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Title: Tower of the Riddle Master : A Riddle Book by Rick Smith Matt Mayfield ISBN: 1-928807-06-2 Publisher: Cloud Kingdom Games Pub. Date: 10 June, 2001 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Riddles Like These are Hard to Find
Comment: "Tower of the Riddle Master" contains the kinds of riddles that make you stop and think. These are not of the "Why did the chicken cross the road?" variety, but are presented as tightly woven poems that require careful deconstruction to solve. Some are more difficult than others, but the vast majority should be accessible and fair-game to those with general knowledge of the English language and American culture. The answers to the riddles are not esoteric or particularly specialized. Consider the following riddle from the book called "Two PhDs" (p. 80) that I found both difficult and delightful:
Two PhDs were talking
Of what can never be.
If this then that, if that not this,
But this is true you see.
This riddle works on several levels. First consider that these two professors are talking. What are they talking about? They themselves have riddling language in the time-honored tradition of Doctors of Philosophy. In the context of the poem, what is it that professors may be talking about that have these two features.
1. If this then that. AND
2. If that not this.
Don't these two ideas seem mutually exclusive? Need help? The book comes with hints. The hints for this riddle are as follows:
Hint 1: How might someone casually refer to "two PhDs" (p. 98) and
Hint 2: Try and work out the logic of "this" and "that" in the last two lines. (p. 96)
Even now you may not have solved it, but ponder for a while. The answer turns out to be "paradox." In logic (see hint 2 above) a paradox is a seeming contradiction, but still a truth (If this then that, if that not this, but this is true...). An additional, but devilishly subtle clue, is the fact that the discussion is happening between two PhDs who might be casually referred to as a "pair of docs" (paradox). You see what I mean by tight?
If you had needed to look up the hints, they are referenced at the bottom of each riddle page. Also the answers are referenced there. But when you get to the answer you must do some simple decoding. This prevents anyone from quickly, or accidentally, reading the answers before you have had the fun of solving them.
There is also a section of explanations. The riddles are rewritten in this section along with explanatory text that shows how each line relates to the riddle. This is helpful, in the above example, if you did not immediately see the connection between the two PhDs and the answer.
This book has 79 riddles, each crafted carefully, but to top it all off, only 77 of them are easily found. Like the first riddle book from Cloud Kingdom Games (The Lair of the Sphinx), this book has two hidden riddles. Part of the fun is discovering the two hidden riddles and then solving them.
I found this book delightful to try to solve alone, and also to have at small gatherings, and especially on family vacations. Car trips are a breeze when the kids are trying to figure out the answers to these riddles. The riddles are short enough to hold in memory, and can be read aloud to a group who can then try to solve them. The reader can be just as much a part of the group of solvers as anyone else since the answers are far removed from the riddle. I recommended the book to a teacher friend of mine, and he puts a riddle a day on the chalkboard as a way to greet the kids, and get the mental juices flowing.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. Both this title and "Lair of the Sphinx" are excellent for those who enjoy a mental challenge.
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Title: Lair of the Sphinx by Matt Mayfield, Darryl See ISBN: 1928807003 Publisher: Cloud Kingdom Games Pub. Date: 20 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Fundrum My Conundrum: A Book of Riddles by Raymond Epstein, Benjamin Kovler, Gail Kovler, Shelly Kovler ISBN: 0970042809 Publisher: Fundrum Publishing Pub. Date: 04 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Are You Smart, or What? A Bizarre Book of Games & Fun for Everyone by Pasqual J. Battaglia, Pat Battaglia ISBN: 0970825307 Publisher: International Puzzle Features Pub. Date: 27 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: So You Think You're Smart: 150 Fun and Challenging Brain Teasers by Pat Battaglia ISBN: 0970825315 Publisher: International Puzzle Features Pub. Date: 11 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Puzzlemaster Presents : 200 Mind-Bending Challenges by WILL SHORTZ ISBN: 0812963865 Publisher: Random House Puzzles & Games Pub. Date: 27 August, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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