A Letter With No Stamp
Every envelope tells a story. Every parcel holds a promise. What is it like to be a letter? Does the messenger have empathy? (Shout out to my friend Kevin Berry, who wrote a whole novel about shooting messengers.)
Puzzles can be enriched with themes and embellishments. It works very well for television. I've been catching glimpses of games shows like Deal or No Deal, Catch 21 and America Says. The simplest concepts take on new lives with the cloak of thematic embellishment wrapped around their thin shoulders.
This issue presents a single logic puzzle, embellished almost to the point of absurdity. However, beneath the farce lies a wicked deductive challenge that only the most intrepid solver will crack.
The design was inspired by one of my most convoluted logic grid puzzles ever published. Mind-bending Variety Puzzles Volume 2 has a puzzle called Rackets and Brackets:
The puzzle required 11 clues, each packed with vital information. I spent about a month testing and tweaking. Thankfully, I'm much better at constructing these puzzles. Besides, I use a little clue-tracking app that I wrote.
Even though this puzzle doesn't use a grid, I found the clue tracker helpful. In every logic puzzle construction, the goal is to provide just enough clues to ensure that the puzzle can be solved. I always reach a point where just one more piece of information is required. I have to decide whether to add another clue or beef up an existing clue.
I emulate the style of puzzle magazines: for easy puzzles, single clues; for expert puzzles, multiple bits of information in nearly every clue.
I hope you enjoy this mind-bending logic puzzle. However, if logic makes your head hurt, skip this one and go hang out at my online puzzle portal. It has a fresh new look!
