In 1934, Edward Powys Mathers, a crossword puzzle designer, published Cain's Jawbone. It's a mystery novel sorted onto 100 separate pages. It's also a puzzle, as the pages arrive in no particular order. The goal of the puzzle is to put the pages in the correct order. There are 32 million possible sorting orders, but only one is correct.
For the third time, someone has solved the puzzle. That accolade goes to British comedian John Finnemore, who took up the task during lockdown. Public Radio International reports:
“Originally I had a look at it and decided that it was too difficult for me and there was no point. So I just put it back on the shelf,” Finnemore says. “Then the pandemic came knocking...and suddenly said, ‘You know all that time you wanted, to do that thing? Well, here you go, knock yourself out, you’ve got as much time as you want.’” [...]
If you’re looking to undertake the puzzle yourself, Finnemore has some advice: use Google.
“It’s full of really obscure references to literature and geography and all sorts of things...You need to know about licensing laws in 1930s London, like, where, in London, you were allowed to buy a drink without a sandwich and where you could only have one with food after 10,” he said. “The history of prisons comes into it, geography...there’s references to people who turn out to be tennis players in the 1930s and when they played a particular match.”
-via Oddity Central | Photo: Ryan Baumann