After as many puzzles as I have done, it becomes very difficult to come up with new, unique ideas. I’ve seen and done just about every type of puzzle there is. Most of them fall into the same categories. They’re variations on a theme. This most recent puzzle was a variation on one of my favorite puzzles. Any of you loyal Gen Con puzzlers might have recognized it as the same scheme used in the “Trouble with Tribbles” puzzle from a few years ago.

The basic method for solving one is to focus on the puzzle itself. This is a classic case where the puzzle actually has nothing to do with the writing on the right-hand side. It was meant to be a decoy, something to throw you off. The puzzle itself is made up of a series of rows that have various colored lines in them. In order to decipher a puzzle like this, you first have to ask yourself what the significance of the colors is. It could be that the colors themselves represent something. In situations like this, you have to be able to assign each color a meaning. You don’t have enough information to do anything like that for this puzzle, so you have to find another solution.

The next thing you might want to try is to find a pattern within the colors themselves. In this case, the individual colors are broken up every so often by other colors. Upon closer inspection, though, you might realize that most of the secondary colors are neighboring both of the constituent primary colors. This is the first clue that they might somehow be linked. In this case, if you break each secondary color up and have it count as both of its constituents, a pattern emerges.

I don’t want to ruin the answer, so I’m not going to give it here. Instead, I just want to help you with the process of solving a puzzle such as this. So here you go. Take the puzzle and break the secondary colors down and count them as both of the primary colors from which they are made. For example, a green square counts as both a yellow square and a blue square. Then, play a simple game of connect the dots. The blocks of primary colors should resemble symbols of some kind. Then it’s up to you to decipher their meaning.

I hope this helps those of you who’ve been stumped on this one. For those of you who figured it out already, congratulations! Have no fear; there will be plenty more to do over the next few weeks. Keep checking back and don’t get discouraged. If you can’t figure something out, leave it alone for a little while and let it settle in your brain. When you come back to it later, you may see something you didn’t before. As always, you can reach me at the_priceis_right@yahoo.com.