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…what appeared to be an old storeroom. Dust obscured a damaged painting making it hard to understand just what the artist had intended.
“This could be a trick of some sort,” one said. “We might be going around in circles.”
“I don’t think so,” said the thoughtful one. “I think we’re supposed to think it’s a trick…that’s the trick.”
They all looked at me. “Yes,” I said. “I’m sure you’re right about that.”
With doubtful looks they left for…
- Images and text copyright 1985 by Christopher Manson
used with permission. [Purchase MAZE from Amazon]
Room Type: LOOP Doors: 3 18 27
Solution Summary: [COLLECTION CURATED BY WHITE Raven. SEE COMMENTS FOR ADDITIONAL SOLUTION PROPOSALS.]
● In the text the line “I think we’re supposed to think it’s a trick…that is the trick,” is meant to prime us to look for a couplet by the couplets “think” “think” and “trick” “trick.” The last two lines are a couplet the first devoted to the word “right” and the other to the word “left.” “Right” is in the same sentence as “Yes” and “sure,” while in the second sentence “left” is with “doubtful.” The right hand door, 18, is correct. [Independent Credit: David G | White Raven]
● The three men and the picture of the blind mouse go together to recall the nursery rhyme “Three Blind Mice.” A visitor says, “We may be going around in circles” – this recalls the blind mice chasing the farmer’s wife, who in turn captures the blind mice. The sword in the torn painting which is pointing to door 3 recalls the knife in the nursery rhyme used to cut off the tails of the mice. All this is to indicate that door 3 is bad. Door 3 = blindness, running in circles, and being cut with a knife. Alternately door 18 is flanked by a picture of sunlight. Door 18 = sight. [Independent Credit: vewatkin / David G | White Raven] [Note: This solution is incomplete]
9 new answers
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.1.
The 3 men pictured are scientists Kelvin Joule Siemens. They all have single letter SI (derived) units: K J S.
Another is Newton (N), who is known for apple falling on his head, which the correct door has.
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.2.
In Three Blind Mice their tails are cut off. Treat the scientists like the 3 blind mice and cut the last 2 letters off their names, in order, which gives “In lens”.
2a.
This strengthens “apple of my eye” etc answers by giving you eyes.
2b.
It also points to look at the glasses of Siemens.
His glasses and nose have thicker ink (“think”). The two oo make 8 and nose makes a 1. Combined they give 18. (Text above “understand” anagrams to red room which is room 22. In room 22 the fourth sign on wall that looks like H20 can be read as “I+00″ and you get Siemens/S there).
2c.
2 * eye = 2 * i = 2*9 = 18
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.3.
“Trick” coming up 3 times means “hat-trick”.
A HAT is on sacrificial tripod in room 15. It causes the characters of HAT to get removed where & when HAT appears (in 4+ rooms so far).
Remove h/a/t letters at start of paragraph where 3rd trick appears.
“I don’t think so” becomes “I don ink o”.
The third man in art is donning ink o. This black ink on the glasses is noticeably bolder and darker, making two ink ‘o’ he dons. See previous answer on how this gives door 18.
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.4.
“Three Blind Mice” is an English nursery rhyme and musical “round”. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3753.
The paragraph talking about “round” says the “trick” is “some”/sum. 3+7+5+3 = 18. Might be chance.
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.5.
The theme of 3 and greek/Trojan art is used to get “Trojan orbit”. Which is basically 3 body orbit type. One of the biggest Jupiter Trojans, discovered in 1930s, is called 1404 Ajax.
The art is of Ajax (“a” is written) and has ink lines streaking through it. Inc-line-d.
1404 Ajax has an inclination of 18.00° accurate to 4 significant figures. I’m not sure they had that accuracy in 1985 or not but it’s a way to use angle inc-lines and Trojan.
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.6.
Shovel has T broken off end. Shovel doesn’t have T end. If it’s really a Trowel then remove T and EL tail to get ROW.
In the text find the where it says intended/ “in-T-ended”. The number of characters on the row is 18.
If it’s just shovel:
It’s pointing at either triangle or tear. Tear can mean rip or crying tear, which is another eye link.
Tear may be used as T-ear. The blind mouse has big ears. Implying to use sound not sight. “Three” contains T but not the sound of T. Eighteen contains the sound of T.
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.7.
It’s important to realise that first paragraph of text, and the obscured front door on ripped art, is about the word APPEL.
Angel/angle/apple/appel.
There’s a thing about appeal/appear and appel/a-pear and L/R left right switching. But it’s for other rooms. Three blind mice cutting tails also cut 2 letters.
You also use this to get AbleAbel and handle/Handel and Candle/Candela (an SI unit).
“appel” ambigrams to “ladde”. The missing letter is r=18. There’s a snakes and ladders theme in the house with ladders giving correct door. Room 39 has a tire with letter R and ladder next to it, and “entirely” is shown to be about letter rotation / ambigramming.
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.8.
Triangle/Tri-angel here may be used to get correct door in room 2, or realise they are angels.
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.9.
In room 45 the ELVIS sign shows 1∧73. ∧ is logical AND, and the sign is a way to get HANDLE/HANDEL. It’s a LE/EL ending switch hint thing. But it’s also about element 73 tantalum which is named after Tantalus, who famously had the fate where fruit tree fruit were always out of reach as the tree moved when he reached for it. Here the apple has fallen on the floor so there is no risk of that. Conversely room 6 has the Rock of Tantalus and perhaps “eye of newt-on a sign”.
Are you ok?
That’s kind of an unfair question. Even if you have sincere doubts about britzerland’s mental health, you can’t expect people to recognize their own irrational beliefs as delusional. This just comes across as a condescending insult.
Obviously, britzerland’s manner of interpreting Maze seems outlandish to everyone else, and britzerland himself has given up trying to engage earnestly with others. In all fairness, we all, myself included, pretty quickly took the opportunity to crack wise about the new David Gentile. But in poking fun at britzerland’s mental health, you’re dipping your toe into some very personal and potentially very real issues that we really don’t need to exacerbate.
We all see what you’re talking about. We all see that we all see it. We don’t have to say it.
Elvis has left the building with a bag of rare bull men.
Regarding A words: Angel and Apple are clearly associated with 18, Armor is walking toward 18, The puzzling element is the picture of the star/sun shining onto what is basically an abstract of a city (possibly an arabesque one as Vince pointed out) – I’m gonna try and force an A word out of this… Apex, Ablaze, or Ascendant. I dunno why one would be looking for A words outside of obvious ones, but nothing obvious comes from that picture on the right. I don’t think it’s a comet, he could have drawn that easily with a night sky, it’s a sun or emanation.
I guess he’s flipping the script on us by making the two sets of clues either 3 based, or A based (A-TEEN). A stunning knuckleball of a clue penetrating the world of phonetics.
JUST A THOUGHT.
The large painting could be Theseus defeating the minotaur, and the Guide may have destroyed it, for reasons no one will ever know…
This is a fascinating room, and I think I’ve figured out explanations for almost every object in it.
1. The damaged painting is a major clue that often gets overlooked. In the upper right corner, you can make out the silhouette of a horse’s head. In the printed book, faintly drawn lines suggest a mane and eyes. The torn edge of the painting forms the shape of a woman’s head and bare torso—this is probably a reference to Lady Godiva. In the legend, Lady Godiva rode naked through town to protest her husband’s taxation of the tenants. The townspeople respectfully looked away, except for one man—later called “Peeping Tom”—who was struck blind for looking. Hence the reference to the blind mouse here.
On the left side of the painting, there’s a Greek soldier, which, combined with the horse’s head, makes sense as a reference to the Trojan Horse. In the Trojan War, Odysseus and his soldiers hid inside a wooden horse to sneak into the city of Troy. The painting seems to be playing with two opposing ideas—on one side, you have hiddenness or deception (Trojan Horse), and on the other, you have naked truth or exposure (Lady Godiva). But even that exposure leads to blindness, creating a contradiction. This would tie into the text saying “it’s hard to understand just what the artist had intended.”
2. The objects near the doorway to Room 18 seem to follow a similar theme. The angel, the apple, and the star in the covered painting all relate to idioms associated with sight in some way, but more specifically to obscured or misleading sight. Even the leaves on the apple kind of look like a fly.
Here are the common idioms:
- The angel in my eyes
- The apple of my eye
- A fly in my eye
- Stars in my eyes
Each suggests vision, but in a way that isn’t clear or reliable.
3. The painting of the three men is probably a reference to American industrialists, or “robber barons.” A few things point to this. The shadow from the torn painting looks like udders or teats directed at them, which ties into old political cartoons that depicted robber barons feeding off America. The reference to the “three blind mice” also fits, suggesting they are blinded by greed.
The hole in the ground likely connects to Room 27, where someone asks where the workers who dug it are, and the guide responds:
“They must be ahead of us,” I said. “If we hurry, we can catch them… I mean, catch up with them.”
The key phrase here is “catch them,” which could also mean catching robbers.
4. The hidden painting on the right, with the star over a building, likely represents a city, and it appears to be sitting on dirt or mud. This could be a reference to the phrase “City upon a Hill” from John Winthrop’s famous sermon:
“As a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.”
This phrase became closely tied to American exceptionalism and imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries, symbolizing both a beacon of truth and a misleading illusion. Depending on interpretation, it can represent guidance or deception—a false truth. This connects to the men in the painting, likely American robber barons, blinded by greed and caught between light and shadow. The imagery echoes many artistic depictions of radiant cities glowing in sunlight or starlight, projecting an ideal that is as much about perception as reality.
Altogether, this room plays with a really interesting sense of ambiguity. One side represents blindness or deception, while the other represents sight or seeing, but even that sight is unclear or misleading. Room 18 might seem like the “correct” exit, but in a way, it isn’t. Neither Room 18 nor Room 3 is on the true path, so the clues suggest that neither is the right way to go!
My eyes weren’t good enough to spot the faintly drawn eye or “mane”, but this is interesting! 9
It could be a reference to the minotaur, since you have a painting of what is now essentially the body of a man with what could be the head of a bull.
Only it is missing its horns, but could it be that what looks like a hanger for the painting is actually pointed outward to fill that role?
The painting on the right totally looks like the Star of Bethlehem, which would make the Angel Gabriel, who also has a horn. Apple could be a reference to the Tree of Life.
Are the three wisemen pictured Freud, Einstein and Nietzsche? (Again, my eyesight isn’t good, so I can’t tell if the second figure is sticking out his tongue.) All three are native German speakers and ‘Nein’ means No.
Three wisemen and three blind mice. The cane appears elsewhere.
why is there a hidden lowercase “a” in the ripped painting? (Is this possibly part of a “riddle of the loop” maybe?)
It sure is a pretty good “a,” isn’t it? And then there’s that Apple and Angel through door “A”-teen…
This is probably outlined down below or in a Mazecast but I think the hidden “a” on Theseus’s side of the painting and the apple and angel refer to the beginning of the alphabet, and the apple and angel also refer to the book of Genesis, the first book of the bible. The message is that you have to go back to the beginning and door 18 is the way to get there. But the ripped side of the painting, which we assume to have had an image of the Minotaur, makes triangles, another element telling you that door 3 is the worse door. (We also know that Manson associates 3 with the Minotaur (trefoils), probably because of tripartite shape of the bull’s head.
STOP SAYING “WE KNOW”
ESPECIALLY IN INSANE CONTEXTS
I know it
Manson knows it
WR knows it
I wish he was still here…the first time I saw this website was in 2014 when i got Maze as a Christmas present. Back then there were much less people…and nobody knew it.
The Abyss is absolutely the place for crackerjack theories but your epistemological carelessness is abusive toward everyone trying to have an honest conversation. You do not know these things.
of course I don’t, that’s why it’s fun to try to solve Maze. I wasn’t trying to be mean or abusive. (I’ve never even heard of trefoils or the word “epistomological” before coming here)
Oh no, sorry, not you, I meant Sara. I wouldn’t talk to a human being deserving of respect and understanding that way.
I think Vince was addressing me there, Derek, with all my “I know”s. ;-)
I miss WR too! Maybe he’ll come by and say hi sometime.
The hole in the ground is obviously the entrance from room 27