40 Years

 

Suffice it to say, 40 years is a very long time for a puzzle to go unsolved. Two of the remaining nine unsolved puzzles are analyzed in the remainder of this book, puzzles that no one has been able to decipher for two score obits around the Sun. What specifically makes these puzzles so immensely difficult? Here’s my take:

Multi-step: These puzzles have many steps, upon layers, upon levels. They go on, and on, and on—and with the remaining nine puzzles, every step, layer, and level is needed. As for the three “solved” puzzles, the three previously described herein, some steps were, in my opinion, misinterpreted or skipped here and there, yet the casques were still found. Skipping steps with the remaining nine unsolved puzzles won’t pass muster (yes, I got it right this time). A partial solution will not suffice. 

Multi-disciplinary: The types of challenges in these puzzles are all over the place. Some require us to have an excellent vocabulary, such as needing to know that the word steps can also refer to flights of steps. Some are literary, like Walpole’s letters telling us that “his direction” meant north. Some are pattern matching, like finding the water tower in the Chicago image. Some are historical, for example needing to know when and where the USS Constitution got its nickname. Some are physical, like searching beyond Lincoln’s shoulder. Some are musical, in that we had to understand the origins and nuances of Bethoven’s Eroica Symphony and how that relates to music theory. Some are logical, such as avoiding the fence post error with the Cleveland puzzle. We must be experts in all fields at all times. Praise be to the Google search engine!

Aggregated: The more difficult challenges in these puzzles require combining the interpretations of multiple clues, seeing patterns in a large set of results, for example needing to notice that all of the clues in the Boston puzzle related to American independence. This aggregation of clues makes these puzzles exponentially more difficult. Instead of simply having to follow step-by-step instructions for a handful of clues, with these remaining nine puzzles we’re asked to correctly interpret a large set of clues and then fit them together in a nonlinear fashion, to find clues within clues within clues. This type of challenge is very unusual, particularly challenging, and the exact feature that I enjoy the most!

Unique: The common details among these puzzles—latitudes, longitudes, month, birthstones, and birth flowers—are just another deception, a simple way to give the impression of repetition when there is none. I see so many brilliant people endlessly trying to find a modus operandi for these puzzles, a way to figure them out by finding the similarities between them. But there aren’t any, none of substance anyway. Each puzzle is its own animal, its own unique set of challenges. 

Excessive: You could argue that these puzzles are too difficult, too complicated, too confusing. I disagree. I think they are exactly what they were intended to be. For example, a modern personal computer is ridiculously complicated, but no one complains that it’s too complicated. It is as complex as it needs to be. Just as some computer owners light up and display the inner workings of their computer because they appreciate this complexity and some owners do not, there are those who appreciate the complexity of these puzzles and those who do not. There are other poems and paintings by other poets and painters similar to those in Byron’s book that we the audience also struggle to understand, confusing works by master artists. Sometimes the creators explain their work and sometimes they do not. Sometimes audiences appreciate these artistic mysteries and sometimes they do not. This next puzzle is incredibly complicated, currently unsolved, and revolves around my favorite riddle in the whole world, which is also unsolved—well, till now!