Our weekly collaboration with Conceptis Puzzles brings us this neat game today: Color Link-a-Pix, where you get to find the way clues are linked, paint the paths and discover a hidden pixel-art picture.

Each puzzle consists of a grid containing colored clues in various places. Every clue, except for the 1’s, is half of a pair. The object is to reveal a hidden picture by linking the pairs and painting the paths so that the number of squares (including the squares at the ends) and the color of the path is the same as the value and the color of the clues being linked together. Paths may follow horizontal or vertical directions and are not allowed to cross other paths. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle.

Game Instructions: To create a link, click mouse on a clue and drag to a square with the same clue so that the length of the path equals the value of the clues. Links with length 1 are created with a single click. To edit, click one of the link’s ends and drag mouse to redraw the path. To delete, double click mouse anywhere on the partial link’s path.

So go ahead and check it out! Then visit Conceptis Puzzles for more neat puzzles.

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad featuring Sherman Oliver Holmes, a mysterious crime solver and great-great-grandson of Sherlock Holmes. Can you solve the crime?

Meet Sherman Holmes

Sherman loved Halloween. It gave him a chance to dress up as Sherlock Holmes and still seem normal. The pudgy detective was in his usual costume, escorting a squadron of children down Elm Street, when he noticed a crowd gathering in front of old Miss Cleghorn's house. "She must be up to her usual," chortled Sherman. "Putting on some horrific mask and scaring the kids at the door."

Miss Cleghorn was indeed scaring the kids, but not intentionally. Inside the open door, Sherman could see her body lying in the entry hall, wearing a monster mask, her head surrounded by blood. A plastic bowl lay nearby, its contents of wrapped candy strewn everywhere.

Sergeant Wilson stood beside the body. He glanced over at the man with the calabash pipe and deerstalker cap. "Is that a costume, Holmes? With you it's hard to tell."

"What happened, my respectable partner in crime?"

"It's an accident. It took us a while to reconstruct what happened." Wilson pointed up to where a strand of large pearls lay centered at the top of the steps. "She was upstairs when the first trick-or-treaters rang the bell. She put on the mask and grabbed the bowl. She must have slipped on the pearls and tumbled down the stairs."

Two cars pulled up at the curb, one behind the other. Sherman recognized Miss Cleghorn's niece and nephew, Emma and Bobby, as they got out of the cars and approached the front door, both dressed for a night out and seemingly unaware of the tragedy.

"Aunt Rita," Bobby gasped.

"Your aunt had an accident," Sergeant Wilson told them. "She's dead. The kids had been coming up to the door for half an hour or so and getting no answer. One of them finally looked through the window and saw her."

Bobby noticed the spilled candy and the mask. "What's she doing wearing a mask?"

"She was obviously doing her Halloween thing," Emma said.

"She promised she wouldn't this year. We were taking her out to dinner."

"Well, obviously she changed her mind," Emma said, shaking her head. "I don't know how many times I told her not to wear a mask on the stairs."

"When did you last see your aunt?" asked Sherman.

Now it's time for our collaboration with the awesome What Is It? Blog! What is this thing? You don't have to know to win!

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. You might know the true answer, but we're going to select two winners who come up with the funniest, most outlandish guesses to win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop. However...

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

Check out more pictures of this thing at the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!

Update: the mystery item is a bread slicer. Using a knife and this device you can make a 1/2" thick slice of bread into two 1/4" thick slices. Why you would ever want to do that is beyond me. But we were looking for funny answers and we got them!

Carlos Pfister had a funny one: "Thats a Decepticon Pop Tart. It transforms into a mean little bastard." Another good one came from mowog, who said: "It's a cheese 'Swisser.' Insert cheap, plain white cheese, puncture - PROFIT!" Both win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop for those answers! See the answers to all of this week's mystery objects at the What Is It? blog.

Neatorama presents our collaboration with Pzzlr, a site where you can always find a riddle to exercise your brain. Can you solve this one?

This solution is not allowed. (Image credit: Flickr user Gwydion M. William)

Ai and An, two Chinese sisters, were asked by their mother to take some food to their aging grandmother in another village 20 miles away. They could either walk the distance at a rate of 4 miles per hour or ride their bicycles at a rate of 8 miles per hour. Keen to get to their grandmother as quickly as possible they decided to ride. Unfortunately, after only 4 miles Ai suffered a tyre blow-out and had to abandon her bike at the side of the road. Assuming that turning back was not an option the sisters could now either walk together the remaining distance or one could walk while the other rode the remaining bike (the bike could not hold both of them together). The course of action they decided on meant that they could get to their grandmother’s house as quickly as possible while minimising walking time.

What combination of walking and riding did they use?

Try to figure this one out on your own. When you know the answer, or you give up, read the solution at Pzzlr!

Look for a new puzzle here at Neatorama every Wednesday, and check out Pzzlr for a puzzle anytime!

Neatoramanauts, rejoice! This week's collaboration with Conceptis Puzzles brings us Classic Hashi Light, a puzzle in which you get to connect bridges between islands.

The object is to connect all islands according to the number of bridges so that there are no more than two bridges in the same direction and there is a continuous path connecting all islands together. Bridges can only be vertical or horizontal and are not allowed to cross islands or other bridges. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle. There is only one unique solution for each puzzle.

Here's how to play: Point mouse on an island, move arrow in the direction of the bridge you want to connect and click when only one bridge area remains highlighted. First click connects one bridge, second click connects a second bridges and the third click removes all bridges.

So go ahead and check it out! Then visit Conceptis Puzzles for more neat puzzles.

Nick Berry of DataGenetics poses a puzzle of logic, strategy, and math. Since Halloween is coming up, it involves a monster. I think he's kind of cute, but that's not the point at all. He will eat you if he catches you!

Imagine you are sitting in a rowing boat in the middle of circular lake. Standing on the edge of the lake is a hungry monster. The monster wants to eat you. You want to escape.

You know that, if you can reach land, you can outrun the monster, but first of all, you need to row to shore. Here’s the issue: whilst you can outrun the monster on foot, he can run faster than you can row the boat. Much faster. The monster can run four times faster than you can row. He’s also a clever monster and will always do that smartest thing to attempt to catch you; moving around the shoreline, as needed, to maximize his advantage. If he touches you, you’re dead!

Can you escape?

Knowing how circles work and knowing that pi is less than four, rowing straight for the shore opposite the monster will not help you. For the purpose of this game, you cannot do something odd like jump out of the boat and swim, or call 911 for a helicopter. Yes, there is a way to do it. I was tempted to take his word for it, thinking I'd never understand the math involved, but as Nick explains the solution, it makes sense even if you didn't study calculus. Try to figure it out on your own first, then read the winning strategy at Datagenetics.

But wait, there's more! What if the monster could run even faster? Nick wondered exactly how much faster a monster would have to run than you could row to make it impossible for you to escape no matter how much calculus you used.

The fastest monster we can escape is determined when the monster arrives at the shore at exactly the same time we do. Let's define the ratio of our two speeds by the letter K. (The monster runs K-times faster than we can row). What is the maximum value for K?

Well, that involves more math, but the answer is there.

Check out previous wizardry from Datagenetics.

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad featuring Sherman Oliver Holmes, a mysterious crime solver and great-great-grandson of Sherlock Holmes. Can you solve the crime?

(Image credit: Flickr user Mark Somma)

The teenagers sat around the bare table in the small, bare room. All three chewed and snapped their gum and looked sullen. Sherman Holmes and Zach Alban, the jewelry store owner, stood by helplessly, watching the two boys and the girl as all of them continued to wait for the police.

Zach led Sherman out into the hall where they could talk privately. "Are you sure they stole the ring?" he asked with a nervous twitch.

Sherman sighed. He almost wished he hadn't gotten involved. He had walked into Alban Jewelers that morning to have his pocket watch fixed. Almost immediately, he became suspicious of the girl and her two friends hovering over the ring counter. As a matter of habit, Sherman made a quick perusal of the display case.

While Zach Alban was examining Sherman's century-old timepiece, the three teenagers started heading for the exit. Sherman threw another quick glance toward the ring counter. The centerpiece of the display, a sapphire and gold ring, was not where it had been just a minute before. It was gone.

For a short, heavyset person, Sherman could move surprisingly fast. "They're stealing a ring," he shouted as he raced to block the door.

The teenagers vehemently denied the theft and threatened a lawsuit if they weren't allowed to leave.

"I can't search them until the police arrive," Zach moaned. "Maybe it's all a mistake. Maybe I didn't put the ring out this morning. Or maybe someone stole it earlier and I didn't notice."

"The ring was there," Sherman assured him. "One of them stole it."

Red and white lights flashed through the windows as a police cruiser pulled into the handicap parking space. Two officers entered, were briefed on the situation, and were led into the small back room.

It's Thursday, so you know what it means, Neatoramanauts: it's time for the What Is It? Game, brought to you by the always amusing What Is It? Blog.

What are these things in the pictures? Your guess can win you a free T-shirt of your choice from the NeatoShop. Here's how to play:

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, but you can enter as many guesses as you'd like in separate comments. Post no URLs or weblinks.

You might know what they are, but if you want to win a t-shirt, you'll have to use your imagination, because we are going to select two winners who give us the funniest incorrect guesses. If you guess right, then good for ya - but you don't win anything, mmkay? So, it's up to you, funny people: you have twice the chance of winning that T-shirt now.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize. We highly suggest you take a look at the NeatoShop's new selection of Funny T-shirts and Science T-Shirts.

Ready? Go for it! (Don't forget to visit the What Is It? Blog for more clues!)

Update: These things are feeders for livestock, when in use they are filled with hay. But you knew that, as several commenters told us. But we wanted your funny answers! A t-shirt from the NeatoShop goes to pismonque, who made us laugh with this punny answer: "Those are both props from Cirque Du Silo." Chris Stevens also had a great answer with "These are racks needed to roast the ribs of mastadons and other large cuts of meat in a bar-b-que. Somewhere out there is a humongous sauce mop and a former flying saucer that has been converted into a ginormous Weber© Kettle!" That's good for a t-shirt, too! Check out the answers to all the items this week at the What Is It? blog.

(Image credit: Confeitaria Nacional)

Neatorama presents a puzzle from Pzzlr, a site where you can always find a riddle to exercise your cognitive resources. Can you solve this one?

At a recent baking competition, Maureen’s chocolate mud-cake was not last. Shelly, who’d had trouble with her oven, only just managed to avoid last place and came third. The vanilla sponge was outstanding and the lady who baked it took first place. Carol was happy because she managed to place ahead of her arch rival who’d baked the rainbow-cake. Finally, the lady who baked the cheese-cake placed ahead of Jessica.

Who placed where and what did they bake?

Try to figure this one out on your own. When you know the answer, or you give up, read the solution at Pzzlr!

Look for a new puzzle here at Neatorama every Wednesday, and check out Pzzlr for a puzzle anytime!

W00t! Our collaboration with Conceptis Puzzles returns with a series of new puzzles, starting with this one above. It's one of my favorites: Color Pic-a-Pix Light, where you get to paint squares as you solve the puzzle and discover neat a pixel-art picture (and the best part: there are 20 puzzles on this vol 2 edition that you can play for free!)

Here's how to play: Select the color you wish to use and click the desired square in the grid. First mouse click fills a square, second mouse click displays a dot to indicate the square is blank and third click brings the square back to its original state. Multiple squares may be filled or blanked by dragging the mouse.

So go ahead and give it a try! Then visit Conceptis Puzzles for more neat puzzles.

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad featuring Sherman Oliver Holmes, a mysterious crime solver and great-great-grandson of Sherlock Holmes. Can you solve the crime?

(Image credit: Michelangelo-36)

It was a balmy, late summer evening. Sergeant Wilson examined the mangled body in the driver's seat, exchanging a few words with his forensics crew. When he finally trudged up the side of the ravine to the break in the railing, he was only slightly surprised to find Sherman Holmes pulling his antique Bentley into the roadside turnout.

"Well, that clinches it," Wilson muttered. "If Sherman shows up on the scene, it's got to be murder. Good evening, Mr. Holmes."

"Evening, my good Wilson." Sherman scanned the broken railing and the winding, downhill road leading to it. "No tire marks. May we assume that the driver's brakes malfunctioned?"

"Brake lines were neatly cut. The victim is one Milton Graves. His driver's license says he lives up the hill. Want to join me while I break the news to his next of kin?"

The men hopped into a police cruiser and hopped out again in front of a comfortable mountain retreat. The thirty-ish, attractive woman answering the door identified herself as Dominique Black, the niece and personal lawyer of the deceased.

Dominique seemed stunned by the tragic news and asked the sergeant and his companion to step inside. The first thing Sherman noticed was a balloon bouquet nestled high in the oaken rafters.

"A birthday party?" he inquired.

"For Uncle Milton," she answered. "My cousins and I came over for a little celebration. Afterwards, Uncle Milton drove off to pick up another cousin at the airport. We were expecting them back any moment. And now you say he's dead?"

"Yes, ma'am. Probably just minutes after leaving the house." Wilson didn't mention the brake lines.

The other inhabitants wandered into the entry hall and were informed of the news. The cousins, Tyrone and Chuck Graves, seemed just as stunned as Dominique, while the housekeeper, Mrs. Watts, reacted with a chilly frown.

"Do you know anyone who might have wanted your uncle dead?"

"I can think of three," Mrs. Watts answered. "During dessert, Mr. Graves made an announcement. He had just changed his will. Instead of leaving his money to charity, he had divided his estate evenly among his nieces and nephews."

"That's right," Tyrone admitted. "It came as a complete shock."

"What a tragic coincidence!" Chuck could barely repress a grin.

"Exactly," agreed Sherman. "What did you all do after dinner?"

Now it's time for our collaboration with the awesome What Is It? Blog! What is this thing? You don't have to know to win!

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. You might know the true answer, but we're going to select two winners who come up with the funniest, most outlandish guesses to win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop. However...

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

Please note that the cut-away view is for instructional purposes, and the original object is as it appears in the top picture. Get more clues at the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!

Update: the pictured item is a fusible plug for a boiler. If the temperature gets too hot, the tin plug in the middle will melt and release pressure. There's a more detailed explanation at the What is It? blog, but we were looking for humorous answers this week. Ladybugs got a few hearts for her answer: "It's the loose screw of the U.S. Congress in dealing with the budget crises." Makes perfect sense! And Chris Stevens had good one, too: "The holidays are coming, and Iron Man has been known to spend a little too much time at the buffet. Sometimes the suit needs to be "let out" a little, and these babies are just the hardware to do it!" Those both win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! Thanks to everyone who played, and thanks to the What Is It? blog.

Neatorama presents our collaboration with Pzzlr, a site where you can always find a riddle to exercise your brain. Can you solve this one?

At a recent family reunion there was one grandmother, one grandfather, two fathers, two mothers, four children, three grandchildren, one brother, two sisters, two sons, two daughters, one father-in-law, one mother-in-law, and one daughter-in-law. Given that some people could have multiple roles, what would be the minimum number of people who must have attended, and who were they?

Try to figure this one out on your own. When you know the answer, or you give up, read the solution at Pzzlr!

Look for a new puzzle here at Neatorama every Wednesday, and check out Pzzlr for a puzzle anytime!

The following is a Whodunit by Hy Conrad featuring Sherman Oliver Holmes, a mysterious crime solver and great-great-grandson of Sherlock Holmes. Can you solve the crime?

Meet Sherman Holmes

(Image credit: Flickr user Josh Liba) 

Sherman Holmes had been born and raised in Alabama and, despite his mania for Victorian England, had a deep, true affection for the American South. About once a year, usually on a warm spring weekend, he would gas up his antique Bentley and make the long pilgrimage back home.

Sherman himself was an orphan, but he had always kept in contact with his childhood neighbors, Big Daddy Brown and his clan. On one of his annual visits, the odd little detective found himself joining the Browns in every Alabamian's favorite pastime, a picnic.

The scene was a state park where the old southern family commandeered a picnic table. Big Daddy spread the tablecloth. Two of the grown children, Tiffany and Billy, unloaded the wicker baskets. The third, Julius, poured iced tea from a thermos, while Big Momma unpacked the crystal salt and pepper shakers and handed out cloth napkins. Sherman added his own touch, a candelabra topped with citronella candles to keep away the bugs.

Although he saw the Browns just once a year, Sherman felt he knew them intimately. Julius was close to his own age, while Tiffany and Billy, the twins, were a good ten years younger. None were married, as if forming a family of their own might be some sort of affront to the domineering father who controlled their lives.

On the surface, the picnic resembled the dozen previous picnics he'd attended with the Browns. Billy flipped burgers on the grill. Julius kept everyone's glass full. Tiffany and Big Momma hovered over the proceedings, doling out seconds and thirds, while Big Daddy slathered butter on his corn, spilling half of it on his plate and wiping the other half from his mouth with a napkin.

But something was wrong. The jokes were strained, the affection too forced, and Sherman's sixth sense was kicking into gear. He tried to ignore it.

Big Daddy's heart attack came suddenly, near the end of the meal. The elderly man's fleshy face turned as white as his neatly trimmed mustache. His breathing grew heavy. Then he grasped his chest and collapsed backwards into the grass.

Hey look! It's time for our collaboration with the wonderful What Is It? Blog! Do you know what the object in this picture is? It doesn't really matter if you do, because we are looking for the funniest guesses. You can win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! But first, read the rules:

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners who submit funny and/or clever (albeit ultimately wrong) answers will each win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

If you guess the correct answer, you'll get a big pat on the back.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

See more clues at the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!

Update: the pictured object is a twelve-barrel hand-crafted copper brewing kettle that was used by the Lemp Brewing Company in St. Louis, circa 1840. That's interesting, but not nearly as funny as the answers Neatoramanauts came up with! Bryan Hoerber said it was the tomb of Augustus Gloop inside Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Samantha Simons said it was the first attempt at an Iron Man suit.

While doing an experiment with using methane gas as a fuel there was an accident. At first he had the right amount inside the suit, and the suit looked normal. But here's where things went bad. The previous night, he had eaten several burritos with extra beans. So with the combination of the gas inside the suit and the gas created by Iron Man himself, his suit expanded with a loud Phhhtttttbbbbttttt! Sound!

Both those answers are good enough to win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! And the rest of the entries are pretty funny, too -you should check then out. Find the answers to all of this week's mystery items at the What Is It? blog.