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01
Choose your first detour
A useful starting point is the task you feel like doing, rather than a promise about how quickly you should solve it. The age range describes the intended audience; readers will find different puzzles easy or demanding.
Four ways into the book
If you feel like…
Try
Book pages
First move
Sorting clues into a clear arrangement
Logic · 001–025
5–29
Mark what is fixed.
Working with times, quantities and relationships
Numbers · 026–050
30–54
Write the units.
Following a rule to uncover a message
Codes · 051–075
55–79
Copy the rule exactly.
Playing with letter order and word structure
Words · 076–100
80–104
List the restrictions.
Keep a pencil, scrap paper and a bookmark nearby. Use the page previews to judge the print layout before choosing the paperback. Inside, the focus is short written questions with room to think and work.
04
Try first. Reveal when ready.
The four questions below come directly from the 100-puzzle book. Each has a separate optional nudge and a closed answer reveal. Skip this section if you want to meet every puzzle fresh. Only open the solution you want to see.
Logic · actual page 11Numbers · actual page 36
Worked example · logic · Puzzle 007 · Book page 11
The gallery shelf
Five picture cards stand in a row: Lake, Bridge, Tower, Garden and Mill, one of each. Tower is in the middle. Lake is somewhere to the left of Bridge. Garden is immediately to the right of Bridge. Mill is not at either end. What is the order from left to right?
Try it first on paper. The hint and solution stay closed until you choose them.
Show one nudge for puzzle 007
Put the fixed middle card in place. Treat Bridge and Garden as a pair that must stay together.
Reveal answer and worked steps for puzzle 007 — spoiler
Book answer:Lake, Mill, Tower, Bridge, Garden.
Number five positions from left to right. Tower is fixed in position 3.
Bridge–Garden can occupy 1–2 or 4–5. Neither 2–3 nor 3–4 works because Tower already occupies 3.
The pair cannot take 1–2: Lake needs a position before Bridge. Therefore Bridge takes 4 and Garden takes 5.
Only 1 and 2 remain. Mill cannot be at an end, so Mill takes 2 and Lake takes 1. Read every clue again against the completed row.
Carry this forward: A pair can be a useful working unit. Keep “somewhere left” separate from “immediately right.”
The book’s answer and explanation appear on page 106.
Worked example · numbers · Puzzle 032 · Book page 36
The late-night arrival
A trip begins at 9:35 p.m. The first part takes 1 hour 45 minutes. Then there is a 20-minute stop, followed by another 50 minutes of travel. What time does the trip finish? Use the same time zone throughout, and say whether it is the same day or the next day.
Try it first on paper. The hint and solution stay closed until you choose them.
Show one nudge for puzzle 032
Work through the three parts in order. Write a new clock time after each part, and watch for midnight.
Reveal answer and worked steps for puzzle 032 — spoiler
Book answer:12:30 a.m. the next day.
From 9:35 p.m., add one hour to reach 10:35 p.m., then 45 minutes to reach 11:20 p.m.
Include the stop: 20 minutes takes the clock to 11:40 p.m.
Split the final 50 minutes into 20 minutes to midnight and 30 minutes after it. The date changes at midnight.
Check another way: the whole trip lasts 105 + 20 + 50 = 175 minutes, or 2 hours 55 minutes. Adding that to 9:35 p.m. gives the same arrival.
Carry this forward: Time calculations need both a clock reading and, when requested, the correct day.
The book’s answer and explanation appear on page 113.
Worked example · codes · Puzzle 057 · Book page 61
The mirror-alphabet invitation
A message uses the alphabet as a mirror: A becomes Z, B becomes Y, C becomes X, and so on. To decode, replace each letter with its mirror partner. Decode KRXMRX.
Try it first on paper. The hint and solution stay closed until you choose them.
Show one nudge for puzzle 057
Write A through Z above Z through A. Match each encoded letter to the letter directly below it.
Reveal answer and worked steps for puzzle 057 — spoiler
Book answer:PICNIC
The rule is a mirror pairing, not a one-place shift. Start with the printed letters K, R, X, M, R, X.
Read each mirror partner: K → P; R → I; X → C; M → N; R → I; X → C.
Keep the original order. The six output letters form the answer.
Check by mirroring the decoded letters again: P → K, I → R, C → X, N → M, I → R, C → X. This restores KRXMRX.
Carry this forward: Repeated input letters must receive the same output under this rule. A reverse check can catch a copying slip.
The book’s answer and explanation appear on page 119.
Worked example · words · Puzzle 082 · Book page 86
Seven letters, no repeats
Choose the only seven-letter word in this list that uses every letter at most once: CAMPING, BALLOON, LOOKOUT, COTTAGE. Count repeated letters even when they are separated.
Try it first on paper. The hint and solution stay closed until you choose them.
Show one nudge for puzzle 082
Test the letters in each word, including repeats that are not next to one another.
Reveal answer and worked steps for puzzle 082 — spoiler
Book answer:CAMPING
All four choices have seven letters, so length alone does not distinguish them.
CAMPING contains C, A, M, P, I, N and G: seven different letters.
BALLOON repeats L and O. LOOKOUT repeats O, including letters separated by K. COTTAGE repeats T.
Only one choice passes both requirements: seven letters and no repeated letter.
Carry this forward: Apply every part of a word rule. Familiarity with the word is useful, but the printed letters decide this puzzle.
The book’s answer and explanation appear on page 124.
Your puzzle desk · Three free companion sheets
Leave yourself a good next step.
Use these fields on screen or print the sheets. Nothing is submitted. Entries may disappear when you leave or reload the page; print or copy your notes to keep them. Closed example answers stay closed when printing. Open an example first if you want it on your printout.
A
Pause & return
The solver’s journal
Capture one puzzle, including unfinished work. “Paused” is a useful result: a written next step makes it easier to come back.
Completed example: puzzle 032 — contains the answer
Puzzle / page
032, The late-night arrival / 36.
What is asked?
A finishing time, and whether it is the same or next day.
Known facts / working
Start 9:35 p.m. → first part ends 11:20 p.m. → stop ends 11:40 p.m.
Next useful step
Split the final 50 minutes at midnight.
Result / check
12:30 a.m. the next day. Check: 105 + 20 + 50 = 175 minutes, or 2 hours 55 minutes.
What helped?
Writing each clock time kept the stop from disappearing.
B
Keep the discovery
Choose a hint, one step at a time
Start at the level you want. With a partner, agree on the level before they help. A nudge should unlock one move without announcing the whole answer.
Completed example · no answer revealed. Puzzle 007, “The gallery shelf.” Stuck point: I have not organised the clues. Chosen help: a question. Partner prompt: “Which card has a fixed position?” My next move: number five spaces and mark the fixed card. Stop rule: try the rest myself before asking for another hint.
C
Two readers or a small club · Ages 10–99
A friendly puzzle session
Choose a reader, a note-taker and, if useful, an answer keeper. One person can fill several roles. Swap roles between puzzles and let anyone pass or work alone.
Completed example · flexible 20-minute session. Choose puzzles 032 and 057. Spend 2 minutes reading the first question, 6 minutes exploring, 2 minutes comparing methods, 6 minutes on the second puzzle, and 4 minutes sharing a useful step. Mira reads, Lee records; swap for the code. Hints only when requested. Use a larger sheet for working and stop on time even if unfinished.
Keep the useful bit. Take the next step.
Free sample puzzles, interior previews and three companion sheets are available now. The 100-puzzle, 128-page paperback has been submitted to KDP review and cannot be ordered here until Amazon approves the listing and the live order page is verified. No preorder or payment is collected.
