This last puzzle was a variation on “paint by the numbers.” The first step was recognizing the individual cards in each picture. Once every card was recognized, you could begin to establish a pattern. The first clue was in the opening line. Many of you were very confused about just what this was supposed to mean. The simple answer is that it was meant to be confusing. Many puzzles you’ll come across will have something that actually gives you too much information. This was an example. All you really needed from the line was the word “themselves.” If you take that word and begin to think about the patterns you found in the pictures, you should notice something—each picture has a repeated character.

Once you’ve figured out that there is a repeated character, you have to figure out what to do with that knowledge. I got many emails from people who had gotten to this step and had sent the repeated characters to me as their answer. However, none of the answers for the previous puzzle were of that format. That must mean that there’s another step to be done.

The next step is where the painting by numbers is done. Each “card” has a pattern on it. It’s the same template for every card. It looks something like this:

If you color in the portions of the template that belong to the repeated characters, yet another pattern will emerge. If you do it right, you will see a series of recognizable symbols. All you have to do to finish is unscramble the symbols to get your answer.

There is one final step that many of you seem to want to take. You’ve caught on to the idea that the answers must mean something. Every week, I get more and more emails about the answers to my puzzles and the things that people think they should do with them. I promise you that when the last puzzle comes out (which should be soon), you will know what to do. Until then, keep guessing.

As a final note, I’d like to apologize if I didn’t get a chance to respond to your emails. I was completely unprepared for the hundreds (I’m not kidding) of emails I was sent about this last puzzle. I tried to help as many as I could, but it was a job far beyond my abilities. Hopefully, I’ll get a better chance to respond to all of you next time.

Questions and comments can be sent to the_priceis_right@yahoo.com.