THE PUZZLER

3 of History's Most Fascinating Armchair Treasure Hunts (Plus One You Can Try Yourself)

The genre of books that contain hidden clues leading to a buried treasure or cash prize is sometimes called “armchair treasure hunts.”

10 of the Greatest Puzzles in History

Criteria include ingenuity, staying power, the puzzles’ effect on history—and whether they gave the author a good kind of headache or bad kind of headache.

Edgar Allan Poe's Cipher Challenge

Edgar Allan Poe loved ciphers—and in 1841, "The Raven" author issued a cipher-related challenge.

If you wanted to find love in the Victorian era, you'd need to do a little decoding first.

3 Types of Victorian Era Love Puzzles (Plus 3 Puzzles to Solve Yourself)

In Victorian England, romance was a literal puzzle. Here are three ways that 19th-century singles pitched woo.

Old Gold Puzzle: Courtesy of Crown Publishing; Jigsaw Puzzle: MerveKarahan // iStock via Getty Images Plus

The Great Rebus Craze of 1937 (Plus 4 Rebuses to Solve Yourself)

How did Americans make money during the Great Depression? Some sold apples on street corners and others became migrant farmers. But about 2 million Americans tried to strike it rich another way: By doing puzzles.