In the new #TheBatmanTrailer, the Riddler leaves a card with the question “What does a liar do when he’s dead?” I could just solve it like a riddle (and did), but it’s a good opportunity to show how to solve a puzzle by brute force, so you’re sure of the answer. Here goes. (1/12)
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The characters here are in this pattern:
123425 56433
I will presume the line break is meant to be a word break, though that doesn’t presume no other word breaks exist. (2/12)
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3 is a double letter at the end of a 5-letter word. Most common letters don’t do that. It’s likely one of these: E, L, or S. It’s not crazy to imagine it as D, F, N, or T. MAFIA’S STIFF? Nah. Unless Gorilla Grodd’s in this movie, I think we can dispense with these options. (3/12)
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Putting aside RUPEE and PUREE, the only likely 5-letter strings to end in EE with no other Es are THREE, AGREE, and TO SEE. THREE would make the first word xxxRxT, but the 2nd and 5th letter can’t be E (no SECRET THREE). I don’t like LABRAT or POIROT, so it’s not THREE. (4/12)
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AGREE gets nothing too. However, TO SEE is possible. The thematic BAT SAT TO SEE (or, per Selina, CAT SAT TO SEE) might work. But this doesn’t really answer the Riddler’s question. It’s not -EE. (5/12)
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How about xxxSS? Lots more possibilities there. ABYSS, CLASS, CHESS, GLASS, PRESS, and the likable GUESS, for example. How to narrow those down? Well, again we have the two letters in the 2nd and 5th spots of the first word. (6/12)
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The only consonant I like there is N. Let’s try ?NS?N? ???SS. I love INSANE there, but INSANE EX ASS might be funny, but isn’t it. I don’t see anything with IN SONG either. UNSENT TRESS? UNSEND DRESS? Nope. It’s not an N, so it’s probably not a consonant. (7/12)
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That leaves vowels in those 2nd and 5th slots. MISFIT is nice, but TxFSS reveals a problem here. That fourth letter needs to ALSO be a vowel. Nothing seems work here: MISAIM, ROSE OF… It’s a dead end. The double 3 isn’t SS. (8/12)
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That leaves LL (wait, is this a Superman movie?). Since the letter before that has to be a vowel, now I think we’re down to three possibilities for the second line: DRILL, SxxLL, and a two-word phrase like A WILL. (9/12)
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xxLIxD DRILL is only possible as BELIED DRILL and HE LIED DRILL, both terrible. If it’s ??L??A A xxLL, all I got is SILVIA, which means nothing to me. If this is LL, it’s xxLxxS SxxLL. (10/12)
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All the SxELL options fell apart. BILE IS SWELL? Gibberish. JULIUS S(h/k/p/t/w)ILL didn’t make much sense (Julius Schwartz, maybe)? I then alit on TALIA’S SKILL as a totally plausible option. But I don’t see an apostrophe character. It’s not ’S. (11/12)
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Finally, I considered xELIES SxILL. BELIES SKILL is okay, but it seems more likely that we break it in the first line as HE LIES. And the best word to follow that is STILL. So we can conclude this is the very punny HE LIES STILL. And that’s how you solve a cryptogram! (12/12)
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Addendum: People seem to like this thread, so I'll encourage you to support some charity-based puzzles I helped make. Go to these sites:
puzzlepop.co
gridsforgood.org
lonesharkgames.com/donation (among many other puzzles of mine on this site)
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Addendum 2: I see folk saying I must be smarter than them for this. Don't think that! You're plenty smart.
Also, yesterday I broke a shower curtain rod and stood there staring at it until my wife came home to put it back together. So let's not give me any genius grants just yet.
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If you want more on how puzzles are put together, here’s the book and I wrote about that. lonesharkgames.com/puzzles/puzzle
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In case you're looking for more puzzles from a villainous sort, here's our puzzle novel, The Maze of Games, which just came back in stock today.
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If you're reading this thread in March, here's a new puzzle comic by me and my friends that you might like to support. Yes, I said "puzzle comic."
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