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Cain's Jawbone, a murder mystery cryptic puzzle novella in the form of 100 pages presented in the wrong order, has many millions of possible solutions but only one that is correct. 86 years after it was published, writer, comedian and crossword constructor John Finnemore solved it. And then, craving another 100-page cryptic puzzle murder story, he wrote his own.
The original Cain's Jawbone by Edward Powys Mathers, and John Finnemore's new The Researcher's First Murder, are both available to buy from unbound.com.
This is the fifth instalment in the Word Play series about word games and puzzles; previous episodes include the history of anagrams, recent developments in crosswords, and turning words into games. The next episode will be about the Scripps Spelling Bee, which I am attending this week. I’ll be posting about my Bee time on facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow, but members of the Allusioverse will be getting Discord updates and lolloping odd essays from the Bee, so if you want those, scoot along to theallusionist.org/donate - and you’ll also be keeping this independent podcast going, in return for which you get regular livestreams, inside scoops into the making of this show, watchalong parties, and the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
A brief guide to the construction of cryptic crossword clues.
“I attempted to make comparisons with books that challenge the traditional ‘beginning, middle, end’ and present the reader with more experimental approaches.”
About Cain’s Jawbone author Edward Powys Mathers.
A This is Love episode about Cain’s Jawbone.
NLP algorithms didn’t help solve Cain’s Jawbone.
John Finnemore’s new puzzle is in the form of 100 picture postcards: “There is, within the story, a reason why these cards exist, why they have puzzles embedded in them... and why one of the murderers now keeps them safely locked in a drawer. I hope you enjoy trying to work out what it is.”
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
famulus, noun (plural famuli), historical:
an assistant or servant, especially one working for a magician or scholar.
Origin 19th century: from Latin, 'servant'
CREDITS:
John Finnemore is a writer, comedian, crossword constructor and the author/puzzle wizard of the new mystery puzzle novella The Researcher’s First Murder, which will be released in September 2024. Preorder your copy from Unbound.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, on the unceded ancestral and traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social and instagram.com/allusionistshow
Back in two weeks with a new episode - the Beelusionist! - HZ.
Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk compellingly about your product, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:
• Understance: comfortable, stylish, size-inclusive bras and undies. Shop the range and learn about your own branatomy - like I did! - at understance.com.
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothing essentials, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase.
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online empire/new home for your cryptic puzzle that takes months to solve. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
