Metapuzzle

Part of a series on
Puzzles
Types Guessing Riddle Situation Logic Dissection Induction Logic grid Self-reference Mechanical Combination Construction Disentanglement Lock Go problems Folding Stick Tiling Transport Tour Sliding Chess Maze (Logic maze) Word Crossword Puzzle video games Mazes Metapuzzles
Topics Brain teaser Dilemma Optical illusion Packing problems Paradox Problem solving Puzzlehunt Syllogism Thinking outside the box
Lists Impossible puzzles Maze video games Nikoli puzzle types Puzzle video games Puzzle topics

A metapuzzle is a puzzle that unites several puzzles that feed into it. For example, five puzzles that had the answers BLACK, HAMMER, FROST, KNIFE, and UNION would lead to the metapuzzle answer JACK, which combines with all of those words to make new words and phrases.

A "meta-meta" unites several metapuzzles. So if that metapuzzle answer JACK was alongside three metapuzzles with the answers TEN, QUEEN, and ACE, the meta-meta answer would be KING, the remaining card in an ace high straight.

Metapuzzles are frequently found in puzzlehunts.

The structure of a metapuzzle often makes it possible to guess, with a greater or lesser degree of certainty, the solutions to the puzzles that feed into it without solving them. This technique is called backsolving. For instance, in the above example, after solving the puzzles whose answers were BLACK, HAMMER, FROST, and KNIFE, and the metapuzzle answer JACK, a backsolver might, instead of solving the fifth puzzle, correctly guess UNION as its answer simply based on the knowledge that it must form a word or phrase with JACK. Backsolving is not infallible; the same backsolver might incorrectly guess SPRING-HEELED as the answer just as easily as correctly guessing UNION.

The meta prefix has been repurposed for the unrelated meta crosswords, which are not metapuzzles. A meta crossword is a puzzle which has an extra extraction step to extract a final answer after the crossword is completed. Most crosswords in a puzzlehunt are like this, but they are not called meta crosswords in the context of a hunt, as that would be confusing.

See also

Puzzlehunts that have metapuzzles

• MIT Mystery Hunt
• Microsoft Puzzle Hunt
• Microsoft Puzzle Safari
• College Puzzle Challenge

Puzzle games that have metapuzzles

• The Fool's Errand
• 3 in Three
• System's Twilight
• The Fool and His Money

Puzzle books that have metapuzzles

• The Librarian's Almanaq
• The Maze of Games
• The Year of Puzzles

Websites that have metapuzzles

• Some Puzzles by Mark Halpin
• Planetarium