The Master Theorem Stirs.

August 23, 2016 6:14 PM

After a near 5 year hiatus the diverse and devious puzzles of M have returned. As of yet, we don't know how frequently we'll be given our next challenge from the shadowy M. Previously puzzles were posted weekly, while further puzzles lurked within the seals. All the puzzles, prior to the interregnum are still up and waiting for you to have a crack at them.
posted by Cold Lurkey (11 comments total)

I quite enjoyed these puzzles before they went away. But I'm stumped by the current one.
posted by Death and Gravity at 6:38 PM on August 23, 2016

Wow! Blast from the past. I even remembered my password. I remember some wickedly difficult puzzles. Particularly the one with words from a library facade? Currently 1214th place. I guess I have some puzzles to solve.
posted by Roger Dodger at 6:56 PM on August 23, 2016

These are word puzzles and there are little notes or highlights hidden in the pictures that tell you which letter of the answer is required. Then I presume you assemble the letters to make a word. I have the letters, and I can make a few anagrams from them, but I don't know where to go next.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:59 PM on August 23, 2016

Oh, I got it. Spoiler: you type your answer in the box where it says "enter the puzzle's solution". Nasty!
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:04 PM on August 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yay! How could I have forgotten the existence of something I once loved so much.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:38 PM on August 23, 2016

Huh. I don't recognize this site at all. I was reading it earlier on my phone and didn't quite get it. I guess I'll dig through it a bit.
posted by lkc at 11:46 PM on August 23, 2016

I'm so happy M is coming back! I remember waking up early to try and be the first to sole a Theorem, those were really fun and tricky to solve.
posted by briac at 12:13 AM on August 24, 2016

blah, I can't get the right anagram for the answer, and the mailing list won't take my email address!
posted by divabat at 1:28 AM on August 24, 2016

hint for this week problem: [rot13]gur nafjre pbafvfgf bs gjb jbeqf[/rot13]
posted by briac at 1:42 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

(Since two people have mentioned it: I don't think any anagramming is required, or rather at least not at the very end of the puzzle.)
posted by nobody at 5:35 AM on August 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

It took me a while to suss out what was going on with this link, but I'm glad I did.

Initially I was dreading a tough puzzle that would stump me for quite some time, but it wasn't like that. In the new Theorem the images all have clues on how to select a letter from the various words in the image. The letters spell out an answer that you type into the box at the top. The accompanying paragraphs of text offer little nudges in the right direction. But here's a big hint: the images are in order. That meant I didn't need to solve (or correctly solve) a few of the images, because between the thematic idea in the text and solving several other images correctly, I was able to Wheel-of-Fortune-guess the answer pretty quickly.

These aren't meant to be too difficult or even really tricky at all—they're relatively straightforward puzzles as far as the Internet puzzling sites I've come across in the past go. Missed this one before, though, so thanks for the link!
posted by carsonb at 11:04 AM on August 24, 2016