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By Jonathan
Gunson & Marten Coombe THE SOLUTION Released January
1st 2002 INDEX
1. Over 30,000 entries. A personal thank you from the authors.
2. Introduction to 'The Solution'
3. The Solution: 'The Alchemist's Spell'.
4. The list of seventy five 'word objects' that 'spell out' the solution.
5. How to solve the puzzle.
6. A more detailed explanation of how the puzzle is solved
7.
Confirming the 'seven solids' role in solving the
puzzle.
8. Details for deciphering the 'seven solids' secret instructions.
9. Two key symbols in the puzzle. Nimue & Merlin.
10. Tricky
'muddlers' hidden throughout the
book.
11. 'The Merlin Mystery' puzzle nearly solved by the
deadline - December 31st
2001.
12. Several entries received with the final 'Peace'
word/symbol on the envelope
13. The Magic of the Alchemist's spell
14. A brief
history of the book
Special thanks to David Flower, webmaster http://www.tintagelweb.co.uk/ for use of the
Tintagel photographs on this website. |
1.
Over 30,000
entries to The Merlin Mystery'
A personal
thank you from the authors.
Welcome to 'The Merlin Mystery'
solution, and a personal thank you to all the puzzlers who took part and
helped to create the magic realm that has surrounded this puzzle for the
past three years. Over 30,000
entries from all parts of the world were received and some very
large groups even worked together across the internet. But while the
puzzlers collectively came within a stone's throw of solving it, no
correct entry was received before the December 31st 2001 deadline.
Our
special thanks to Mr Eddie George, Governor of the Bank of England, for
agreeing to hold the prize and the wand in his bank at Threadneedle Street
in the City of London.
For us the book has been an
adventure of discovery, especially when we were creating the story and
artwork. We would also like to thank all the people who sent us their very
kind communications. It has been a six-year journey from the very first
day to today, and we are delighted to know that we have brought so much
fun to so many people. For now though we would like to take a break from
the 'Mystery', and so this web site is the only 'revealing' discussion we
wish to have regarding the puzzle.
Our very best wishes
to you all for 2002 and beyond.
May the Pendragon
Alchemy be with you
January 1st 2002
2.
Introduction
to 'The Solution'
Copyright
photograph used with permission of www.tintagelweb.co.uk
'The Merlin Mystery', by
Jonathan Gunson and Marten Coombe, was published in August 1998 by Harper
Collins UK and translated into seven languages. The book tells of the love
story between the Wizard Merlin and Nimue the Water Sprite, and their
battle with the Dark Wizards for control of the ancient Alchemist's wand.
Hidden in the words and pictures
is the fabled Alchemist's
Spell,
lost for seven centuries. The puzzlers' task was to find the spell and win
Merlin's wand plus all the gold built up since the puzzle quest began.
While many puzzlers came very close to unravelling it, the puzzle was not
finally solved.
Correct solution
required
Entrants had to find
seventy-five 'clue objects' on the panelled page borders of the book,
which when put into the correct order would 'spell out' the solution to
the puzzle. (Some of these 'clue objects' are actually blanks to create
spaces between parts of the solution.) These clues are also largely visual
so they can be understood easily as 'idea-concepts' or 'word-concepts'.
This way the English language is not required for solving the puzzle.
The list of clues is further
on in this explanation.
The solution comprises two
parts: The Spell, and its Method of casting. The rules required that these
had to be drawn as two separate elements. This was also to indicate the
mostly visual nature of the solution. (Words could also be used, as long
as the main elements were drawn in
the two parts.)
The Spell is largely a
single, beautiful, physical circular shape. Its form and content is
described by the first section of the visual list of the seventy-five clue
objects.
Entrants were required to draw this form.
The same applies to the second part of the spell, the 'Method of casting' which also has a circular element. The last word of this part of the solution had to be drawn or sketched, the symbol word 'Peace'. (The rules also required this symbol to be drawn on the entry envelope.)
Only entries that
followed the rules and clearly displayed the solution were acceptable.
The prize
The prize, which
accumulated to seventy-five thousand pounds, will be donated to the
British World Wide Fund For Nature. The wand
will be auctioned, and the proceeds also presented to the UK WWF.
Bookmark this page and watch
for notice of the
Merlin Wand Auction date!
3.
The
Solution:
The
'Alchemist's Spell'
The magic
rune-pentacle
Note: This image
contains the correct alignment of wood names as held by the authors for
checking any solutions received.
Words and actions for
casting the spell:
(Also known as the 'method of casting' )
Call out the runes:
"Ansuz, Laguz, Berkana,
Jera, Kano,
Raido, Uruz, Ehwaz,
Thurisaz, Hagalaz, Dagaz, Fehu".
Call out the rune:
"Mannaz"
Extinguish the silver candle.
Extinguish the gold candle.
Say:
"Peace."
The Alchemist's Spell is a mystical
combination of words, actions, and an ancient, circular, supernatural
rune-pentacle, constructed of beautiful, magical materials. The pentacle
is arranged facing north and its spell power is released with a sequence
of actions and spell words, cast during the time of a full moon. The spell
must be laid out with the pentacle of five-woods, salt circle, candles,
runes, burner-with-coals, and Rosemary herbs all in the correct positions.
Note 1: Both the 'Pentacle', and the 'Words / Actions' form parts of the spell. the full moon.
Note 2: The Alchemist's Spell is intended to be expressed entirely as language-independent imagery and symbols. For example the runes in the 'casting' can be sketched out as symbols. Drawings can be made of all the other components such as the candles being extinguished. (Even very rough sketches would have been acceptable to the judges.) However it is displayed here mostly as an image, with the names of the five woods, salt circle, Rosemary herbs, casting words and actions in English so that web site viewers can immediately appreciate these details.. the full moon.
Note 3: The 'Philosophers' Stone' is the full moon. the full moon.
Re 'The Merlin Mystery' entry rules and conditions:
The rules required
puzzlers to provide an explanation of their method for arriving at these
clues and the solution.
No correspondence can be
entered into regarding the puzzle and its solution.
4.
List of the
seventy five 'word objects'
that 'spell
out' the solution
Here is the list of seventy-five 'word objects' puzzlers needed to find and put in the correct order. The list 'spells out' how to construct the magic circle and the casting actions and words that accompany it. All these objects are in the pages of 'The Merlin Mystery'.
1. Full Moon
(Image of full moon)
2. (Blank)
3. Pointing
(Hand
points)
4. North (Compass with North in
gold)
5. III (Roman numeral III)
6. Foot (Ballet foot) (length of your
foot)
7. Salt (Salt pouring)
8. Circle
(Circle)
9. Orbits (Diagram of a path round a
sphere)
10. Wood (Piece of wood)
11. Star
(5 pointed diffuse glowing star)
12. Oak (Quercus) (Framed watercolour
picture)
13. Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) (Framed watercolour
picture)
14. Rowan (Sorbus acuparia) (Framed watercolour
picture)
15. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) (Framed watercolour picture)
16. Elm (Ulmus procera) (Framed watercolour
picture)
Note: 8-16 makes up the salt and wood
pentacle. The angle / tilt of the frames around the picture of each type
of wood shows how they make up the pentacle.
17. (Blank)
18. Salt (Salt pouring)
19. Circle (Circle)
20. Clockwise (Owl clock)
21. Runes (Pic of rune book page with 24
runes.)
22. III (Ansuz Rune) 3
23. XX (Laguz Rune) 20
24. XVII (Berkana Rune) 17
25. XI (Jera Rune) 11
26. V (Kano Rune) 5
27. IV (Raido Rune) 4
28. I (Uruz Rune) 1
29. XVIII (Ehwaz Rune) 18
30. II (Thurisaz Rune) 2
31. VIII (Hagalaz Rune) 8
32. XXIII (Dagaz Rune) 23
33. XXIV (Fehu Rune) 24
34. (Blank)
35 North (Compass with north in
gold)
36. Triangle
(Triangle)
37. Rune
(Rune book)
38. XIX
(Mannaz Rune) 19
39.
(Blank)
40. Left
(Left
hand)
41. Triangle
(Triangle)
42. Burning (Flames)
43. Gold
(Gold
ingot)
44. Candle
(Unlit
candle)
45. Right (Right hand)
46. Triangle
(Triangle)
47. Burning (Flames)
48. Silver (Silver ingot)
49. Candle
(Unlit candle)
50. (Blank)
51. Star (Diffuse five pointed
star)
52. Heart
(Heart made of
silver)
53. Censer of hot coals
(Pic)
54. Burn (Flames)
55. Rosemary (Framed watercolour
picture)
56. (Blank)
57. Say
(Town
crier)
58. 12
(Stone tablet with 12
cuts)
59. Runes
(Book of runes)
60 Clockwise (Owl clock)
61. Say
(Town
crier)
62. Mannaz Rune (Pic)
63. (Blank)
64. Silver
(Silver
ingot)
65. Candle (Unlit candle)
66. Extinguish (Snuffer)
67. Gold
(Gold
ingot)
68. Candle (Unlit candle)
69. Extinguish (Snuffer)
70. Say
(Town
crier)
71. Circle (Circle)
72. Orbits
(Diagram of a moon path round a sphere)
73. Rune
(Rune book)
74. XIV
(Algiz rune)
75. Upside down- ('Knife turns upside down'
box)
Note:
71,72,73,74,75 is a mini-brainteaser, the answer to which is a 'peace'
symbol Ò the final 'word' of the spell.
5.
How
to solve the puzzle
The Merlin Mystery contains over a thousand clues. All parts of the story and virtually every object and image in the book have at least some bearing on the puzzle. However, an encyclopaedia of information would be needed to explain it all, so instead outlined here is simply the method for identifying seventy-five 'objects' on the panelled page borders and how they are used to 'spell out' the Alchemist's Spell solution.
The master secret is
to draw lines in THREE DIMENSIONS through the book to locate objects that
'spell out' the spell.
Puzzlers discovered early on that the pages had a clockwise Zodiac running around the borders. To arrive at the solution, puzzlers had to go clockwise around several of the zodiac border panels on each page, drawing a line from each zodiac panel, and continue each line onto ANOTHER page across a gold alchemy symbol, hit a border panel on ANOTHER page, then move clockwise or anticlockwise around the border panels until arriving at ANOTHER final panel.
Puzzlers had to do this
for all pages in the book and collect up all the objects found on these
final panels. They then had to put them in a special order. When the objects are viewed in this
sequence as 'word concepts' they 'spell out' the Alchemist's Spell.
Seven
sub-puzzles reveal the pathway through the puzzle.
The
SEVEN 'SOLIDS'
Seven distinctive wooden 'solids' can be found on the library shelf beside the royal sceptre Ò on the 'floating cat / library' double page. These seven 'solids' represent sub-puzzles or tumblers which unlock the various stages of the puzzle, which when followed in sequence will take the puzzler right through the entire puzzle to the solution. They provide a guide for drawing the 3D lines through the book including which pages to turn to, which gold alchemy symbols to use, and reveal many other vital facets of the puzzle.
The purpose of each solid shape is made clear by each being linked (indirectly) with a gold ring to an object that identifies its purpose. Each solid or shape is a puzzle. So the meaning of each solid in the sequence has to be deciphered. When solved, each gives an indication of the next step in the master puzzle to take. The solids also appear throughout the book and are designed to be incongruous and 'mysterious' in their location and so clearly of some importance to the puzzle.
The
meanings of the 'solids':
Pyramid represents the zodiac, cone represents order of alchemy symbols, cube represents the process for finding the page location of the alchemy symbols, sphere represents the page location of the target panels, tube represents the location on the page (clockwise or anticlockwise) of the final 'word object' target panel, oblong represents the word number in the spell the target word object is, and finally, diabolo represents 'turn the page' from the page where you began, and start the sequence again.
Puzzlers understood this almost from day one. A large number discovered this 3D 'up and down' the book process using the 'seven solids'. But the 'draw-a-line in 3D' principle did not occur to them.
6.
Tintagel
Castle, Cornwall.
Merlin's
cave can be seen at the end of the beach
Copyright
photograph used with permission of www.tintagelweb.co.uk
A
more detailed explanation of
how
the puzzle is solved
Seven
'solids' show the puzzler how to move through the book. These 'solids'
also set the path for drawing three-dimensional lines to find 'word
objects' that 'spell out' the solution
Puzzlers had to conclude they needed to draw 3D lines through the book. The 'seven solids' sequence guides the pathway for these lines.
While
studying the detail of the illustrations and borders in the book, puzzlers
could recognise that since the puzzle could be solved by anyone speaking
any language, the answer to finding the spell might lie in a system that
picked out visual objects either on the borders or in the pictures - or in
both. These objects, when put in some sort of order would 'spell out' or
reveal the alchemist's spell. (A classic form of 'symbol' language
puzzle.) In fact this is exactly how the puzzle does work. The task for
puzzlers lay in deciphering whatever system there might be to do
this.
The
system for guiding puzzlers through the book, and knowing which page to
turn to when drawing lines in three dimensions, is indicated by the line
of 'seven solids' on the library pages bookshelf. These 'solids' represent sub-puzzles or
tumblers, which when followed in sequence will take the puzzler right
through the entire puzzle to the solution.
The 'seven solids' mostly had fully confirmed 'instructions', and there are even light clues indicating that 'lines' should be drawn from one panel to another - and in 3D. This is the main secret of the puzzle, and is the part that puzzlers mostly had to figure out for themselves.
However, to at least give puzzlers a start,
there are clues that do hint at and 'point' towards the idea. For example,
the entire story with its images is specifically designed to indicate the
three dimensional nature of the puzzle. For example, in the story the cat
and owl race in a 'line' from one room to another, plunge down through
floors or levels in the cottage, then end back 'upstairs' again.
There are also many other hints:
The
library illustration is intended to also strongly suggest the three
dimensional nature of the puzzle - the black cat floats up into the air,
and a book floats with its pages spread open. The magnifying glass and
dividers provide a gentle hint to 'focus' on connecting one point with
another with a line. A tall pile of books towers upwards in three
dimensions, and books on shelving also hint at 'layers'. There is even a
little calculator sitting on a pile of loose paper suggesting calculate
'pages'. The 3D wooden wall pillars in the library come right out of the
page and plunge deep into the library image, with shadows falling on the
panels to further hint at this.
Other
hints include the inkpot with quill and tumbling pages, which is meant to
suggest 'draw from page to page'. And there is a geometry 'drawing' book
at the top of the page with pages falling from it into the three
dimensional library hinting at 'draw' in 3D through the pages. There is a
ruler sitting beside a book with a bookmark in it, to jointly hint at
ruling lines on a page. In association with this, bookmarks sit in pages
all the way down the huge pile of books with Merlin's hat on it. The top
red book in particular has several bookmarks in it meaning 'use several
pages'. The collective idea suggests ruling lines through the book pages
in 3D. Also, a broom handle can be found on the library 'text' page. The
broom forms a short line from one panel to another panel. This broom is
found again, but in 3D perspective on the main library pages and it also
starts from a panel, but the other end descends into the library image.
These two images are intended to suggest taking a three dimensional
approach with making lines between panels 'into the book'. The Royal
sceptre seen with the seven solids in the library shelf (the three
dimensional instructions solved by the puzzlers) is also found on the
previous spread associated with scrolls of paper pointing in an outward
angled direction from a border panel into the pages. (Indicates aim a line
and follow the seven solids through the book in 3D starting from panel
points.)
Another
hint is the Knight holding a long jousting lance on the 'playroom' page.
The lance traverses the page to touch on a border panel, and is designed
to suggest taking a line across the page to a far border panel. Another
Knight on the same page is linked to the child's 3D seven solids slider
puzzle (The slider directs puzzlers to go through the seven part solving
sequence in 3D). The very same knight also is found linked to the 'seven
solids sequence' book on the 'cave' text page. The link between the 'lance
knight', and the other two knights with slider puzzle and solids book is
collectively designed to suggest 'draw lines from panel to panel in three
dimensions'.
On the
same 'playroom' page the Zodiac and Alchemy Beefeaters have zodiac and
alchemy 'lance' clocks. On a panel between them is a 'green door' -
suggesting go straight through the book borders from the Zodiac on one
page through Alchemy on another page, and to the final 'tiles' system on
another page. (The tiles are represented by the beefeaters.)
On the
ballroom page border, a Fokker tri-plane shoots a 'line' of tracer fire
from one panel to a Spitfire on another panel.
As it
turned out, within a few months of the book being published, several of
the puzzlers surmised that since the method for solving the puzzle was
language independent, then drawing lines from point-to-point to locate
'visual symbols' might be the way to solve it.
The 'Zodiac' border panels Ò starting points for the three dimensional lines.
The
borders are split into forty-eight identical panels. On every fourth panel
is one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, which runs clockwise around the
page. We shall call these 'Zodiac' panels. The first sign, Aries, begins
on the second panel to the top right of the book's gutter Ò at the one
o'clock position.
Puzzlers will now see that each of the
'objects' to be found is located by a moving sequentially around the
'zodiac' panelled borders of the book in a similar way to many classic
board games.
Once the seven sub-puzzles are solved, puzzlers can work logically through the book
The process applies three dimensionally as follows: Puzzlers go logically through the entire book spread by spread, drawing lines from zodiac panels through the book, locating objects, then going back to where they were and turning to the next page until all double page spreads have been done. Apart from the first double page and the last, each sequential double page is a starting point, with either three or four Zodiac panels to draw lines from. The number of zodiacs to use is dictated by the number of witch hats on the page.
I.e. The zodiac panels, alchemy symbols and 'word object' panels are not on the same page, but on three different pages. Let's call these pages X, Y, Z.
1. On page X the puzzler starts drawing a line from a zodiac panel.
2. The puzzler now turns to page Y to find an alchemy symbol, continues the line across the alchemy symbol and out to a border panel.
3. The puzzler now turns to page Z and locates the same panel.
4. The puzzler then goes clockwise or anticlockwise around the border to locate the real panel with the 'word object' on it.
5. These 'word objects'
then need to be put into correct order. This order is provided by the
trail of square copper tiles with coded symbols that can be seen around
the sides and bottom of each page. These give each 'word object' an
ordering number. (Deciphering the tiles is explained further on.) Once all
the word objects from all the pages in the book are put into this order,
the alchemist's spell, and how it is cast, is revealed.
An action example of how the 'seven
solids' information directs the three-dimensional 'line
drawing':
Starting on a
page in its sequential order, set three or four trajectory lines starting
from each of the three or four zodiac points. (The number of witch's hats
will tell you whether to use three [or four] zodiac symbols.)
Now calculate
the gold and silver sublimate of sulphur symbols which will tell you which
double page spread to go to next. On the spread you arrive at, continue
the lines respectively across the three or four alchemy symbols there and
on out towards the border panels. (You will need to have solved the
spitfire puzzle in order to have the correct symbol order.)
Now count the
silver and gold cadency symbols on that page which will tell you to go to
yet another spread and go to the same panels there.