Editing 2869: Puzzles

{{comic
| number    = 2869
| date      = December 18, 2023
| title     = Puzzles
| image     = puzzles_2x.png
| imagesize = 328x455px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Why couldn't the amulet have been hidden by Aunt Alice, who understands modern key exchange algorithms?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by AUNT '''A'''MY, AS IN AN '''A'''WFUL CLUE FROM A CHILDREN'S BOOK - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

<!--The characters in the panel are contemplating a riddle. Considering words that share the same letter as the propagator of the riddle, they decide that they must dig a hole in the yard. This leads us to Randall's point — that these connections made by the characters are tenuous at best and are unreasonable to make, especially as part of a riddle.-->

The comic explains that some of the books that Randall read as a kid had horrible puzzles. It lists a (fake?) example about Aunt Gertrude's amulet, which the characters guess is hidden in the Ground because that starts with a G, like Gertrude, and that they should diG a hole. These guesses are unreasonable unless the answer is already known. (It is supposedly not already known by the characters.) There are several other unrelated words that begin with G, such as Gulf, or Gull, or Go-Get-a-plane-and-fly-to-Greenland. On top of that, it is ambiguous (though both would seem unlikely) whether the supposed/nominal ’Aunt’ either:
#Chose to be known as a G-name by everyone (or at least these children) as an indeterminately long-standing plan to eventually allow the possible reveal of an existing underground hiding place, or
#Was inspired by her own actual name to choose a (vaguely) compatible method of concealment.

Moreover, once deciding that this "clue" is telling them to dig a hole in the ground, the search is not significantly narrowed as the world is a big place and "underground, somewhere" leaves a huge range of possible locations.

Aunt Gertrude is a character in the once-popular Hardy Boys childrens' mystery series by Franklin W. Dixon. Main characters Frank and Joe Hardy frequently had to decipher clues to find hidden objects.

The children's books from the 1970s and before were uniformly terrible in their puzzles - if you were raised on them you will scream with pleasure at this cartoon. Especially as it was probably only much later that you realised that the problem was the writer and the puzzles, not you the reader. Many only realised this on rereading the books as an adult, perhaps when reading them to their own children. This explanation should be fleshed out by scores of examples, not just Hardy boys...

The title text references {{w|Alice and Bob|Alice}}, a fictional character commonly used in discussions about cryptography. In those discussions, Alice is often sending and receiving encrypted messages, and she would be expected to be able to make a better puzzle than the one shown in the comic. Alice and Bob and other characters from the same set have been mentioned previously in xkcd, like in [[177: Alice and Bob]]. Using modern cryptography in lieu of riddles in children's stories was also mentioned in [[370: Redwall]].

==Transcript==
:[Possibly teenage versions of Hairy, Jill, Ponytail, and Cueball, listed from left to right, are standing in a line. Hairy is in a thinking pose, Jill faces Hairy, and Ponytail and Cueball are walking to the right; Cueball is pointing off-panel.]
:Hairy: Aunt Gertrude must have left a clue to the amulet's location.
:Jill: Hmm. Wait a minute.
:Jill: '''G'''ertrude. '''G'''.
:Hairy: As in "'''G'''round!"
:Jill: And "di'''G''' a hole!"
:Ponytail: I'll get a shovel!
:Cueball: To the yard!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Some of the authors of books I read as a kid were '''''terrible''''' at designing puzzles.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]] 
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Kids]]