Spiral puzzle

Spiral puzzle from the Friesland Post

A spiral puzzle is a word puzzle in the form of a spiral. The puzzle is formed of a long chain of letters, which spell out a list of clued words when read in either direction.^[1] The solutions to the left are entered in the boxes from 1 to 100. The responses to the right provide another set of words that must be entered from 100 to 1.^[2] The final solution can consist of a number of boxes, sometimes in colored horizontal, vertical or diagonal rows.

Clues

A description such as 20-26 means that the first letter of the word must be entered in box 20 and the last letter in box 26. The requested answer in that example therefore has 7 letters. The next clue then starts in box 27 and so on to the center of the spiral.

Every square of a spiral puzzle has a single letter written into it by the solver, but the solution can be read in either direction. For example, the letters "I M P U G N I N G I S" could be given a clue for the answers "IMPUGNING" followed by "ISLE" in one direction, and "SIGNING UP" followed by "MILE" in the other.^[1]

The lack of crossing words makes spiral puzzles more difficult to solve. For more difficult types of spiral puzzles, the numbering in the spiral is missing.^[3]

Spiral puzzles in one direction

A Dutch-language spiral pad in one direction

There are also spiral puzzles where words must be entered in only one direction.^[4] The last letter of one word is also the first letter of the next word.^[5] Without overlapping letters, this puzzle is no more than a quiz with the appearance of a puzzle. For more difficult types of spiral puzzles, the numbering in the spiral is missing.

Variants

• There are also Jigsaw puzzles where a spiral has to be placed with puzzle pieces.^[6]
• Three-dimensional spiral puzzles can be taken apart. The individual pieces must then be reassembled. The correct way of turning and pushing slides is related to 'spiral' in these 3D puzzles.^[7]

References

1. Shortz, Will (16 December 2017). "Will Shortz Explains How a Spiral Puzzle Comes Around". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
2. "June 2016: The Spiral – Games World of Puzzles".
3. "Spiral Puzzles Guide | Puzzler®". www.puzzler.com.
4. "Spiral Anagram Puzzle Worksheets -- Activities sand Worksheets: EnchantedLearning.com". www.enchantedlearning.com.
5. "Mini Spiral". That's Life!. 7 February 2019. Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023 – via PressReader.
6. "Volledige turquoise puzzel brede hoek - stukken samen in de vorm van een spiraal past-". 123RF.
7. "Spiral Cast Puzzle Solution". Instructables.