Talk:2869: Puzzles

Aunt Alice is obviously a reference to the standard Alice / Bob / Eve crypto protocol characters. 162.158.158.219 20:00, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

Anyone know if this is an actual scene from an actual children's book? Or is it just sort of an ad hoc representation of how these things might typically go? -- MeZimm 172.68.2.107 20:27, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

"Aunt Gertrude" suggests *The Hardy Boys* series of children's novels. I don't recall this particular scene. 172.70.85.46 20:38, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

I don't think Aunt Gertrude ever set Frank and Joe a puzzle herself, but it is certainly evocative of several puzzles in the Hardy Boys. 172.71.151.136 21:07, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

Can anyone with stronger Hardy Boys knowledge add some examples? I never read the Hardy Boys books or similiar kid mysteries, so it's hard to imagine how thin those mysteries got, to be compared to "character name -> random letter/word association -> answer" as used here without some examples. Mneme (talk) 22:57, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

I read seven of the earliest Hardy books plus about that many around #100, give or take. They didn't use a lot of word clues, it was more about who looks shady/innocent (but isn't), interviews, half-overheard crime plans, footprints, vehicle tracing, a suspect lost a hat/glove/crossbow, etc. The only word clues I recall off the top of my head were: shipment abbreviations (easy), a crook deathbed-confessing where he hid his loot (but the boys search the wrong building, confusing them), a bit of Morse Code (bonus for Frank sending it to Aunt Gertrude, and she understood despite the fact that she hated the idea of her nephews getting into danger), and two or three other coded distress signals (which the boys and/or their expert detective dad had already discussed beforehand). The most obscure of those signals I can recall was from The Mystery of Cabin Island -- Google that name plus "alley cat" and you'll see how difficult it was (i.e. not at all) for them to guess that shady-guy-of-the-week Mr. Hanleigh was dangerous. (there was also a time when their computer-geek friend cracked a password, but it wasn't really a puzzle -- the computer belonged to a medieval faire technician, so I think the friend just brute-forced medieval words until he got in) 172.70.175.126 00:18, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

Could someone add a category for "Alice and Bob" comics? Right now, the list seems to be 177, 1323, 2440, 2691, 2869. 162.158.233.38 22:07, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

I'm not convinced that 2440 should be in the list; at best, it's using similar naming patterns. BunsenH (talk) 22:48, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

Eve is clearly mentioned in the title text (Evangeline the Adulterator, which is clearly a reference to Eve from 177).

Is Evangeline the Adulterator clearly a reference to Eve? BunsenH (talk) 23:57, 18 December 2023 (UTC)

Well, 2440 doesn't mention anything about Evangeline the Adulterator except that she is named Evangeline and presumably adulterates. But in 177, Eve (not Evangeline) is the adulterated, not the adulterator. That would be Alice, since Bob was in a relationship with Eve, not Alice. It feels disingenuous to say that they might be the same person; there's no proof they aren't, but there are no reasons to think they are. GreatWyrmGold (talk) 00:52, 19 December 2023 (UTC)