Best of the 2022 MIT Mystery Hunt
Every year, after the MIT Mystery Hunt was over, I would go through all the puzzles and pick out the ones related to mathematics. This year, I didn’t feel like doing it. Besides, I think it is more important to collect quality puzzles rather than all the puzzles by topic. So my new collection is the puzzles recommended to me, which I might like.
I start with math and logic puzzles.
- Crooked Crossings: A lovely mixture of language and logic.
- Albumistanumerophobia: You are given datasets.
- Lists of Large Integers: You are given integers that are products of two primes. Some of the integers are ridiculously large. I love the puzzle.
- The Colour Out of Space: You are given long division cryptarithms.
- Dancing Triangles: You are given Nikoli-type puzzles on triangular grids.
I continue with computer science.
- The Day You Begin: You are given an interactive input box requesting students’ names.
- Red Herring: You are given a weird image.
- Sorcery for Dummies: You are given an interactive box.
I carry on with some non-math fun.
- Oxford Children’s Dictionary: You are given incomplete dictionary definitions.
- The Times They Had: You are given colorful scored epitaphs.
- La Ronde: You are given a crossword with weird numbering. I quite enjoyed working on it.
- Love, Actually: During the hunt, this puzzle had an intermediate interaction during which an extra clue was sent separately.
I conclude with the plot device round. All the puzzles in this round are relatively easy. But our team got stuck on them until we realized that we already had the answer, which was not a single word. Here are some of the puzzles that were specifically recommended.
- Calculated Whisk: A fun word puzzle.
- A Crying Shamus: You are given crossword clues.
- First Contact Lens: You are given crossword clues and letters.
- Heavenly Bodice: A variation on Star Battle.
- THE NONSENSE SHOW: You are given poems. (This puzzle is number 4 on the Fruit Around page.)
Share:
Leave a comment