Death by Mime
10-03-2009, 06:50 AM
Some of them are pretty clever; some rely on bad puns and old jokes; some depend on Gotham City having an endless supply of weirdly named people and places; some are impossible to get unless you know the answer already; some are really more of puzzles. Share the one you like best.
I have to admit, my favorite comes from the 60's TV show. No other has been as memorable. I can't remember the dialogue verbatim, but it went a little something like this:
So the Riddler has gotten hold of a device that can spontaneously disintegrate any building in the city. For the past few episodes, he's been leaving a bunch of riddles. Batman and Robin have solved them all, but the answers seem to have no relation to each other and they can't figure out what he's trying to say.
"Gee whiz, Batman, I'm stumped! How can we figure this out in time?"
"Let's try a different tactic, old chum. Take the first letter of every answer."
"Okay ... but there doesn't seem to be anything I can spell with those letters."
"Hmm, now try converting the letters to their numeric equivalents. A becomes 1, and so on."
"Holy arithmetic! Do you think it's map coordinates, Batman?"
"No, Riddler wouldn't try something so easy. Now, try adding all of the numbers together."
"That makes ... 36!"
"Now think, Robin, what's special about the number 36?"
"Hmm...... 36 inches converts into three feet ..."
"Exactly! And who has three feet, Robin?"
"....no one."
"Or no man! And I think I remember seeing a jigsaw puzzle factory with that very name!"
And yep sure enough Riddler's holed up in the Noman Jigsaw Puzzle Factory. Even in a series where Batman took the answers "an egg" and "make applesauce" and deduced the bad guys were going to attack the UN, this one still stood out in its glorious convolution.
I have to admit, my favorite comes from the 60's TV show. No other has been as memorable. I can't remember the dialogue verbatim, but it went a little something like this:
So the Riddler has gotten hold of a device that can spontaneously disintegrate any building in the city. For the past few episodes, he's been leaving a bunch of riddles. Batman and Robin have solved them all, but the answers seem to have no relation to each other and they can't figure out what he's trying to say.
"Gee whiz, Batman, I'm stumped! How can we figure this out in time?"
"Let's try a different tactic, old chum. Take the first letter of every answer."
"Okay ... but there doesn't seem to be anything I can spell with those letters."
"Hmm, now try converting the letters to their numeric equivalents. A becomes 1, and so on."
"Holy arithmetic! Do you think it's map coordinates, Batman?"
"No, Riddler wouldn't try something so easy. Now, try adding all of the numbers together."
"That makes ... 36!"
"Now think, Robin, what's special about the number 36?"
"Hmm...... 36 inches converts into three feet ..."
"Exactly! And who has three feet, Robin?"
"....no one."
"Or no man! And I think I remember seeing a jigsaw puzzle factory with that very name!"
And yep sure enough Riddler's holed up in the Noman Jigsaw Puzzle Factory. Even in a series where Batman took the answers "an egg" and "make applesauce" and deduced the bad guys were going to attack the UN, this one still stood out in its glorious convolution.