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…an entirely different kind of place.
The group complained of feeling “all turned around,” as well they might.
Because no one wanted to stay here very long they missed the real sign while looking through the obvious. People in their situation, confronted with a challenge, tend to accept the terms of the challenge as a given, without examining it from all sides. How many sides does that problem have? They don’t know.
We passed down a long flight of stairs, through some sort of pantry, and on into…
- Images and text copyright 1985 by Christopher Manson
used with permission. [Purchase MAZE from Amazon]
Room Type: LOOP Doors: 9 15 18 33
Solution Summary: [COLLECTION CURATED BY WHITE Raven. SEE COMMENTS FOR ADDITIONAL SOLUTION PROPOSALS.]
● The “obvious sign” in the text refers to the “THIS WAY” sign which points to door 18 no matter how you invert the image. [Independent Credit: Hello Gregor | White Raven]
● Two question and answer pairs indicate the correct door. The riddle of the sphinx emphasized by a question mark (next to the wrong door) points to the answer “man” next to door 18. [Independent Credit: Hello Gregor | vewatkin | White Raven]["Man" is understood in the context of the Riddle of the Sphinx as not to be "male" but "humankind."] The question, “What is your sign?” points to the answer “man” next to door 18. [Independent Credit: David G | White Raven] [This is emphasized by both the question mark in the sphinx picture and the "What is your sign?" banner having the same orientation.]
● The well known modern version of the riddle of sphinx is, “What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs during the day, and four legs in the evening?” In this version a day is equated to a life and thus the night which follows evening is death. The sun and moon symbol then symbolize life and death, reinforcing 18 as the correct choice. [Independent Credit: Aria | White Raven][There are several versions of the riddle in antiquity all which emphasize the sequence four, two, three and make no mention of morning, day and evening. Though the version by Athenaeus includes a second riddle, "There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first." The answer is day and night. It is possible that these two riddles were combined to create the modern version.]
● The STOP/POTS sign pairs with the pots indicating that they are incorrect. The tepid water in the pots points to the warm water in the radiator. “Warm” as an idiom in English denotes more correct. The sun and radiator on/next to door 18 are both warm. [Independent Credit: Hello Gregor | White Raven] Room 18 is described as a “much warmer room” this reinforces the warmer/cooler riddle. [Credit: Hello Gregor] The moon denotes darkness, the sun denotes light. Darkness/bad versus light/good is a running theme in MAZE. [Independent Credit: David Gentile | White Raven] [Warm and cold dovetail with life and death in the sphinx riddle so that "warmer," life, light, and "man" all point to door 18.]
● The typeface of the banner “WHAT IS YOUR SIGN” is written so that letters could be numbers. The word “IS” appears to be either a 15, 51, 12, or 21 depending upon how the room is flipped or reversed. If 21 and 12 are added the result is 33, if these numbers are subtracted the result is 9. 33 and 9 are the numbers of the incorrect doors. [Independent Credit: 515 | White Raven] [This solution is incomplete.] 51 – 12 & 21 = 18 the number of the correct door. [Independent Credit: Aria | White Raven] [This solution is incomplete.]
Perhaps the hidden sign behind the stop sign is a U(You)-Turn sign as a reply to the question “what is your sign?” and reinforced by their feeling “all turned around”. That could also make sense as an instruction to flip the book over backward to see the “this way” sign read correctly pointing toward door 18, which reads in this orientation as door 81 = 51 + 15 + 15 using the numbers in the sign texts. Also from that orientation the stick man looks like a falling Icarus too close to the sun. Icarus was instructed by his father Daedalus also to not fly too close to water as shown in the 2 pots and the pan. Perhaps we should try the pan’s handle and Icarus as he falls to his demise in Room 18 down that “long flight of stairs, through some sort of pantry…”
Going back through the old posts here, I see an incredible amount of effort poured into mathematically computing the correct path forward, as well as measurements and angles of celestial objects and the justifications for flipping them, and a significant stretch of non sequitur *somethings*… but no one mentioned the sign behind the STOP sign at any point. There’s a rectangular sign right behind it, which would be visible if you flipped the pair around. As best I can tell, the most likely identity for it would be a Speed Limit sign – go forward, but with a certain amount of caution. This sign is initially parked next to Door 9, but once flipped out to make the rear sign visible, would be positioned directly next to Door 18.
Most things suggested on this website are completely bonkers–including things I’ve suggested, and things listed as accepted solutions above. Don’t be fooled by the standard of lunacy embraced here! That’s not really what this book is about, that’s just what we end up wallowing in because we can’t figure things out for real.
It’s an excuse to English major BS my heart out without (much) judgment. I’m just sad I didn’t rediscover the book until Blue Prince went and made it all hip and cool again…
Well, don’t let me ruin your fun. I try to provide some feedback here so that people aren’t misled as to the authenticity of these solutions. (I was, for quite a while, which is why my own lunacy is in evidence everywhere.)
I did notice you’ve been stalking the halls of the Labyrinth for a decade now. It’d be weird if you didn’t experience a lunatic phase in all that time :P
this sounds simplistic out loud, but
the text asking how many sides = reading the stop sign as an octagon more supported, defining it by how many sides it has