Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

The Old Chestnuts

There are some puzzles we just don't normally touch on Wandering Puzzler, mainly because most puzzle fans have seen them before. However, like in any field of study there are things that can be learned from the classics. Join us this Christmas as we take a look a puzzles past and see what we can learn.

Thinking Further Outside The Box

Driving You Dotty
Part Two

In the last lateral thinking post we started to look at how to think outside the box and tackled a puzzle in different ways to get increasingly elegant solutions. Today we explore three more solutions that require further stretches of the imagination.

Thinking Outside The Box

Driving You Dotty
Part One

Recently I went on a departmental training and bonding trip to Northamptonshire. On the first night I performed in a scheduling based micro-musical with songs based on the works of Abba. The evening was filled with singing and dancing, getting to know our colleagues from London who we rarely get the chance to meet.

What has this got to do with lateral thinking, well think a little outside the box and I will show you.

Types of Puzzle

Puzzle Classification
Part 1

 Well back in 2012 we took a look at what defined a puzzle, we decided after some experimentation that it was all in the method. A question commands an answer from memory or from a given method. A puzzle asks you to find the method yourself.

Today we begin the epic task of sorting all of the hundreds of type of puzzles into categories.

The Christmas Investigations: The Crystal Maze Explaination

Christmas Investigations
Part Six

In the third and final of our Christmas investigations I left you pondering the problem of prisoners. In particular how to decide when it is better to release your locked in comrades in the game show The Crystal Maze.

How do you decide whether to release one of your locked-in teammates?

The Christmas Investigations - Adventure Game: Part Two

Christmas Investigations
Part Five

In our Christmas Investigation into The Adventure Game we visited Arg and tried to learn a little something about their culture, their ways of thinking and, most importantly, their currency. The task I set was a simple one:

How can you pay for your ticket home with the exact change.

The Christmas Investigations - Turnabout: Part Two

Christmas Investigations
Part Four

In the first of our Christmas Investigations we examined the strategic word game, Turnabout and tried to get to grips with its complex scoring method. We tried out The Sphere Game and The Star Game and in this post we'll aim to answer the first Christmas Investigation:

What is the maximum score on a Turnabout grid, and how can it achieved?

The Christmas Investigations - Crystal Maze

Christmas Investigations
Part Three

In the third of our Christmas Investigations we take a look at one of of the most popular game shows in the UK. Based on the French game show Fort Boyard; The Crystal Maze is a show everyone remembers fondly, the question is:

How do you decide when it is in your teams favour to buy someone out?