#murdle analysis

[lilythelitten]

*beat*

Okay. So. Wild thought for Murdle Heist.

I know a fair few people think the Red Mask is gonna be Logico and Irratino in disguise, and while I do agree that would be a cool twist, I don’t think that’s what’s gonna happen. But I do think something else is gonna happen.

Notice how Mrs. Ruby is referred to as Miss Ruby in the book descriptions, when she’s been Mrs. in every other book?

Normally, you could chalk this up to just an error (the website called her Miss Ruby too at first), but when the website did correct her name…it added this to her description:

Which indicates she is, in fact, married, and the name isn’t just so she doesn’t overlap with Saffron.

FURTHERMORE, the last line of the US description is as follows:

Rival. A word that’s very charged in the land of Murdle. Just look at the oxymorons. (Okay this one might stretch it a little—)

But yeah. If you ask me? The Red Mask is Ruby’s future spouse and the book will be about how they got together. Given Logico and Irratino’s romance was born of their rivalry in detective work, it’d only be fitting for Miss Ruby to become Mrs. Ruby because of a rival thief. At least, I think so :P

[lilythelitten]

So! Didja know there’s a Barnes & Noble exclusive version of Murdle Heist?

It’s got a sweet-looking unique cover and (apparently) a sneak peek of Letterinth, both of which are pretty neat. But more importantly for my purposes…

It’s got some new images to analyze.

So, as the resident overthinker—let us take a looksie!

(Apologies for, like, the awkward formatting, the image size wasn’t cooperating very well ^^;)

So we got our resident MacGuffin for this particular adventure! The Ruby of Cimota. Presumably, this thingy on the back of the book:

What’s a Cimota? Something we’ll have to find out in the book! Hopefully not something radioactive. (I put it into a word unscrambler just in case and got “atomic”. Oh dear :P) From the looks of things, this “Museum of Gemstones” with its very hexagonal shape that immediately brought to mind Bordergrams for moi stole the Ruby from Ruby and Ruby wants to steal the Ruby back from them. (Yes, I worded it confusingly on purpose :P) Incidentally, if that heart-shaped jewel is the MacGuffin…well, I did theorize a while back that the Red Mask may well be Ruby’s love interest, no? 😉

On a minor note, there seems to be fourteen cases per chapter; 56 divided by 14 equals 4, meaning it looks to be the standard Easy-Medium-Hard-Impossible progression. But with different names XD

Anyway, onto Case Numero Uno!

Unsurprisingly, we got some new characters! Gallerist Garnet (the former of which is not a word) and Painter Peridot. Gotta love alliteration XD Plus, Windsor’s back! The art critic, not the docent. I’m still not sure what their relationship is :P Also, given the whole Red Mask character, I am immensely suspicious of anyone whose name is a shade of red. I’m onto you, Garnet.

Looks like heist jobs replace weapons, while locations stay the same—just with security levels in place of, say, vibes. I suppose a place having soothing vibes probably ain’t that important to a criminal XD Also, seems like things like weight or weapon material is replaced by what kinda expertise is needed. We’ll cover that more in a bit!

Also also, the fact that we’re working out who got away with the loot sort of gives the mental image of Ruby repeatedly getting betrayed by heist members who run off with what she wants. Which is probably inaccurate, but very funny XD

Next slide, please!

Okay, uh, you can’t see this part because I figured the suspect list was more important, but this is Case 29—making it the first case of Chapter 3. Quite a jump! Also, uh, Lily only now noticing the “Atomic” Hotel after she unscrambled Cimota. Also only now noticing Cimota is Atomic in Sdrawkcab. I am very smart guys :V

But anyway, two newcomers! Jim “Stone” (that’s not a title, what is this blasphemy) and Sister Beryl. I do not know if Beryl is a shade of red and until I know I will not trust her either :P Apparently, Beryl’s part of a set of three: the “Swindle Sisters”. Whether that has anything to do with Sister Lapis is unknown, as is whether they have any relation (unlikely, given Beryl has blonde hair and blue eyes while Lapis’s are both shades of brown).

MORE RELEVANTLY, Stone’s description reveals that a) he worked for the Red Mask and b) Miss Ruby has, at this point, infiltrated the Red Mask’s lair, and possibly tried to karate chop them. Why she would need to do this is unknown as of now, but that MacGuffin of Cimota’s probably got something to do with it—of course, this being halfway through the book, it’s unlikely she managed to actually defeat the Red Mask, but she has confronted them. My own guess is that Ruby tries to steal the MacGuffin at the end of the first chapter, only for the Red Mask to beat her to it, hence her infiltrating their lair to try and take it. But, of course, there’s no way of knowing ^^;

Lastly, the jobs look to require specific kinds of expertise at this point, rather than just having certain levels of generic expertise. Everyone gets to be good at something! :D That’s all I managed to notice, but if anyone else managed to spy something new, let us know ^^

(And hey, this book really does take place in Vegas. Something something what happens in Vegas :P)

[lilythelitten]

Attempting to Solve the Seven Skulls Chess Puzzle

Am I gonna succeed in doing this?

Probably not.

But never know until ya try :P

Okay. So. The puzzle. (Screenshot yoinked from @screamsinjazz because I am lazy :P)

What the heck does this mean?

Well, we got a hint in the Detective Day Dispatch: “It helps to know about chess—not its rules, necessarily, but its values.” So I looked it up, and turns out: chess pieces have individual point values.

In order:

Pawn: 1

Knight: 3

Bishop: 3

Rook: 5

Queen: 9

The king lacks a point value, since capturing it is the game’s main objective.

So looking at it from this perspective, I decided to add up each of the chess pieces. Assuming the ones without icons are simply pawns, that would make:

Logico: 1 + 5 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 5 = 20

Irratino: 1 + 9 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 17

What does that tell us? Admittedly…not much. (Unless there’s some significance to those numbers I’m unaware of?)

Let’s try a different tactic.

What if we add together the position numbers?

Logico: 2 + 4 + 5 + 7 + 7 + 4 = 29

Irratino: 5 + 3 + 8 + 5 + 1 = 22

Still kinda random. Maybe something else?

A standard chess set has a total point value of approximately 39 points. Doing some more math…

Logico: 39 - 20 = 19

Irratino: 39 - 17 = 22

I get the sense I’m not going to solve the puzzle in this post :P

Okay. So. We’ve been presented a conundrum. It’s clear that the values mean something, but what that something is is impossible to tell. Adding them together just gets numbers that don’t mean anything.

At this point, I’m getting desperate. Let’s rethink this a little:

What is the puzzle originally about?

Locations. Specifically, the location of the eighth skull.

I’m gonna go back and give all my prior calculations:

First Set

1 + 5 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 5 = 20

1 + 9 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 17

Second Set

2 + 4 + 5 + 7 + 7 + 4 = 29

5 + 3 + 8 + 5 + 1 = 22

Third Set

39 - 20 = 19

39 - 17 = 22

Final Results

Piece Total 1: 20

Piece Total 2: 17

Position Total 1: 29

Position Total 2: 22

Piece Difference 1: 19

Piece Difference 2: 22

I did a lot of math just now :V

Is all of this pointing to some kind of address or coordinates? Is it me wildly overthinking everything as per the norm with me? Is there something I’m missing that’ll make the puzzle make sense?

…I have no idea.

This post is called “Attempting to Solve the Seven Skulls Puzzle”.

Sorry if anyone’s disappointed; I know I am, I spent an hour doing all that work and have nothing to show for it ^^; But hey, I hope that this helps someone else in their puzzle endeavors…or at least that I’m not off by a country mile XD

[lilythelitten]

OKAY OKAY JAZZ SAID SOMETHING AND IT REMINDED ME—

We’re almost CERTAIN this is about the release date of the next Murdle book.

Karber talked about the next Murdle book in the AMA.

In said AMA, I asked if Case 35 of SoM would be important in the future.

Karber said yes…and that we’d have to wait for next year’s book to see.

If this is about the oxymorons’ wedding…

…it’s gonna be an interesting one.

[lilythelitten]

Guys oh my god over in the community we had an epiphany—

I didn’t even notice this. I didn’t even NOTICE and my entire brain is wired to overthink and theorize and arrive at the wrong conclusion with spectacular precision.

SO LET’S DO THAT NOW

You know that Seven Skulls QR chess puzzle that, uh. None of us solved :V

WELL, LOOK AT WHAT’S ON THE BOTTOM.

Hmmmm.

HMMMM.

Yeah, I really don’t think it’s a coincidence that “Detective Day” was declared to be the exact same date as the numbers in the puzzle. Does this help us solve the puzzle?

Not in the slightest :D

BUT.

It gives me an idea as to what the puzzle’s trying to say.

Karber mentioned in the AMA that a new mainline Murdle book was coming out next year. We’re all aware of that by this point, I think. And between today being Detective Day, and the puzzle specifically having 11-13 listed…

I think—emphasize think—that November 13th will be when that book releases. And, tying that into the community epiphany…it could be about the oxymorons getting married.

But I guess we have no way of knowing. Not yet, at least. I can’t wait for the announcement to confirm I completely overthought all of this— /j

(Also none of you get to submit this to the questionnaire I already did that :P /j)

[lilythelitten]

Heeeeeey guuuuuys, remember the Detective Club notebook I posted about a while back?

Iiiiiiit haaaaaas images, you know what that meeeeeans :>

Alright, first thing of note: behold!

A message from Karber himself. Let’s break it down, shall we?

No relevance to anything, but I thought it was funny so I’m highlighting it :P

So we got the murder we need to solve in this book! That of some poor detective schmuck. Unfortunately for him, he was not a named character, and thus doomed. (I mean, barring it being revealed at the end he was actually Irratino testing us or something—which, knowing Tino, is not outside the realm of possibility :P)

Logically, I know all of the quotes will probably be from the characters in the main books…but having some quotes from the Murdle Jr. gang (AKA the only other named Detective Club members—though see below) would be really fun XD

Rounding off our analysis:

It’s hard to tell since the zoom-in is so blurry, but the Est. year is 1841. As someone who knows little about the history of mysteries (ha)—does anyone else know if this is important, or is it just a random year?

Also, the Latin translates to “truth and reason”. Fitting :P

Moving on, next is a page about codes. Full thing, I don’t really need to show. Just this part:

Immediately, it can be ascertained this book is set before Volume 3, because no respecting detective save Olivia would use “indigo” in a code after THAT book.

It can also be ascertained I’m going to be using a lot of cipher websites to finish this one :P

After one page of nothing interesting, next page has a suspect card!

Hi, Sid, glad to see you’re still causing problems on purpose :P

But…more importantly…flip a few more pages and…

…guys.

Guys.

WE HAVE CANON DETECTIVE CLUB MEMBERS! FREAKING FINALLY! LOGICO IS NO LONGER ALONE SAVE FOR THREE KIDS AND A CAT! WOOOOOOOO *throws confetti*

[lilythelitten]

*kicks door down* WHAT IS UP I asked nine questions on the AMA and forced poor Karber to split them between two responses. Murdle’s ruined me so thoroughly that I’m now analyzing the answers to these questions, so. Uh.

HERE WE GO

For reference, the questions. A lot of them were about Murdle Jr., unsurprisingly :P

Alright, so we’ve got confirmation Olivia’s mother does, in fact, exist and will appear! No word on whether she really was just off-page all adventure or if her showing up is a Big Deal™️. (Also, Olivia book next year. *squealing tea kettle sound*)

So either Julius is a distant relative or they just plumb aren’t related at all and Julius just calls him uncle. (Granted, this doesn’t discount the possibility Irratino has siblings…but it’s fairly unlikely XD)

…

Sorry in advance, Liv ^^;

OKAY OKAY. So the “Murdle book that comes out next year”—that was also mentioned in another answer:

Having to do with the possibility of timelines becoming a clue in Murdle (and I have NO idea how that would work, do we just get a list of times and have to figure out who was where at when?)

So…I was wrong. Seven Skulls isn’t going to touch on Amaranth Island. But Case 35 IS canon…and it WILL be addressed.

Meaning my gut instinct—that there was more to that case—was right on the money.

Anyway, one more to go, and…

…Karber.

Karber you’re scaring me.

Karber when does Case 99 happen.

WHAT SECRETS ARE YOU KEEPING—

[lilythelitten]

*slowly rises into frame, grinning wildly*

Guess what book just got a read sample :D

The table of contents! AKA everything we can expect to see from this book.

I was right: eight chapters, eight cases per chapter! Presumably, the “How To Make Money” is related to that box we saw in the one solvable case, the one with the dollar sign. My guess is: solve puzzles correctly, get money. If only it were that simple in real life :P

Of more interest are the actual chapter names. We know both 1 and 4, set at a harvest festival and in Drakonia respectively, but the others are new. Chapter 2, I’m guessing is connected to the Dame Obsidian case mentioned in the UK back cover—she DOES canonically live in a manor—Chapter 3 likely takes place on a boat and deals with a sea monster that will definitely not be an actual sea monster, Chapter 5 is set at take a wild guess (must be the reason for that temple on the front of the cover), Chapter 6 will involve that Frankenstein monster I talked about in my very first Seven Skulls analysis, Chapter 7 deals with the oft-mentioned witch coven, and Chapter 8 takes us back to the museum where presumably all the secrets of the Skulls will be revealed.

…incidentally, this list proves I was way off with my initial assumption about what Seven Skulls might be. Ah well. It was kind of a reach anyway ^^;

Noticeably, we see the return of “And One More Thing”, after its seeming retirement following Volume 2. This one’s a couple pages long as opposed to just one, leading me to hope that it won’t just be gibberish I have no hope of solving—but if not that, what is it? A bonus puzzle to solve? A final message like Garnet’s letter in SoM? …or maybe it’s just telling you what you can buy with all that money you earned. WHO KNOWS :D

The How-To section gives us our plot: Seven Skulls get stolen, Logico is hired to find them. We meet the oft-mentioned curator of the museum—Coppertone—and our first few suspects: Irratino, a new guy called Janitor Salmon, and Mrs. Ruby.

Yeah, Ruby, you ain’t fooling anyone :P (Incidentally, this makes—what, the fourth time Tino’s been framed for something? Poor guy cannot catch a break.)

Anyway, puzzle gets solved, Mrs. Ruby with the portrait in the exhibit room, not even a spoiler since we all know she was behind the theft :P

…the real question is, why would there be a portrait of the assistant? Unless this assistant’s actually really important to the museum, or secretly a major character or something.

Luckily for all of you, this is probably gonna be where my analyses end. Unless something else comes out between now and Seven Skulls’ release :P Until then, we’ll be waiting!