Enigmida / TANGRAM vol. 2 🔺

“Puzzles! Puzzles! Puzzles!”

I sometimes feel like a town crier, shouting profuse puzzle proclamations to any willing passerby.

A few days ago, I took this puzzle profundity over to the No Proscenium podcast, where I shared my perspective on what’s new and hot in the escape room and tabletop puzzle game worlds. Have a listen!

In other news, Volume 2 of Art of Play’s TANGRAM art journal is available now! More details below.

And a sneak peek of a forthcoming project: I’ve been hard at work on a new teambuilding workshop called “Puzzle Party: Wordplay Edition” where you’re guided to write your own mini puzzle hunt! Playtests have been going well, and I’m planning to start running this for teams of up to 30 participants in mid-October. If you’re looking for a fun activity for your work team, please reach out!

You might remember TANGRAM Volume 1, which launched back in January of this year. I designed a multilayered puzzle hunt interwoven throughout feature articles on some uber-talented artists. It’s not too late to snag a copy of this wonder-filled work.

I’m excited to share that Volume 2 kicks things up a notch with even trickier puzzles, deeper rabbit holes, and maybe even some real-world discoveries for the most persistent among you. And of course, the journal is filled with more articles on truly inspirational creators and beautiful full-color illustrations.

Pick up your copy of TANGRAM Volume 2 on Art of Play, and happy puzzling! I’m really proud of what we’ve created, and this is just the beginning…

In the last issue, I shared a puzzle I contributed to Bloomberg’s Kominers’s Conundrums column. Congrats and thanks to everyone who solved the puzzle and joined us in the secret channel on the Reality Escape Con Discord a few weeks ago!

The solution to this puzzle is available in the next edition of Kominers’s Conundrums, along with a fun (and free!) puzzle trail from The Escape Game.

The last name of a particular visual artist is two letters + the name of a one-named singer.

Move the two letters to the end and add a two-letter US state abbreviation between those two parts to get the plural of a fruit.

What’s the fruit? And what’s your favorite work from the artist?

Answers to my clues:

Thank you to everyone who submitted their own ambidextrous phrase clues! A few of my favorites included:

And congrats to everyone who submitted correct answers: Steph, Debbie, Wassamatta_u, Michael Andersen, Drew W., Jennifer L., Mark Wurzelbacher, Yossi, Brett Kuehner, Jonathan, Will, Aiden Guinnip, Dan Katz, Brian E Bohmueller, and Maude.

Cryptically yours,

Matthew