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The Practical Alchemist: Showing the Way an Ordinary House-Cat May Be Transformed into True Gold
A challenging new puzzle from the author of Maze. The challenge to you, as a literary Alchemist, is to successfully forge a chain of forty-five transformations that change the word CAT into the word GOLD. There are any number of word-chains illustrated herein, but there is only one chain that lets you turn your CAT into GOLD without repeating a word.
95 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 27, 2024
For those who dont know anything about this book this is basically one long puzzle..... a labyrinth of words.
This is clearly from the same mind and artistry that produced The Maze... However the maze felt like a world in which we could wander, explore and tackle whatever you wished to. There were a mix of individual puzzles and collective puzzles. Some of the individual puzzles were too obscure and convoluted for what I was interested in or able to tackle but it was still a lovely thing to behold.
Here the pictures feel less like a world to explore and much more like individual elements of a puzzle. Basically you start with the word "CAT" and each page you can make 1 change whether it is adding a letter, removing a letter, changing a letter or rearranging the order of the letters. What adds an extra layer to the puzzle is that each choice needs to tie in with one of the pictures and there are deliberate red herrings that can take you pages before you realise you have been led astray.
What holds this back in my eyes is three things. Firstly the text that accompanies the writing is needlessly old fashioned and bland. It does give clues but gives as many red herrings as clues. It can hint at some of the more obscure words that otherwise you might not have guessed from the pictures but it doesnt add too much to the fun of the experience. Secondly the pictures feel more like individual elements than complete wholes that I would like. They are not pictures you can get lost in but they are still interesting and compelling.
The biggest failing is that the puzzle doesnt entirely play fair. Just like I have no interest in a cryptid crossword this can sometimes go in the same direction with 2 of the words being things I had never heard of and one being a word that whilst I had heard of isnt in common usage. 2-3 of the words supposedly illustrated by the images were also somewhat of a stretch.
Still a unique and memorable work and one that the right sort of person could get lost in for months. Me I quickly saw it was something I was really more wanting to look at the solution when unsure than struggle through and solve. I can certainly see myself returning to this a few times though and its a great book to get out and show others who might appreciate the challenges it offers.
This is clearly from the same mind and artistry that produced The Maze... However the maze felt like a world in which we could wander, explore and tackle whatever you wished to. There were a mix of individual puzzles and collective puzzles. Some of the individual puzzles were too obscure and convoluted for what I was interested in or able to tackle but it was still a lovely thing to behold.
Here the pictures feel less like a world to explore and much more like individual elements of a puzzle. Basically you start with the word "CAT" and each page you can make 1 change whether it is adding a letter, removing a letter, changing a letter or rearranging the order of the letters. What adds an extra layer to the puzzle is that each choice needs to tie in with one of the pictures and there are deliberate red herrings that can take you pages before you realise you have been led astray.
What holds this back in my eyes is three things. Firstly the text that accompanies the writing is needlessly old fashioned and bland. It does give clues but gives as many red herrings as clues. It can hint at some of the more obscure words that otherwise you might not have guessed from the pictures but it doesnt add too much to the fun of the experience. Secondly the pictures feel more like individual elements than complete wholes that I would like. They are not pictures you can get lost in but they are still interesting and compelling.
The biggest failing is that the puzzle doesnt entirely play fair. Just like I have no interest in a cryptid crossword this can sometimes go in the same direction with 2 of the words being things I had never heard of and one being a word that whilst I had heard of isnt in common usage. 2-3 of the words supposedly illustrated by the images were also somewhat of a stretch.
Still a unique and memorable work and one that the right sort of person could get lost in for months. Me I quickly saw it was something I was really more wanting to look at the solution when unsure than struggle through and solve. I can certainly see myself returning to this a few times though and its a great book to get out and show others who might appreciate the challenges it offers.
March 17, 2024
Christopher Manson’s work remains utterly singular. As always, he does not cater to the feeble-hearted; his puzzles are extremely difficult and require (at least for me) near obsession to complete.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews