Comments on: The Solution to Manson’s MAZE: Part II – The Riddle of Room 45

By: wombat

wombat — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 18:12:52 +0000

In what evil shoe am I, Woodrow Shakespeare’s son? All none, you!

that’s what I get

By: ritz

ritz — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 21:26:33 +0000

Well, my opinion did shift slightly as I was explaining it, from ‘none shouldn’t be thrown out’ to ‘the fact that none is thrown out is relevant,’ so I don’t blame you.
Maybe comparing the two riddles is relevant, or maybe the base choice itself is relevant. A choice between all or none does bring the phrase “all or nothing” to mind. Honestly, though, a plausible explanation for the nun being there is to make it clearer what the awl is meant to be. That’s a little boring, (ha! boring!), but one is much more recognizable than the other…

By: vewatkin

vewatkin — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:30:35 +0000

Oh! I see what you’re saying now. That’s quite plausible and interesting. Sorry, I wasn’t understanding what you meant.

By: ritz

ritz — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 15:31:48 +0000

No, I think that the fact that “all” is directly used in the text in relation to something being on a wall points to using it over “none.” A choice between “all” and “none” is implied, which would lead the reader to scan the page for any nudges towards one over the other.
What I do think, though, is that Manson intended the reader to consider the riddle that includes “none,” as we’re doing now. There is no other obvious choice like this in 45, except for maybe “live” and “evil,” and there must be a reason for this dichotomy.
I don’t think we’re supposed to find alternative answers for a riddle that includes “none,” because if that was the correct answer, the riddle of the path would still read the same. I think we’re supposed to look at these two riddles:
What house will all live in? (The world)
What house will none live in? (The world)
…and wonder what each means, and why one is considered correct over the other. In this way, Manson may not actually be preaching agnostic. Maybe he’s drawing attention to some nuanced difference between these interpretations that isn’t clear to me yet?

By: vewatkin

vewatkin — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 13:30:25 +0000

Do you the occurrence of “all” in the text to be irrelevant in this reading? (I don’t intend that to sound skeptical, just curious.)

(After all, “in” occurs in the text as well, and I don’t think that is meaningful. I think there’s good reason to take “written on the wall for all to see” differently, but that’s BESIDE THE POINT AT THE MOMENT.)

By: ritz

ritz — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 02:25:11 +0000

Good points. I generally agree with everything here, and that you’re supposed to insert “all” into the riddle’s INTENDED phrasing (‘all to see’ directly points to it, and your logic makes sense for taking that over a contrivance that might lead to none). However, I don’t think that the reading that uses “none” is necessarily less IMPORTANT.
The fact that both make complete sense when “world” is plugged in actually seems reasonably intentional to me. It’s an antiautonymous puzzle. Manson had no reason to put that nun on the wall- he could have just stopped at the awl. I think the incorrect reading is still relevant to the riddle’s meaning at large.

By: vewatkin

vewatkin — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 16:35:20 +0000

And, to belabor the point: The publisher solutions took the care to specify three different words that would be accepted as solutions to the Riddle of the Maze. If Manson intended alternate phrasings of the Riddle, it would only make sense to similarly list the acceptable possibilities. The publisher administrated the contest, not Manson, so failing to mention that “none” worked as well as “all” would simply mean that people could solve the puzzle correctly and still lose the contest. In effect, Manson would be making it an absolute coin toss whether you win the contest, even if you solve the Riddle perfectly! It’s really hard to imagine that being anyone’s intent.

By: vewatkin

vewatkin — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 16:25:49 +0000

Although, Manson’s own contest clue says you have to choose between two pictures. If what Manson actually did was deliberately craft a riddle that implied the same answer even when phrased as its opposite, he pretty thoroughly pretended that he didn’t do that. I think it’s more likely that the clues and the riddle just are what he has said they are.

By: ritz

ritz — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:09:52 +0000

Hmmm. I still think that using the contest to filter out solutions may not be wise. “All” may be the official answer, but as we’ve recently learned there’s another intended riddle solution separate from “world.”

By: vewatkin

vewatkin — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:04:00 +0000

It’s not clear to me from WR’s recounting at what point in creation the various aspects of the contest were requested/demanded. Manson received an advance before the book was written/illustrated; the publisher seems to have been involved from an early stage.

“[T]he publisher at Henry Holt was immediately sold on the idea and gave Manson an advance…and a deadline.

“Over the next 9 months Manson lived off of the advance and churned out the work.”