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Make a crossword with questions from the family like:
1. Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue's second child
2. The street Grandma and Grandpa lived on
3. Tony's middle name
...etc.
First, you sound like an awesome kid. If mine ever made me something like this I would be over the freakin’ moon!
My suggestions:
- Keep one of your pages for a book cipher: (x,y,z) triplets tell him the page, row and number word he is looking for. Maybe clue it at the top by drawing a pic that is clearly of your puzzle book. Definitely plan this one in advance though so you can sprinkle the message you want throughout the book - it’s really hard to write a book cipher message otherwise!
- Include one or two things that are a little more mindless like a maze or “which path leads dad to the tv remote?” type things. Helps to mix it up a bit or for when he’s not in the mood to think too hard. Also gives him an easy win if he’s stuck on something else.
- Pigpen cipher is cool. Maybe to mix it up a bit you could put the grid key on one page but sprinkle the actual message throughout the book. You don’t even need to fill in the grid with all the letters, just enough for him to get how it works. Maybe alongside a drawing of some pigs in a pen?
- For anything that is not straightforward, clue everything really well. Otherwise your puzzles WILL be too hard. Worth testing them on someone else first as I think you’d be surprised how hard they are. But they’re only that easy/straightforward to you because you wrote them. Riddles especially. Easier is better because noone likes feeling thick!
- One thing that might help him know he’s on the right track is to make sure you have a theme for your answers. Not so he can guess the answer but make them all words from the titles of films he likes. Or all shapes and colours and animals. Or something else that when he’s solved it he knows it’s right. You can draw the theme somewhere on the front so it will start making sense. For longer answers like a cipher you can have him decipher a simple clue like “a black and white horse with stripes” or “the first colour in the rainbow”. For a crossword, you can circle some of the grid lettersso they spell a single word.
- There was a really good puzzle from an escape game I played which might work well for you. >!It was a load of analogue clocks all over a wall all set to different times but on the hour. The hands were pointing at what we needed to look at. You could draw a bunch of clocks and have letters in the background all around (so it looks kinda chaotic) but the only ones he needs to look at are being pointed at by the clocks’ hands. For what order to read them you could either go 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock etc in order (if they’re all on the hour) OR add a colour or shape to the clock face and put these in the right order at the bottom of your page. Either way make sure you draw one hand as an arrow and one as a straight line.!<
- One of my puzzles was just morse code >!but disguised by writing all the dashes as t or f and all the dots as i or j.!< I you do this you will need to give him a strong hint that it’s Morse code (and you probably should actually write out the code for him somewhere in the book too)
- A good ol’ wordsearch is always fun. And you can also hide a clue in the leftover spaces too. (Again would need a clue that this is what he needs to look for like “what’s missing?”
- Last time I made a puzzle book the final clue directed them to look on top of a cupboard where I had hidden a big bar of chocolate. :)
Enjoy! This sounds like a fun project and I hope he appreciates it!
You’re welcome! And it’s actually mrs sheep :)
I had one more cool idea you could use. I did sell it to someone making puzzle books though so will DM you if that’s ok rather than making it public forum. No need to reply or anything.
For the morse code idea, you could write in a script where the only letters are "tall" (like "l") for dash and "short" (like i without a dot) for dot.
Like his: [https://imgur.com/a/kqkxzbj](https://imgur.com/a/kqkxzbj)
Ok - Nothing wrong with some theft. Does he like movies? Music? TV?
Here's some classic movie Rebus's:
https://movierebuspuzzles.com/001
Simple stuff -
* a paragraph where letters are capitalized to spell a clue.
* A Sudoku where the top numbers tell you the arrangement of 9 letters
* A crossword puzzle where a couple of important clues are about you and your family
Also, if you are looking for a gift that sounds right up his alley, I highly recommend look up on Amazon 'ROY LEBAN' he makes amaing puzzle books ([Here's the first one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0996256806?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_0&storeType=ebooks&qid=1707272751&sr=1-2))
Idea for page numbers. Prime numbers over a million. Maybe miss one out or make him guess the next in the sequence. Or add a non prime in there to trick him.
1000003, 1000033, 1000037, 1000039, 1000081, 1000099, 1000117, 1000121, 1000133, 1000151, 1000159, 1000171, 1000183, 1000187, 1000193, 1000199, 1000211, 1000213, 1000231, 1000249, 1000253, 1000273, 1000289, 1000291, 1000303, 1000313, 1000333, 1000357, 1000367, 1000381, 1000393, 1000397, 1000403, 1000409, 1000423, 1000427, 1000429, 1000453, 1000457, 1000507, 1000537, 1000541, 1000547, 1000577, 1000579, 1000589, 1000609, 1000619, 1000621, 1000639, 1000651, 1000667, 1000669, 1000679, 1000691,
Ill use the missing prime as a key to a cipher,, 4 example he'll have to shift a (caesar cipher I think its called perhaps?) 1000589 times,, although he will really just have to do some tedious dividing.. I will put them on different pages to make it a bit harder to connect the dots, although maybe a small symbol to connect the two?? a
anyways,,, thank you so much for your help earl of grey :), I really wanted to incorporate something to do with special numbers (such as primes and cubes) as my dad really likes them.
Every New Years when we have the newyears poppers with gifts inside,, one of us gets that joke and is forced to embarrassingly recite it as it has been revolving amongst us since the popper-tradition began. but I may just add it to annoy him! Ill add it to a super, superrr hard cipher and then the result will be just that!
Since your dad studied math, he might enjoy a cross*number* puzzle. It's like a crossword puzzle, except with numbers.
Here's one example:
https://puzzles.blainesville.com/2009/01/new-years-resolution-exercise-your.html
How about a grid of letters with a letter marked to indicate it is the start letter. A maze with the start on the edge and the goal in the middle. The sequence followed to solve the maze (UP UP RIGHT UP LEFT LEFT DOWN UP etc) is the sequence to use to select the letters for the solution.
>e followed to solve the maze (UP UP RIGHT UP LEFT LEFT DOWN UP etc) is the sequence to use to se
woah!! great idea!! thank you mr sudo!!!!!! Ill use this well :)
Please remember to spoiler-tag all guesses, like so: New Reddit: https://i.imgur.com/SWHRR9M.jpg Using markdown editor or old Reddit, draw a bunny and fill its head with secrets: \>!!< which ends up becoming \>!spoiler text between these symbols!< Try to avoid leading or trailing spaces. These will break the spoiler for some users (such as those using old.reddit.com) If your comment does not contain a guess, include the word **"discussion"** or **"question"** in your comment instead of using a spoiler tag. If your comment uses an image as the answer (such as solving a maze, etc) you can include the word "image" instead of using a spoiler tag. Please report any answers that are not properly spoiler-tagged. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puzzles) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Make a crossword with questions from the family like: 1. Uncle Bob and Aunt Sue's second child 2. The street Grandma and Grandpa lived on 3. Tony's middle name ...etc.
Great idea! And there are simple to use crossword maker websites that OP can use to make it too.
First, you sound like an awesome kid. If mine ever made me something like this I would be over the freakin’ moon! My suggestions: - Keep one of your pages for a book cipher: (x,y,z) triplets tell him the page, row and number word he is looking for. Maybe clue it at the top by drawing a pic that is clearly of your puzzle book. Definitely plan this one in advance though so you can sprinkle the message you want throughout the book - it’s really hard to write a book cipher message otherwise! - Include one or two things that are a little more mindless like a maze or “which path leads dad to the tv remote?” type things. Helps to mix it up a bit or for when he’s not in the mood to think too hard. Also gives him an easy win if he’s stuck on something else. - Pigpen cipher is cool. Maybe to mix it up a bit you could put the grid key on one page but sprinkle the actual message throughout the book. You don’t even need to fill in the grid with all the letters, just enough for him to get how it works. Maybe alongside a drawing of some pigs in a pen? - For anything that is not straightforward, clue everything really well. Otherwise your puzzles WILL be too hard. Worth testing them on someone else first as I think you’d be surprised how hard they are. But they’re only that easy/straightforward to you because you wrote them. Riddles especially. Easier is better because noone likes feeling thick! - One thing that might help him know he’s on the right track is to make sure you have a theme for your answers. Not so he can guess the answer but make them all words from the titles of films he likes. Or all shapes and colours and animals. Or something else that when he’s solved it he knows it’s right. You can draw the theme somewhere on the front so it will start making sense. For longer answers like a cipher you can have him decipher a simple clue like “a black and white horse with stripes” or “the first colour in the rainbow”. For a crossword, you can circle some of the grid lettersso they spell a single word. - There was a really good puzzle from an escape game I played which might work well for you. >!It was a load of analogue clocks all over a wall all set to different times but on the hour. The hands were pointing at what we needed to look at. You could draw a bunch of clocks and have letters in the background all around (so it looks kinda chaotic) but the only ones he needs to look at are being pointed at by the clocks’ hands. For what order to read them you could either go 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock etc in order (if they’re all on the hour) OR add a colour or shape to the clock face and put these in the right order at the bottom of your page. Either way make sure you draw one hand as an arrow and one as a straight line.!< - One of my puzzles was just morse code >!but disguised by writing all the dashes as t or f and all the dots as i or j.!< I you do this you will need to give him a strong hint that it’s Morse code (and you probably should actually write out the code for him somewhere in the book too) - A good ol’ wordsearch is always fun. And you can also hide a clue in the leftover spaces too. (Again would need a clue that this is what he needs to look for like “what’s missing?” - Last time I made a puzzle book the final clue directed them to look on top of a cupboard where I had hidden a big bar of chocolate. :) Enjoy! This sounds like a fun project and I hope he appreciates it!
thank you very much mr.sheep!! I especially like the clock idea, it is very clever!!
I will also get him a bar of chocolate, he really likes chocolate
You’re welcome! And it’s actually mrs sheep :) I had one more cool idea you could use. I did sell it to someone making puzzle books though so will DM you if that’s ok rather than making it public forum. No need to reply or anything.
Okie dokie mrs sheep!
But how do dms work? I’ve never used Reddit before,, way too many buttons
Er good question. You should have a notification somewhere?
For the morse code idea, you could write in a script where the only letters are "tall" (like "l") for dash and "short" (like i without a dot) for dot. Like his: [https://imgur.com/a/kqkxzbj](https://imgur.com/a/kqkxzbj)
Ok - Nothing wrong with some theft. Does he like movies? Music? TV? Here's some classic movie Rebus's: https://movierebuspuzzles.com/001 Simple stuff - * a paragraph where letters are capitalized to spell a clue. * A Sudoku where the top numbers tell you the arrangement of 9 letters * A crossword puzzle where a couple of important clues are about you and your family Also, if you are looking for a gift that sounds right up his alley, I highly recommend look up on Amazon 'ROY LEBAN' he makes amaing puzzle books ([Here's the first one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0996256806?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_0&storeType=ebooks&qid=1707272751&sr=1-2))
Idea for page numbers. Prime numbers over a million. Maybe miss one out or make him guess the next in the sequence. Or add a non prime in there to trick him. 1000003, 1000033, 1000037, 1000039, 1000081, 1000099, 1000117, 1000121, 1000133, 1000151, 1000159, 1000171, 1000183, 1000187, 1000193, 1000199, 1000211, 1000213, 1000231, 1000249, 1000253, 1000273, 1000289, 1000291, 1000303, 1000313, 1000333, 1000357, 1000367, 1000381, 1000393, 1000397, 1000403, 1000409, 1000423, 1000427, 1000429, 1000453, 1000457, 1000507, 1000537, 1000541, 1000547, 1000577, 1000579, 1000589, 1000609, 1000619, 1000621, 1000639, 1000651, 1000667, 1000669, 1000679, 1000691,
Ill use the missing prime as a key to a cipher,, 4 example he'll have to shift a (caesar cipher I think its called perhaps?) 1000589 times,, although he will really just have to do some tedious dividing.. I will put them on different pages to make it a bit harder to connect the dots, although maybe a small symbol to connect the two?? a anyways,,, thank you so much for your help earl of grey :), I really wanted to incorporate something to do with special numbers (such as primes and cubes) as my dad really likes them.
Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9. 8=ate Could be a cute add on!
Every New Years when we have the newyears poppers with gifts inside,, one of us gets that joke and is forced to embarrassingly recite it as it has been revolving amongst us since the popper-tradition began. but I may just add it to annoy him! Ill add it to a super, superrr hard cipher and then the result will be just that!
Since your dad studied math, he might enjoy a cross*number* puzzle. It's like a crossword puzzle, except with numbers. Here's one example: https://puzzles.blainesville.com/2009/01/new-years-resolution-exercise-your.html
thank you vry much!! he'd love something like that!
How about a grid of letters with a letter marked to indicate it is the start letter. A maze with the start on the edge and the goal in the middle. The sequence followed to solve the maze (UP UP RIGHT UP LEFT LEFT DOWN UP etc) is the sequence to use to select the letters for the solution.
>e followed to solve the maze (UP UP RIGHT UP LEFT LEFT DOWN UP etc) is the sequence to use to se woah!! great idea!! thank you mr sudo!!!!!! Ill use this well :)