No. XXXVI
Cipher
Read your way to the gate.
A logic-maze homage to Chip's Challenge: gather every sigil to lift the ward, then reach the gate. Cross water, fire and ice, shove blocks, dodge monsters, and build your own courses in the editor.
No. LIII
Forsworn
Every night, someone lies.
The liars’ puzzle in the old style: five souls in the taproom, one line apiece. The true of tongue never lie, the forsworn never speak true, and exactly one marking of the five fits every word. Mark the tongues and pronounce. A new case at midnight.
No. LV
Tally
Six stones, one number to strike.
The counting-house daily: six numbered stones and the four operations, and any two stones become one. Strike the target exactly. The house arithmetic is honest, par is proven by the reckoner himself, and the same stones fall to everyone each night.
No. CVII
Spider Solitaire
Eight suits to spin, king down to ace.
The great two-deck patience, at last: ten columns, five deals waiting in the stock, and eight full suits to spin from king down to ace. A finished suit sweeps itself off the table; a run only travels together when it is all one suit. One suit is a gentle evening, two is the classic, four is for the patient. Unlimited undo, a nightly web the same for everyone, and the fastest clears go on the community board.
No. CIX
Tri-Peaks
Three summits. One long descent.
The beloved peaks-clearing solitaire: three summits of cards, their base row open, and a descent that runs one rank up or down with aces and kings wrapping. Baring a card’s coverers turns it; the stock lends twenty-three cards but every turn breaks your run. Fell all three peaks to clear the deal. Tonight’s deal is the same for everyone, and the fastest clears go on the community board.
No. CX
Killer Sudoku
The gilded grid, with sums in cages.
Sudoku sharpened: no digit repeats in any row, column, box, or dashed cage, and every cage prints the sum its cells must reach. Nine given digits start you off, pencil notes keep your reckonings, and wrong arithmetic is inked as you go. Every puzzle is machine-proved to a single solution before it is shown. A nightly puzzle the same for everyone, and the fastest solves go on the community board.
No. CXI
Kakuro
The crossword of sums.
The great Japanese cross-sums puzzle: white cells take the digits one through nine, every across and down run must reach the sum its clue cell prints, and no digit repeats within a run. A few starter digits are given, pencil notes keep your reckonings, and wrong arithmetic is inked as you go. Every puzzle is machine-proved to a single solution before it is shown. A nightly puzzle the same for everyone, and the fastest solves go on the community board.
No. CXIII
Gridlock
Slide the shelf. Free the gilded chest.
The classic sliding-block escape: a six-by-six shelf packed with pieces that slide only along their own lanes, and a gilded chest that must reach the notch on the right. Every shelf is dealt from a seed and proved solvable, its true minimum printed below the board; match it if you can. A nightly shelf the same for everyone, and the fastest solves go on the community board.
No. CXIV
Golf Solitaire
Seven columns. No mercy at the walls.
The quick classic of the golf family: seven open columns of five, one rank up or down to the waste, and nothing wraps; the ace knows only the two, the king only the queen, and the walls end many a fine run. Sixteen cards in the stock, every draw breaks your run, and not every course can be cleared. A nightly course the same for everyone, and the fastest clears go on the community board.