I’m writing a puzzle book. In the beginning pages, there is a short story about four musicians wearing colorful marching band costumes. In the story, they are in a field with flowers, brass instruments and many others–to name a few:
- a famous male dancer from the Golden Age of Hollywood
- beautiful blonde, iconic film actresses from the 1950s
- two comedians who starred together in many movies from the 1920s-1940s
- an Olympic gold medal swimmer who went onto be a film star
- a little girl in black in white with short curls
And countless other famous, writers, musicians, politicians and actors. My short story of about 30 pages just describes them and how they are positioned in a bed of flowers, BUT, I’m not mentioning any specific names–just general descriptions in a scenario, as I just did here.
Next in the book, I have my twelve puzzles; each with an image and verse which mentions and displays, both directly and indirectly, the following AND in this particular order (NOW, some of these clues will be very specific):
Puzzle 1 –
A marching band
a raised smile
people being lonely
20 years ago
Billy Shears
a lovely audience being taken home
Puzzle 2 –
Someone singing out of tune
lending ears
a group of friends getting high
being sad because your on your own
love at first sight
someone turning out a light
Puzzle 3 –
tangerine trees and marmlade skies
kaleidoscope eyes
rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies
Newspaper taxis on the shore
a train in a station with a turn style nearby
Puzzle 4 –
a school
uncool teachers
an angry young man
a head in the sand
a man beating a woman
the man being cruel and mean
Puzzle 5 –
rain coming in
a mind wondering
cracks that run through a door
people standing and disagreeing
painting a room in a colorful way
silly people not asking why they don’t get past a door
Puzzle 6 –
Wednesday morning at 5:00 am
a bedroom door
a note
a handkerchief
a father snoring
a wife in a dressing gown
Friday morning at 9:00 am
a man from the motor trade
Puzzle 7 –
trampolines
men and horses
hoops and garters
hogshead of fire
Bishops gate
a band beginning at ten to six
ten somersets on solid ground
Puzzle 8 –
a wall of illusion
someone talking about love being shared
life flowing
gaining the world but losing your soul
peace of mind
Puzzle 9 –
a Valentine
a bottle of wine
a locked door
someone mending a fuse
knitting a sweater by the fireside
gardening
a rented summertime cottage
grandchildren on a knee
Puzzle 10
a parking meter
a ticket in a white book
a cap and bag across a shoulder
military man
someone being free to take tea
someone sitting on a sofa with a sister or two
Puzzle 11 –
calling a wife
not wanting to go to work and feeling low
roaming the town
everyone being half asleep
taking a walk by an old school
people running around at 5:00 pm
someone watching skirts and flirting
Puzzle 12 –
sad news
laughing at a photograph
a car accident at a light
the House of Lords
English army winning a war
falling out of bed and combing hair
going upstairs and having a smoke
a dream
4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
Albert Hall
My twelve puzzles are in this EXACT order. My verse and image clues generalize, but sometimes exactly describe, as in the outline above. You’re stumped. Where do you go for further clarification in hopes to further analyze the clues? Where is the MOST LIKELY place to find out why someone is knitting by the fireside?
Abbey Road album, right? Because in “Here Comes the Sun,” there are lyrics “it’s been a long, cold LONELY, winter.” Someone is lonely, in bad weather. Rain must be coming in while sitting by the fireside.
Obviously Abbey Road’s association pales tremendously in comparison to Sargent Pepper’s fit for my puzzle. Because Sargent Pepper’s boasts “kaleidoscope eyes” in the third puzzle and “4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire” in the twelfth. That’s a very specific match. And with all of the other puzzles matching up–considering them collectively–it is extremely unlikely, that the hidden (I never mentioned song titles or names in my clues) basis for my puzzle is Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
This puzzle analogy is similar to the connections I have found between Byron Preiss’ The Secret and The Old Testament. I get that my theory is hard to understand, but I do believe it’s most likely valid.
