The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs

A place for discussion about variety puzzles such as acrostics, marching bands, rows and gardens, and diagramless.
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Andrew Bradburn
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The Puzzler by A.J. Jacobs

#1

Post by Andrew Bradburn »

A. J. Jacobs has written a book entitled The Puzzler, and created (with the help of several others), a month-long puzzle hunt with a cash prize for the first person/team to solve the meta at the end. Each weekday for 22 days, a new puzzle is released. Here is a link to the page about the book, where you can find a link to the hunt:

https://thepuzzlerbook.com/

You will need to solve a small puzzle to get the code to open the puzzle page. As of today, May 10, the hunt is a little more than a week old, but you can start now and solve the puzzles that were released last week. Like the NYT, the puzzles from earlier in the week are easier, and later in the week they get harder.

Good luck!
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edestlin
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#2

Post by edestlin »

I've been engrossed in this all week. It's very enjoyable and a nice change of pace from my everyday puzzles. I'm nearly caught up but man, some of them are challenging!
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spotter
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#3

Post by spotter »

Was just shown this today. Time to catch up!
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spotter
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#4

Post by spotter »

Has anyone solved Digital Gaming? I can't get an answer out of the final step.
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woozy
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#5

Post by woozy »

Geez, Is *everyone* going to act as though figuring out the pass phrase is a foregone conclusion?

No, I haven't solved digital gaming (or Hwpdzm) because I haven't gotten into the dang front door!
Latest meta: Surround Sound

"No, this is Thompson with a P, __ __ psychology"
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benchen71
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#6

Post by benchen71 »

woozy wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 7:20 pm Geez, Is *everyone* going to act as though figuring out the pass phrase is a foregone conclusion?

No, I haven't solved digital gaming (or Hwpdzm) because I haven't gotten into the dang front door!
I think we have to assume that this thread is an appropriate place to post questions / comments about the puzzles (but without spoilers!) If you want a nudge to get in the front door, you can PM me. (I needed a nudge, too!)
Check out "The MOAT Mini Pack of Marching Bands" here. US$5 gets you 7 Marching Bands which, hard enough on their own, now contain metas too. And once again there's a mega-meta! :D
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woozy
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#7

Post by woozy »

Hmmm.... is there a way to save your work. I had placed the the jigsaw pieces in "Missing Pieces" but hadn't solved a problem. I come back to it and have resolve it all over again.... which is hard... (and this time I'm not getting it, maybe I never got it the first time). Same thing with the 18 rebuses in Complimentary colors.

Speaking of complimentary colors, anyone made progress with that. What happens if you just can't figure out one rebus. Are you stuck forever?
Latest meta: Surround Sound

"No, this is Thompson with a P, __ __ psychology"
Andrew Bradburn
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Location: Los Angeles

#8

Post by Andrew Bradburn »

For the jigsaw puzzle, I took a pic of my screen with my cellphone to save data. For Complimentary Colors, I was stuck for a LONG time, and I managed to get one rebus when I later discovered by chance another meaning for the "+" sign. I managed to solve the puzzle finally without having solved four of the rebuses (rebi?). Let me know if you would like a nudge.
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