Ryan's EnigMarch 2023

"EnigMarch" is an Inktober-style event that challenges nerds to make a puzzle every day for an entire month. I took this challenge on in 2023. I ended up making a bunch of puzzles that I'm pretty proud of! Let's check them out!

My understanding of puzzles, as we're using the term, comes mostly from the MIT Mystery Hunt, where a "puzzle" is some packet of obfuscated information that you can "solve" to get an "answer," usually an English word or phrase. And very often the answers from a round of puzzles can be combined to solve a "metapuzzle."

That's the format I'm using here. There are 26 regular puzzles, four metapuzzles, and one final meta-metapuzzle. Each puzzle's page has some hints, plus a link to a solution/explanation. Each page also has an answer checker, so you can check your answer. (If you view the page source for a puzzle, you'll see the answer in the code for the answer checker, so, don't do that.)

RANT ABOUT THE BEAUTY OF PUZZLES: I've competed in several years' worth of Mystery Hunts, and I got to contribute to the team that designed the 2018 Hunt. But for many other years, the primary joy I got out of Mystery Hunt was trawling the archives and just staring at puzzles. The beauty of an unsolved puzzle is difficult to put into words. This crossword puzzle with about a hundred clues is hiding a simple sentence. This word salad is secretly very clever, and it's trying to tell you to do something. This puzzle is a bizarre, raunchy sentence, and that's it, there's nothing else to analyze, but it means something. If you don't like solving puzzles, I hope you'll still check some out, and maybe look at the solutions, and find some comfort in the knowledge that certain forms of meaninglessness can be resolved into meaning.

The title for each puzzle is the prompt that was handed down by the EnigMarch organizers on that day. Is that obvious? Anyway, here are my puzzles for EnigMarch 2023.

Round 1: "Curse"

Day 1: "Key"

This is a really simple one.

Day 2: "Nest"

A text adventure! (People seem to like this one.)

Day 3: "Wind"

A paragraph.

Day 4: "Light"

An interview with some coins.

Day 5: "Gem"

A word puzzle, with special guest Culex, Dark Knight of Vanda. (This is a good one, even if you don't know who Culex is.)

Day 6: "Mythical"

A Nikoli-style puzzle. (Sarah W. and Jess like this one!)

Day 7: "Arrow"

A tiny riddle.

Day 8 (Metapuzzle): "Curse"

This puzzle uses the answers from days 1-7 as inputs. Can you figure it out without knowing all of those answers? Probably. (Sarah W. says this is "approachable for a metapuzzle.")

Round 2: "Room"

Day 9: "Glitch"

A bunch of numbers.

Day 10: "Hazard"

A bunch of emoji. (This is a pretty easy one.)

Day 11: "Bold"

Very nerdy.

Day 12: "Tower"

A single cryptic crossword clue.

Day 13: "Match"

Another text adventure! (People seem to like this one!)

Day 14: "Second"

A word puzzle.

Day 15 (Metapuzzle): "Room"

This puzzle uses the answers from days 9-14 as inputs. If you can figure it out without knowing all those answers... you're doing pretty good! (Carl says this one was a highlight!)

Round 3: "Dice"

Day 16: "Mask"

Pretty nerdy.

Day 17: "Shell"

An epic word grid/animated GIF, with special guest Heavy Troopa.

Day 18: "Royal"

This puzzle is dumb.

Day 19: "Space"

Featuring special guest Space Ghost.

Day 20: "Fish"

Some fish. (Sarah W. likes this one.)

Day 21: "Halve"

Featuring special guests Timon and Pumbaa.

Day 22: "Vision"

Featuring special guest Samus Aran.

Day 23 (Metapuzzle): "Dice"

Featuring special guest Mallow. From Super Mario RPG.

Round 4: "Push"

Day 24: "Crypt"

A dungeon design challenge, with special guest Dampé the Gravedigger. (This one is pretty involved, but people seem to like it.)

Day 25: "Knot"

A little crossword-type thing.

Day 26: "Grow"

A little word puzzle.

Day 27: "Fire"

Featuring special guest Chester Desmond.

Day 28: "Diagonal"

A more involved word puzzle. (This one is tough! But I'm very proud of it.)

Day 29: "Quote"

Featuring special guest Quote.

Day 30 (Metapuzzle): "Push"

This puzzle uses the answers from days 24-29 as inputs. (This one might not be very good.)

META-METAPUZZLE

Day 31 (Meta-Metapuzzle): "Reverse"

This puzzle uses the answers from the four metapuzzles as inputs.