual orientation, and not like a book -- I've heard the hinge problem blamed on holding the DS book-style and flattening it out.

A DS title would be ideal, since I like the touch screen, but a GBA one would also be fine if it has the features I want. $20 or under would be awesome, but I'll go up to the standard $35 if the title has everything I'd like. As long as it's common enough I won't have trouble buying it, popularity/status/prestige/whatever is totally not a concern.

3 sequential sets of double letters?

widdershins — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:28:22 -0800

I'm interested in websites that explain/list/provide examples of word oddities... Yesterday, the final puzzle on Wheel of Fortune (yes, I know) was BOOKKEEPER. Pat made a throwaway comment that it was one of only 3 words in the English language that contain 3 sequential sets of double letters. How can I find out what the other two are?

In a similar vein, I remember hearing years ago that there are only two English words that use all the vowels in alphabetical sequence. I remember FACETIOUSLY was one but can't remember the other, though I do seem to remember that there was some controversy around the accuracy of this.

Is there a good resource online for things like these?

Game system for a Puzzle Gal?

beautifulcheese — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 12:19:36 -0800

I've been enjoying Brain Challenge on my cell phone and am thinking of purchasing a hand held system. I'm unsure whether it would be better to buy a GameBoy Advanced or a Nintendo DS. Also which is more kid friendly. I looked here http://ask.metafilter.com/26681/Should-I-buy-a-Game-Boy-Micro
but that thread is two years old and I'm hoping for more current experience. I do own a Playstation One and did somewhat enjoy Final Fantasy VII but really only dedicatedly played Crash Bandicoot. Games like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider were vaguely appealing but only for the puzzle like aspects. I'm looking to play Brain-type games with the odd adventure story. Which system is more weighted to those type games? Is there something else out on the market that would fit my needs? Bonus points for games that could be played with my 6 year old nephew who gets mad at dying in games and a 3 year old niece who insists on having her turn and is afraid of bad guys.

What games should my friends & I play instead of Warcraft?

iwhitney — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:38:03 -0800

Now that World of Warcraft has abandoned all attempts at creativity, my friends and I would like a fun, casual, multi-player game where we can hang out. Any ideas? While we're all big nerds and like Warcraft, it's become apparent that every expansion is going to follow the same formula

Add 10 levels
Add a half-dozen zones
Set up some big bad to kill
Add a ton of repetitive faction grinds

And, since it's obviously making Blizzard a ton of money, I'm not going to begrudge them. But I would like to find another game to play with my friends.

We're geographically diverse, smart, talkative 20 & 30-somethings. We play games not to be the 'best' or to while away entire days, but to have fun, unwind and socialize.

Most of them are more into the RP side of RPG. But all of us can enjoy a good game, even if we're not pretending to be a dwarf.

What games out there could work for us? I've poked at Puzzle Pirates a bit, and it seems fun, but it also seems that every player is off doing their own puzzle (maybe this isn't true, I only tried it for a few minutes).

Another option is online Scrabble, which I'd be more enthusiastic about if I weren't terrible at Scrabble. But online board games do seem like a good option.

We obviously don't mind paying for our games. But free is cool too.

The best puzzle/RPG hybrid videogames?

yellowbinder — Sun, 20 May 2007 16:42:47 -0800

Looking for more puzzle/RPG hybrids! I know the genre is only just developing, but maybe there are some titles I'm missing out on. If you're not familiar, these are casual games with RPG elements added. I loved Bookworm Adventures and Puzzle Quest, what else is out there?

Crosswords without pencils?

mzurer — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 10:34:46 -0800

Anyone have reccomendations for audio brain-teasers? I've been doing language tapes in my car, and I really like the aspect that is puzzle-ish, such as figuring out conjugations from prior examples and finding new word combinations to express a thought. But the actual language-learning is sort of exhausting and sometimes I just don't feel like doing another unit.

Are there any excellent audio puzzle podcasts or commercial audio puzzle collections people have liked? I enjoy crosswords and scrabble, but anagrams without visual stimulation are very difficult for me. I like, but don't love, the NPR puzzle shows. I've been playing bridge recently as well, and if I could find some kind of bridge instruction audiobook, I think I would really enjoy that, though I imagine without seeing a hand in front of you that might not be that feasible.

Does a truck work extra to pull a drafting car?

condour75 — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 21:11:29 -0800

Does drafting a truck theoretically lower the truck's mileage? There have been a few articles about the practice of hypermiling (most recently I saw it on MotherJones via kottke.) Hypermilers try to extend their gas mileage to extreme lengths, and one of their more dangerous practices is drafting a truck -- tailgating it to ride the vaccum the truck creates as it moves forward.

I blogged a little about this and mentioned that the drafting is technically zero-sum for the environment since the truck must use more gas to make up for towing the car. My brother disagreed, and suggested that the energy of the vacuum would otherwise be exerted on surrounding air.

Could this be one of those infuriating puzzles like the jet and the conveyor belt, or is there a simple answer?