A 1934 mystery’s pages were printed out of order. The world is obsessed.

December 31, 2022 9:06 AM

Only four people have ever solved the puzzle contained in the pages of Cain’s Jawbone. TikTok helped turn the obscure, 100-page British novel into a craze. (archive.today link)
posted by Etrigan (14 comments total)

This has of course been brought back into more popular attention because Benoit Blanc has a copy of the book lying on his bathroom floor when he's playing Among Us with his friends.
posted by hippybear at 9:16 AM on December 31, 2022 [13 favorites]

I am bad at puzzles like this, but this article makes me want to try.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:34 AM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

British comedian, writer and crossword author John Finnemore stumbled across “Cain’s Jawbone” just before the pandemic hit.

That would be John Finnemore who then turned the 2021 series of his long-running comedy sketch show into a complex, non-linear story about an extended family (solution)...
posted by offog at 9:39 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]

I just bought this (mail ordered from the beautiful Strand Bookstore in NYC), took one look, said, oh my, I don't think I have the patience for this; I am good at short puzzles like Wordle but not long ones. So it's going to my sister for her birthday.
posted by JanetLand at 9:39 AM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Note and take seriously the fact that this book is marketed on the cover as a literary puzzle. I got the book a few days ago, because I thought it might be an interesting way to spend some winter holiday downtime, and have already read an entire play, a couple of poems, three chapters of a Robert Louis Stevenson book, and several scholarly articles about such things as popular 1930s brands, European cultural landmarks, literary figures, and infamous murder cases just to solve puzzles and understand hints in the first ten pages. I have a degree in Comparative Literature and a substantial home library of already-read books, which enabled me to me catch for instance the references to works of Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle without having to do any research or rereading, and I still keep running into references to things I haven't read, especially popular adventure and mystery books that were probably widely read in the era this was published.

I'm personally not mad about that, though. So you expect me to read a pile of books and plays and learn an assortment of early 20th century European cultural trivia to solve this thing, Mr. Torquemada? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Those who aren't interested in all that extra homework can probably copy off someone else-- there are many internet forums dedicated to solving this where you can probably find posts that explain out-of-date or obscure references.

Do ALSO note though that this puzzle was created by a 1930s British white guy and both the book itself and some of the referenced works contain casual racism and sexism reflective of mainstream British white guy thinking at the time, which at times makes playing the game it less fun than it could be. I hope the renewed interest in this puzzle will inspire imitations by less biased writers.
posted by BlueJae at 10:59 AM on December 31, 2022 [24 favorites]

That would be John Finnemore who then turned the 2021 series of his long-running comedy sketch show into a complex, non-linear story about an extended family

Arrested Development Season 4?
posted by hippybear at 11:41 AM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]

Only four people have ever solved the puzzle

If you are also the person who finds this kind of clearly unverifiable statement annoying, wikipedia offers some clarity: they mean that only a small number of people have claimed a prize for solving the puzzle.
posted by each day we work at 12:27 PM on December 31, 2022 [8 favorites]

Finnemore said: "The first time I had a look at it I quickly thought 'Oh this is just way beyond me.' The only way I'd even have a shot at it was if I were for some bizarre reason trapped in my own home for months on end, with nowhere to go and no-one to see. Unfortunately, the universe heard me."

posted by lazaruslong at 1:21 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]

Oh, finally! The person to blame!
posted by hippybear at 1:28 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]

I just heard about this book on Thursday, a friend bought copies for our game group. We're gonna give it a try! It's a pretty interesting concept for a novel.
posted by dorey_oh at 4:05 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]

“Cain’s Jawbone” was written by Edward Powys Mathers, known in Britain as the father of the cryptic crossword, a form of crossword — largely nonexistent in America — in which the crossword clues themselves contain the answers, but in an encoded or encrypted form. These word puzzles are devilishly difficult, and Mathers became the undisputed king of the genre in the early 20th century.

For any US folks like me who are aware of cryptic crosswords but have a hard time finding them, I highly recommend Lovatt's. They are (for me at least) just a reasonable enough difficulty level that I can usually solve, and they have a forgiving hint system for when you can't quite. You do occasionally need to pronounce hints and/or answers in an Australian accent to solve, and even more rarely there are Australian cultural references I don't get, but since cryptics aren't really knowledge tests the way other crosswords are, that doesn't come up nearly as often as you might fear.

That said, I do NOT think I'm up for this book challenge, but I'm glad to know about it, if for no other reason than because I remember that shot in Glass Onion and thinking "That's probably a reference to something." Now I know!
posted by solotoro at 4:59 AM on January 1, 2023

AVCX does cryptics! With an American accent!
posted by creatrixtiara at 7:38 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: “taciturn, pedantic, fussily jocose” and “brilliant in a crossword puzzle-solving kind of way.”
posted by ohshenandoah at 9:02 AM on January 2, 2023

I cut my copy apart last night - for convenience the pages are only printed on one side and the bottom third of each page has a blank area reserved for notes.

I read bits and pieces out loud to my dining companions - the writing is odd and funny. From page 61:

“It was a pity about Dickens’ insane jealousy of chickens, and one could really almost weep at his morbid mistrust of sheep.”
posted by bendy at 3:28 PM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]