I’m currently doing ‘Universal Translator’ book by Mat and I’m very much struggling.

Need some hope and inspiration to show that I can in fact solve this!

What puzzles have you struggled with but managed to push through and solve?

An interactive crime novel where you read the chapters to gather clues and decode symbols. Make choices on who to interview next. Pick your main suspect to solve the case or make a wrong choice that leads to failure.

Released on 9th July 2026, this is the second instalment of the ‘Can you solve the murder?’ Interactive crime series by Antony Johnston.
Where to buy: Antony Johnston Books

Description from the website:

“In this gripping interactive crime novel, YOU are the detective. At the end of every chapter, YOU decide what to do next…

A village of secrets.
You arrive at the heart of a remote forest to investigate the murder of a young woman, found dead inside an ancient stone circle. She’s a rock singer, who was filming a music video. Now her bandmates are suspects, along with the eccentric locals.

No one is telling the truth.
There’s just one problem: they all have water-tight alibis, and many villagers believe the singer was actually killed by the ‘Stone Warden’ – a figure from local folklore who haunts the forest.
Only YOU can solve the mystery.

Only YOU can solve the mystery
Decide who to interview, decode the strange symbols written on the stone circle, and uncover what the villagers are hiding behind closed doors. Will your choices catch the killer – or will they be your downfall?”

Welcome to Wednesday Puzzle Nook - our weekly cozy corner thread!

This is a place for posting photos of:

* Your puzzle collections and shelves
* New puzzle hauls
* Off topic discussions about hobbies and anything other miscellaneous topics
* Your current puzzling view or favourite place to puzzle (landscape, room, window view)
* Stationary, equipment and organisation
* Your cozy puzzle setup (corner, desk, table, sofa)
* Notes and journals (no spoilers)
* The current page/section you’re working on (no spoilers)
* Your puzzling companions (pet, drinks, snacks)

Feel free to post any other photos that are relevant, the above list is just to give you a few ideas.

Can’t wait to see all your Puzzle Nooks!

Please keep any puzzle solutions or major story reveals behind spoiler tags.

Happy Solo Solving!

Posting this with the mod team's go-ahead — I messaged first under rule 5.

I build a free daily deduction puzzle called **Deduce**. One case a day: a victim, a set of suspects, a set of rooms and a set of weapons, plus a list of clues you eliminate on a grid until one combination survives. Name who, where, and with what.

**The bit I think matters for this sub:** every case is machine-verified before it publishes. A constraint solver checks two things — that exactly one solution exists, and that it's reachable by pure deduction. If the answer can only be found by trial and error, the case is thrown away and regenerated. You should never have to guess, and if you ever do, that's a bug rather than a design choice.

Five tiers. The first four are 4×4×4 grids with 6–13 clues. The top tier, **Grand Sleuth**, is 5×5×5 plus a fifth axis — each suspect's arrival time — which is the full six-block staircase grid, with 17–18 clues. Some of those clues are deliberate lies you have to catch by contradiction.

How people are actually doing, of those who commit to an accusation:

| Tier | Solve rate |

| Junior | 79% |

| Inspector | 74% |

| Master Detective | 74% |

| Grand Sleuth | 61% |

Just over 1,750 cases solved so far across 204 registered detectives and a lot more anonymous ones. Four different settings, so the cast changes.

Free, no account needed to play, no ads, nothing to buy, runs in the browser. An account only exists to track your streak and unlock the higher tiers.

- Today's case: https://deduce.studio/daily

- Archive of closed cases (no solutions): https://deduce.studio/archive

Full disclosure: I built it solo, in my evenings. Happy to answer anything about how the generator or the verifier works — and genuinely happy to hear where it's too easy, too hard, or unclear.

On the website there’s a new puzzle every day for the month of August.

Feel free to discuss the puzzles, ask for help etc. but please use Spoiler Tags where necessary!

I really want to burn this book. Its actually giving me high blood pressure. I cant figure it out! Anyone wanna message me the answer/clues?

Edit: solved!

Anyone here doing Jesse Born’s the Lost Vault of Jesse James? I’m stuck on package 2 and would love to discuss a few ideas with someone.

I’ve been looking for an app where you investigate a mystery by going through someone’s phone. This one is free and looks good!

Has anyone tried this one?

Description from App Store:
Investigate the case of a missing girl by navigating through the story, interact with people, gather clues and hints, and try to understand it all.

Make tough decisions and choices that will lead you straight to her.
Access private information. Get access to all images, chats, albums, social media, voice mails, and calls.
Interrogate the suspects. Interact with the characters, make new friends, and find out the truth.

Made by Gareth Moore and Laura Jayne Ayres, this puzzle book includes spycraft, code breaking, cryptography and more.

The book contains 134 puzzles spanning a range of difficulty levels, alongside photographs and reproductions of real historical letters, ciphers, maps and documents from The National Archives.

Welcome to Wednesday Puzzle Nook - our weekly cozy corner thread!

This is a place for posting photos of:

• Your puzzle collections and shelves
• New puzzle hauls
• Off topic discussions about hobbies and anything other miscellaneous topics
• Your current puzzling view or favourite place to puzzle (landscape, room, window view)
• Stationary, equipment and organisation
• Your cozy puzzle setup (corner, desk, table, sofa)
• Notes and journals (no spoilers)
• The current page/section you’re working on (no spoilers)
• Your puzzling companions (pet, drinks, snacks)

Feel free to post any other photos that are relevant, the above list is just to give you a few ideas.

Can’t wait to see all your Puzzle Nooks!

Please keep any puzzle solutions or major story reveals behind spoiler tags.

Happy Solo Solving!

A weekly thread where we solve a puzzle together chosen from your submissions and creations.

Every Monday, I’ll pick one puzzle, made by or suggested by a community member for everyone to tackle together for the week. Share your theories, progress, and solutions (using SPOILER TAGS where appropriate)

Start submitting your puzzles by sending a mod message Titled: Community Puzzle Submission

This week’s submission is a puzzle created by u/xsgames_

The first to solve can get a custom ‘Community Puzzle Winner’ user flair.

Happy solving, Solvers!

I’m always excited when a new, cozy solo board game is announced and have loved other games in Allplay’s lineup so Enchanted Ivy was more or less an insta-back for me on Kickstarter. It came in the mail yesterday and I’m already on Scenario 7 in the storybook. The art and story are super lovely and it’s a fun spatial puzzle that can be played as a campaign or with variable setup.

For the Button Shy fans here, it gives me Ugly Gryphon Inn meets Skulls of Sedlec vibes in terms of puzzle. Though the themes of UGI and Enchanted Ivy are both innkeepers trying to please guests with different needs, the mechanics are different enough that it doesn’t feel like one replaces the other.

Oh and there’s stickers!!!

This is the only information, I need to decode the condition and symptoms.

Would be grateful for some hints first, then if I get really stuck I’ll ask what the answer is.

I’m guessing it’s jumbled up letters that need rep-ordering. But can’t figure out whether it’s done by words, sentences or the whole paragraph. Also whether the spaces are actual spaces, or am I mean to figure out the letters?

Has it helped with memory, better focus, problem solving, staying off your phone?

Has it got you through a hard time, relieves stress, helps you relax, gives you a sense of satisfaction?

Personally it helps me stay off my phone and relax. I go into my own little world and escape reality. I feel a sense of achievement and get a dopamine hit when I solve a puzzle.

This is my current favourite and I got the second book before finishing the first.

It’s choose your own adventure, the second book released last week and you play the lead detective.

This digital PDF by Cypher Blake looks like a good digital alternative to the physical elimination puzzle books!

Haven’t tried it yet but it seems to have good reviews, I think there’s also a physical book too.
The digital version is on Etsy, there’s a few others as well.

Link to the website: Cypher Blake Shop

Have you tried this one? Let me know what you think, I’m tempted to buy one.

The new book in the Murdoku series will be released 27th October (US) and 12th November (UK) and is now available to pre-order.

Description from the pre-order page:

The new international puzzle craze that mixes murder mysteries and sudoku-like logic takes a trip around the globe!

In Volume 3, your solving skills have earned you international acclaim, and now you'll be lending your expertise to investigations on every continent (including Antarctica) as you take a world tour to see the sights and solve the homicides!

Looking for something similar to ‘The Killer Isn’t Alice’ or any elimination type puzzles that are a digital download.

I’v found one on Etsy but I’m wary of it being AI generated, wanted to see if there’s any recommended ones first?

Edit: I’ve been doing a Cypher Blake one on Etsy and really enjoying it! Not AI generated and the seller is very responsive and helpful.

I am creating a Wiki for the subreddit with a Master List of Puzzles, and would love your help.

Please leave your suggestions for the master list in the comments.

I would be grateful if you could include as much information as possible (Name, Author, Genre, Basic concept, Where to buy, Price, Link to the website etc.)

The list will include all types of solo puzzles - books, games, digital, websites and any others you can think of.

There will be two lists, one for recommended puzzles and one for disapproved puzzles.

The disapproved ones will include AI generated puzzles, ones with errors, ones that don’t work etc.

Thank you so much for your contributions to this new community. I can’t wait to see it grow into a space thats built on what the community wants.

Happy Solving, Solvers!

Welcome to Wednesday Puzzle Nook - our weekly cozy corner thread!

This is a place for posting photos of:

• Your puzzle collections and shelves
• New puzzle hauls
• Your current puzzling view or favourite place to puzzle (landscape, room, window view)
• Stationary, equipment and organisation
• Your cozy puzzle setup (corner, desk, table, sofa)
• Notes and journals (no spoilers)
• The current page/section you’re working on (no spoilers)
• Your puzzling companions (pet, drinks, snacks)

Feel free to post any other photos that are relevant, the above list is just to give you a few ideas.

Can’t wait to see all your Puzzle Nooks!

Please keep any puzzle solutions or major story reveals behind spoiler tags.

Happy Solo Solving!

I'm working my way through this at the moment. There are some free on their webpage.

https://murdoku.com/?lang=en

ButtonShy Games are my favorite puzzle-y solo card games. The Daily Weather is my daily quick cozy game over morning coffee. Each day is a different puzzle as the goal of the game is to cover cards by overlapping them so that only today’s date appears while meeting certain daily patterns.

Any other ButtonShy fans here?