Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Riddle Us This!



HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: How many of you have howled with laughter (at about age six) at the answer to the riddle: “What did one wall say to the other wall?”

And how many of you have thought this was funny: “Have you ever seen a car turn into a garage?”

And that’s why we all love mysteries and suspense…they are all riddles! Riddles are what makes them wonderful.


The wonderful Barbara Nickless has a new book coming out November 15, DARK OF NIGHT. And Reds and readers,  it is not to be missed. My blurb said, in part: "Captivating, compelling, and completely intriguing! Sherlock Holmes meets The DaVinci Code in this brilliantly written and seamlessly researched adventure….”

Irresistible, right? And today she has an irresistible blog.

Words at Play: The Fun of Literary Riddles

By Barbara Nickless

 

Let me tell you a riddle:

 

The beginning of eternity, the end of time and space,

The beginning of every end, and the end of every place.

 

If you’ve already guessed the answer, congratulations! You’re either very good at “misdirection” riddles or you’re a fan of the poet Byron, who posed this conundrum. I’ll reveal the answer at the end.

 

When I set out to create a protagonist with more brains than brawn, I knew I’d want to craft clever ways for him to outwit his adversaries. Dr. Evan Wilding (like his creator) loves puzzles: crosswords, ciphers, puzzle boxes, and cryptics. Anagrams, rebuses, acrostics, and escape rooms. And, of course, the latest word-based puzzle to become all the rage: Wordle and its newer cousin, Quordle.


Evan consults for government agencies and the Chicago Police Department, and some of the puzzles that cross his desk—be they codes written in an ancient language, cleverly crafted ciphers, or outright riddles—require him to outwit a killer to solve a heinous crime.

 

Riddles (from the Old English raedan, which means “to give minor advice”) appear in cultures around the world, and they often take the form of a test. One ancient riddle is that posed by the sphinx in the Greek play, Oedipus Rex. Any person seeking to slip past the sphinx is required to answer her riddle. Failure means a grisly fate: the sphinx devours the unfortunate person on the spot.

 

Try your own riddle-answering skills if you aren’t already familiar with the sphinx’s question:

 

“What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?” (The answer appears at the end.)

 

The sphinx was surely the inspiration for the Monty Python crew when they placed a riddle master in their spoof of Camelot, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This cunning man guards the Bridge of Death, which spans a deep chasm. Anyone who wishes to reach the other side must correctly solve his riddles. After two knights fail to pass the test and are hurled into the abyss, their king turns the riddle back on the master.

 

Bridgekeeper: “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

King Arthur: “African or European?”

Bridgekeeper (surprised): “I … I don’t know that.”

 

The riddle master, failing to answer the question, is hurled into the crevasse.

 

Through the millennia, writers have included riddles as a test for their characters or as entertainment for their readers. The earliest riddles appeared in Sanskrit in the Rigveda, written around 1000 BC. They appear in the Bible, most notably in Psalms and Ecclesiastes. And they’re found in Old English poems, especially with the use of kennings, in which a metaphor becomes a riddle: What is a whale road? The sea. God’s beacon? The sun.

 

Shakespeare had wicked fun with riddles in such plays as Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear. (Why is it that riddles suit tragedies so well? That is a riddle for which I have no answer—perhaps they sometimes simply lighten the mood.)

 

Lewis Carroll included riddles in his most famous work: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. One such puzzle, voiced by the Mad Hatter, went unanswered in the original edition of Alice.

 

Mad Hatter: “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

Mad Hatter (several pages along in the story): “Have you guessed the riddle yet?”

Alice: “No, I give it up. What’s the answer?”

Mad Hatter: “I haven’t the slightest idea.”

Alice (sighing wearily): “I think you might do something better with the time than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.”

 

Carroll finally caved to his unhappy readers and provided an answer to the riddle in a preface to the 1896 edition. But readers weren’t happy with what he offered. Today, different solutions are still being suggested by Carroll’s many fans.

 

More recently, we have such riddle-loving authors as James Joyce, Stephen King, and J.K. Rowling with her intriguing character, Tom Riddle. One of my favorite literary riddle solvers is Tolkien’s Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo, much like my character Evan, cannot depend on sword play or strength of arms to win his battles. In The Hobbit, Bilbo uses his wits against Gollum to keep from being eaten (we’re back to the sphinx) and attain a magic ring. The story of the fate of that ring unspools across Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

 

Literary riddles generally lead down one of two paths: failing to solve the riddle means death—either literal or metaphorical; solving it means saving your life and winning great riches, from true love to vast kingdoms.

 

My character, Evan, is a forensic semiotician, which means that solving riddles provides the bread-and-butter of his work. A semiotician studies how we use signs and symbols within and across cultures. A forensic semiotician focuses on how these signs and symbols are used in crimes. For Evan, a killer is a riddle to be solved. The semiotic clues left at a crime scene chart a path that Evan uses to imagine himself into the killer’s mind. By examining the clues—letters, diagrams, esoteric symbols—he seeks the answer to the most difficult riddle of all: why would one human kill another? Fortunately for the side of justice, Evan can out-riddle just about everyone.

 

I’ll leave you with this final challenge from Batman Forever (written by Will Shortz, the New York Times puzzle master):

 

Tear one off and scratch my head, what once was red is black instead.

 

What are some of your favorite riddles? I’d love to hear them!

 

Answers:

 

Byron’s Riddle: The letter “E.”

The Riddle of the Sphinx: Man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two legs, and finally needs a cane in old age.

The riddle from the Riddler in the Batman franchise: A match


HANK: Oh, how about you, Reds and readers? My very favorite riddle book is Jane Langton’s life-changing The Diamond in the Window, where the intrepid kids have to answer harder and harder riddles to solve the mystery and save their family. SO great! 


As Barbara says: what are some of your favorite riddles?


And oh,  Barbara says she is riding a camel on the other side of the world right now and will respond as quickly as she can this afternoon!


Whoo. There's a riddle, too!  Where do you think she is?

 

 


DARK OF NIGHT 

A recent murder is ancient history in a breathtaking novel about a sacred lost treasure and poisonous retribution by the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of At First Light.

What an exotic way to die in Chicago.

When esteemed historian Elizabeth Lawrence is found in her car, killed by a cobra’s bite, only a brilliant professor of semiotics, Dr. Evan Wilding, can see the signs around her strange death. As he helps homicide detective Addie Bisset decipher the scene, the puzzles left behind offer Evan chilling passage into the mind of a killer.

Evan’s investigation merges with that of an Israeli agent, who claims Elizabeth was close to acquiring an invaluable artifact. She was also drawing the attention of unsavory treasure hunters, forgers, and thieves. Was someone desperate to expose the truth of Elizabeth’s astonishing discovery?

The deeper Evan and Addie delve into the case, the darker it gets. A murderer’s archaic crimes are just the beginning. In a race where there can be only one winner, the final victim might be Evan. Available on November 15th online and at your favorite bookstore. 

 

 


Barbara Nickless is the Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of the multi-award-winning Sydney Parnell crime novels. Her new series features forensic semiotician Dr. Evan Wilding—a man whose gift for interpreting the words and symbols left behind by killers has led him to consult on some of the world’s grisliest cases. “Dr. Evan Wilding is absolutely my new favorite fictional human.” (Danielle Girard, USA Today & Amazon #1 Bestselling Author of The Ex.) Barbara lives in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains where she loves to hike, cave, snowshoe, and drink single malt Scotch. Connect with her at www.barbaranickless.com.


95 comments:

  1. Riddles? I have a few [first graders love riddles . . . and so do grandbabies!]

    The more you take away, the more I become. What am I?
    What room do ghosts avoid?
    What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?
    The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?

    Barbara, this is fascinating stuff for puzzle-lovers!
    Your new book sounds so intriguing . . . I’m looking forward to meeting Evan . . . .

    [Answers to the riddles . . . . a hole . . . the living room . . . . your name . . . . footsteps]

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    1. I didn't know any of these riddles, Joan. I especially like the footsteps one. So clever!

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    2. What belongs to you, but other people use more is your face, right?

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    3. Such fun riddles, Joan! Children and riddles go together perfectly, like Hank’s favorite riddle book, The Diamond in the Window.

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    4. Love these riddles, Joan! I never heard of these! Diana

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    5. These are great riddles! (Thanks for the answers. I would have been stuck.)

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    6. Those are great! Don't you love to see their faces when they think? And then they get it?

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  2. I am horrible at solving puzzles. I don't have the patience to work through them. Maybe that's one reason why I rarely solve a mystery before the detective does. But I enjoy reading about them because there's a solution at the end. I just need to get there.

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  3. Barbara, I'm a big fan of your Sydney Parnell books and I can't wait to dive into your new series! Evan sounds like a fascinating character!

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    1. Thanks so much, Deborah. I’m a huge fan of your books so your comment really means a lot.

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  4. A new (to me) series to try--hurray! I'd better start with AT FIRST LIGHT, though. Thank you, Barbara and Hank. Also, Hank, I loved The Diamond in the Window when I read it as a kid, and I still have my childhood copy. Another favorite children's book involving riddles (they're part of a treasure hunt) is Spiderweb for Two, the final book in the wonderful Melendy Family series by Elizabeth Enright. Anyone remember this outstanding children's writer?

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    1. I remember Elizabeth Enright, Kim. Wonderful books about the Melendy family.

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    2. More books to add to the TBR pile!!

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    3. Oh, so funny--yes, I have a stash of them, too, which I hand out to any kid who shows up....

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  5. What a clever premise for a protagonist, Barbara! I'm not particularly good a solving riddles (except in my own books), but I'd guess you are in Egypt or Niger or somewhere on the African continent. Enjoy!

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  6. I got the first riddle. Which surprised me, actually.

    The Arabian Nights books had a lot of riddles in them, didn't they? I'm thinking of Sinbad, maybe. It's been many decades.

    Barbara must be somewhere in North Africa or the Middle East. Sounds like a wild vacation!

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    1. Great thought about The Arabian Nights, Karen. And you’re right: it’s been a wild vacation! A little wilder than I planned on, but that’s another story.

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    2. Oh, that sounds like another blog to me!

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  7. Barbara's current travel adventure makes me think of the first riddle my sister, also a Barbara, created when she was about five or six:
    What is green and brown?
    A camel salad.

    I absolutely love riddles, and love the fact they cross time and cultures across most of human history. It shows what playful, creative minds we humans have - communication isn't just a tool, it's a plaything.

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    1. I love your sister’s first riddle, Julia. :) A new version: What’s green and brown? Barbara on a camel. :D And I agree: it’s amazing how our minds work across cultures.

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  8. Fascinating, Barbara! Straight onto my groaning TBR list! Thanks, Hank!

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  9. Congratulations, Barbara! I got all three. I must have heard them before. I love riddles. I have about a 50% success rate solving them. But I like the puzzle.

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    1. Puzzles are so good for our brains, too!

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    2. Can't hurt, right? ANd then you get the little victory.

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  10. BARBARA: Congratulations on the new Evan Wilding book. I met you at the Minneapolis Bouchercon and got your first book in the series there.

    Hmmm, I got the first and third riddles before coffee, so I am having a good morning.

    Unlike other guesses, I am going to say you are in northern China. That is where I rode my first camel.

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    1. I was in Gansu Province near the Tibet border for an arid climate change conference. All sand dunes and desert. And I rode an Asian camel.

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    2. So good to cross paths with you again, Grace! Thanks for supporting my series. I love that you were attending a climate change conference.

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  11. The new series sounds intriguing, Barbara--I'm off to search out the first one. I'm usually terrible at riddles, but love them anyway. Little kids and riddles just seem to go together--my youngest nephew at 5: What does a squirrel say when it sneezes? Ca-shew! Ca-shew!

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    1. LOL! Kids adore riddles, it’s true. Even if it takes some experience for them to figure out knock knock jokes.

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    2. HA! (Orange you glad I didn't say banana again?)

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  12. Congratulations on the new book, Barbara! I'm not familiar with your work, but it will be on my ever-growing list. I do love riddles and puzzles, but am not always good at solving them. In your post I got the first one right away, but not the others. My son and I have been watching a BBC quiz show called Only Connect, which has contestants connect seemingly unrelated clues. It's very hard, but occasionally I make a connection--and it uses the same kind of lateral thinking.

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    1. Thanks, Gillian! That BBC quiz show sounds like so much fun. I’ll check it out!

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  13. Your comments are all wonderful! And Julia, that is the funniest riddle I’ve ever heard. Tell your sister. It’s like the one… What’s purple and swims in the ocean? Moby Grape.
    I am getting ready for a first chapter fun, and I will be back after that! So keep those riddles coming!

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    1. Hank, love this riddle! I cannot think of a riddle this morning. Diana

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  14. Congratulations, Barbara! I love all kinds of puzzles and i got 2 of your riddles right but it's too early for me to remember any to share. Looking forward to the books!

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    1. Thank you, Judi. And congrats on getting 2 out of 3. That’s two more than I could do before coffee. :)

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  15. This is fantastic. I love riddles, puzzles, and all of that jazz. Congratulations on crafty such a fabulously clever sleuth, Barbara. I can't wait to read Dark of Night.

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  16. What can go up a chimney down, but can't go down a chimney up?

    ( Answer: an umbrella. This was one of my dad's favorites, but I always thought it obscure. What's an umbrella doing in a chimney, anyway?)

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    1. Judith, I’m thinking of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins and the chimney sweeps. No umbrella, but maybe Mary was on your dad’s mind. :)

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    2. Great one! I have never heard that one!

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  17. My sister's: When is a door not a door? When it's a jam pot! What? She meant, of course, When it's ajar. But, being young, got it slightly wrong. Ha ha

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  18. I love all these riddles! And great guesses as to my whereabouts. I’m in Luxor, Egypt. Today I visited the Valley of the Kings. And—so thrilling for me, this is a dream come true!—I’m staying at the Winter Palace where Howard Carter announced his discovery of King Tutankhamen. I can feel the magic.

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  19. Sorry I am late to the party this morning. I am on the West Coast. So many comments already!

    Barbara, congratulations on your new novel! Your premise sounds intriguing! Loved Sherlock Holmes and The Da Vinci Code. A friend, who was my maths tutor at University, introduced me to the Da Vinci Code novel by Dan Brown.

    Guessed that you were in Egypt.

    Yes, I thought of the riddle about the baby on four legs, man on two legs and an old man with a cane. Cannot think of another riddle off the top of my head.

    Love the riddles in Shakespeare.

    Thinking of Lewis Carroll who was a maths professor at Oxford? If I recall correctly.

    Question: Is there a connection between riddles and mathematics ? logical ? thinking?

    I am not sure how to ask the question.

    Diana

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    1. Thank so much, Diana. Lewis Carroll was indeed a mathematician. Great thought! A dear friend of mine got her graduate degree in math and she’s very good at riddles. Is it the logical brain? Or the super smart brain? :)

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    2. Math and riddles...it has to be problem-solving on some level...

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  20. Congratulations on the release - looking forward to catching up with this series.

    Riddles, love them! I got all three of these, but I am going to have to re-read my copy of the Annotated Alice now.

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    1. Thanks, Kait. I’d love to read an annotated Alice.

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    2. Oh, I have that, too! It's so fascinating. xxx (In college, one of my classes was "seminar in ALice in Wonderland." My parents had a fit.)

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  21. I love riddles and this really made me want to read this book… thank you! also remembering Jane Langton much missed

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  22. Riddle me this: What is the quickest way to entice a 'reader/reviewer'? Answer; write the perfect essay on JRW's. I just downloaded Dark of Night. (Happy me)

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  23. I'm guessing that Barbara is in China at the Great Wall, where camel riding is an "off-the-wall" entertainment. I love riddles, too. I even put a few in the first book in my mystery series.

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    1. How do you tell the difference between a boy chromosome and a girl chromosome?

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  24. You’re so right that camel riding is off-the-wall! Great guess and something I’d love to do. Right now I’m in Egypt, where we can choose between camels, donkeys, and horse drawn carriages.

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  25. Maybe I should add the comment!
    My father’s favourite riddle was always
    Why is a duck?
    Because one of its legs are both the same.
    It never made sense, but I loved it and laughed everytime!

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    1. Your father was a real character! Now I'm thinking about that...

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  26. I must read this book! Ordering it now! And I am like Hank a big fan of The Diamond in the Window.

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  27. I loved The Diamond in the Window, too. I loved that whole series. Langdon was a terrific writer.

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  28. I envy you your trip, Barbara. That is one I long to take. I have a very short memory for jokes and riddles. One I remember from my childhood is one I didn't get: When is a cowboy not a cowboy? When he's abed. I get it now but I still think it's lame. Dark of Night sounds fabulous. A cobra in a car. What a nightmare!

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    1. Yeah, that cowboy riddle is not that funny. See jam pot, above. :-)

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    2. Thanks, Pat. The worst thing I’ve had in my car is a jar full of pill bugs my son collected. The lid came off ..

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    3. Noooooooooo

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  29. Thank you for a wonderful day, Barbara! May you have many wonderful adventures (we cannot wait to hear all about it) and sell millions of books! Congratulations on your terrific new novel!!

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  30. Riddle me this, riddle me that - as they say!

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