2869: Puzzles

2023-12-19T05:16:13Z

Absentminded: added hardy boys reference

{{comic
| number = 2869
| date = December 18, 2023
| title = Puzzles
| image = puzzles_2x.png
| imagesize = 328x455px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Why couldn't the amulet have been hidden by Aunt Alice, who understands modern key exchange algorithms?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by AUNT '''A'''MY, AS IN AN '''A'''WFUL CLUE FROM A CHILDREN'S BOOK - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}



The comic explains that some of the books that Randall read as a kid had horrible puzzles. It lists a (fake?) example about Aunt Gertrude's amulet, which the characters guess is hidden in the Ground because that starts with a G, like Gertrude, and that they should diG a hole. These guesses are unreasonable unless the answer is already known. (It is supposedly not already known by the characters.) There are several other unrelated words that begin with G, such as Gulf, or Gull, or Go-Get-a-plane-and-fly-to-Greenland. On top of that, it is ambiguous (though both would seem unlikely) whether the supposed/nominal ’Aunt’ either:
#Chose to be known as a G-name by everyone (or at least these children) as an indeterminately long-standing plan to eventually allow the possible reveal of an existing underground hiding place, or
#Was inspired by her own actual name to choose a (vaguely) compatible method of concealment.

Aunt Gertrude is a character in the once-popular Hardy Boys childrens' mystery series by Franklin W. Dixon. Main characters Frank and Joe Hardy frequently had to decipher clues to find hidden objects.

Moreover, once deciding that this "clue" is telling them to dig a hole in the ground, the search is not significantly narrowed as the world is a big place and "underground, somewhere" leaves a huge range of possible locations.

The title text references {{w|Alice and Bob|Alice}}, a fictional character commonly used in discussions about cryptography. In those discussions, Alice is often sending and receiving encrypted messages, and she would be expected to be able to make a better puzzle than the one shown in the comic. Alice and Bob and other characters from the same set have been mentioned previously in xkcd, like in [[177: Alice and Bob]]. Using modern cryptography in lieu of riddles in children's stories was also mentioned in [[370: Redwall]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Possibly teenage versions of Hairy, Jill, Ponytail, and Cueball, listed from left to right, are standing in a line. Hairy is in a thinking pose, Jill faces Hairy, and Ponytail and Cueball are walking to the right; Cueball is pointing off-panel.]
:Hairy: Aunt Gertrude must have left a clue to the amulet's location.
:Jill: Hmm. Wait a minute.
:Jill: '''G'''ertrude. '''G'''.
:Hairy: As in "'''G'''round!"
:Jill: And "di'''G''' a hole!"
:Ponytail: I'll get a shovel!
:Cueball: To the yard!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Some of the authors of books I read as a kid were '''''terrible''''' at designing puzzles.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Kids]]

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2869: Puzzles