" No pal, you ain't got it wrong, he does indeed depart before they realise they are trapped. Scary. But if you have managed to work out how a magician does his tricks; and believe me you'd have to be exceptionally good to be able to... "

" Sorry, that didn't come off as I intended. I meant that my assessment of "ringer's" significance is not based on a resistance to dual meaning. I'm saying this "ringer" thing seems meaningless on its own merits. "

" No reason to think the term “ringer” is relevant as a pun of some kind. "

" Things can serve more than one purpose. In fact WR had a conversation with Manson in which he confirmed that this was the case. "

" I had originally written a long comment that had had trouble sending, but in reality had been sent many times, so I went back and broke up my message into chunks and edited them back into my resent messages, sorry for the confusion, haha. "

" Reading the aulos the way I described is a combination of the mouthpiece pointing down and the myth where the mouthpiece pointing down meant Marsyas was (unable to) play it from the two ends. Nobody would think one was trying to play it from the... "

" You're right that turning the aulos upside-down never occurs in the myth. But I see it like this: the right-side up aulos led to his triumph, but the quality of it being upside down lead to his downfall. You're not able to turn an aulos... "

" [I sent the same message a bunch of times by accident] "

" [I sent the same message a bunch of times by accident] "

" On the stringed instrument- I have no idea if I am being honest, it could be intended to be upside down, but unlike the aulos or clarinet comparison and like you, I don't read it as being at the wrong angle. Could be though. Let's... "

" Hmmmm... I would argue there is a natural orientation. If you were to draw a clarinet in a vertical orientation, where would you put the mouthpiece? I would draw it at the top. The top of this symbol is opened into two mouthpieces and therefore... "

" No reason the think the term "ringer" is relevant as a pun of some kind, but this was probably done to evoke the game of horseshoes, as a U sitting on the floor would probably not otherwise be regarded as a horseshoe (without visible nail... "

" If we have to apologize for all the bad ideas we've posted on here, then Sara and I will die of exhaustion. "

" It seems plausible to me that a stringed instrument is there to help identify the aulos or its significance; but none of the why-the-aulos-is-upside-down things you're saying make sense to me, and it kind of seems like no matter how the instruments were oriented you... "

" (When I wrote the original post, I was referencing "lonely one" becoming "l only one," relating to LONELY in the center being spelled with one L, and not just a single L being there in general. But it doesn't make the original post any less... "

" I'll answer that for myself: yes "

" I do agree that it's a tough sell since rings would be easy to include unintentionally. "

" Well, I'm actually referring to my own ideas/list of ring-related stuff that I talked about at some point, but I'll go look at yours again too, Ritz! Mainly my idea is just that there are "rings" and "ringing" placed intentionally throughout the Maze. "

" Are they printing errors? "

" My ringing solution made a few jumps (and had some weird time travel shenanigans), but huh, that is interesting... an issue would be the puzzles crossing over, as in the puzzle of Room 45 would have to have been made primarily, though using a horseshoe... "

" The naysaying is useful, I'd say... My theory on why the aulos is upside-down is because it is a negative symbol. A rightside-up aulos led to triumph, but an upside-down one led to failure. On why the stringed instrument is not upside down- I think... "

" I believe Aria is referring to your room 24/room 20 ringing solution. "

" What are the other "ring" objects? Do you mean the wood row? "

" I guess this has already been pointed out but I'm just noticing it in the context of "ring" things throughout. "

" Ritz, let us know if you would like to join the Mazecast chat on Hangouts. It's not super active right now but it's a way to talk more casually and interactively about stuff. You can contact us via info mazecast com. This goes for anyone... "

" The horseshoe here is a "ringer." "

" It doesn't mean that the aulos and violin aren't a reference to the Marsyas myth, but the dubiousness of the aulos being upside-down, and the wrong instrument being upside-down, should affect our weighing of the aulos's orientation as confirmation of the mythical reference. To reiterate... "

" And yes, I wish the stringed instrument was also upside-down, but it's no debunker... "

" Actually, the argument I just made is pretty bad, you're right it doesn't line up super well but there still are themes of caution, I think we should keep that in mind. "

" I think the aulos pointing up refers to it being upside down because, while you can play a flute normally from that angle, that isn't what Marsyas was trying to do. In the myth, Marsyas couldn't play from the ends of the aulos that weren't... "

" I don't think that "upside-down," in the context of a flute, means "pointing up." You can easily play a flute while pointing it up in the air. Moreover, Pan/Marsyas didn't play their instrument upside-down. Apollo did. If this room were meant to suggest this myth,... "

" Here's what I think the stuff about turning back means: "Several wanted to turn back." Like Room 21, turning back to the place outside the loop where you ended up here is the solution... that is inaccessible. "The bold one ventured out to the center."... "

" Oops, sorry, just tried to construe the symbols to indicate which doors were right or wrong but y'know... "

" We aren't given the suggestion of a wind instrument, we are given a very specific wind instrument at a specific angle. If we were given a flute and a fiddle, this might be harder to bridge, but I can't see why Manson would draw this... "

" Sara's endorsement is a nail in every coffin, but more to the point, the boldness referenced here is in the context of bravery, not pride. The bold one's willingness to venture out to the middle of the room is not described in terms of hubris,... "

" I don't think Aria's idea of attributing the blade to the myth is that shaky. In the myth, he was flayed, so Manson drew a knife. Knife = Flaying. Flaying = bad. Right doors = bad. "

" I guess, though the fact that the aulos is upside-down gives it more traction. "Marsyas" is the second result for the inquiry "upside down aulos." "

" The instruments assigned to Pan and Marsylas (and Apollo) are all over the place in different accounts and paintings and engravings and sculpture. I'm even seeing him with a valve-less horn like what we see on the left side of this room. I do think... "

" I agree that this seems like a reasonable theme for this room. I have a sort of half-hearted project of looking for idioms that relate to rooms and "pride goes before a fall" seems like a good one for this room. The hellish light and... "

" I agree that Marsyas fits better in terms of the details. The word "agon" applies regardless. "

" Marsyas died because of hubris. Themes of caution and boldness are presented in this room. "

" In the myth of Pan versus Apollo, Pan doesn't use the aulos, he plays the syrinx. "

" !!! "

" The contest between Pan and Apollo was, in fact, an agon. "

" Speaking of Pan, given that it's essentially the same story as far as the pictured elements are concerned, that Pan is a far more famous figure than Marsyas, and that the adjoining room 3 contains pans, perhaps we should be thinking of Pan instead of... "