- The Puzzleboy
- Posts
- Puzzle Five: Closet Heist
Puzzle Five: Closet Heist
Meets all the criteria for a classic cinephile mystery.
My name is Ramsey, but you may call me: The Puzzleboy.
One might describe this monthly newsletter as a celebration of humanity, where we gather each month to test our wits and rely not on the Internet or artificial intelligence, but our own mental acuity.
Not me: I describe this newsletter as a celebration of me, The Puzzleboy, the smartest guy there is. Laud him! Let the people give him praise! Glory be unto The Puzzleboy, big old smartypants!
It’s true, praise and respect feels very nice. And you can have a fraction of that feeling if you solve this month’s puzzle and achieve immortality within The Puzzleboy Pantheon. Let’s see if you’ve got what it takes!
Meet Sylvie Knox, hardboiled detective. She’s tough as nails, no-nonsense, and other adjectives one might use in the stage directions in a Coen Brothers screenplay. She’s known around town for three things: (a) She gets results, (b) She gets results quick, and (c) She’s no good with tech stuff. She can send an email, maybe read a text, but beyond that? Forget it. Anyway, here’s the mystery: |  |
Martin steps into Sylvie’s office, distraught. Martin’s friend Phil is a cinephile. This guy especially loves heist movies. For years his friend has talked about “the perfect crime” and “a big score” and Martin thinks Phil has robbed The Criterion Closet and skipped town.
Martin thrusts his smartphone under Sylvie’s nose. She recoils, then looks down. On the gadget in his hand is a website called Letterboxd. Apparently, film nerds log every movie they watch on this site and argue whether the latest superhero flick deserves four and half stars or five. Martin noticed that all of a sudden, Phil’s years of movie viewing history on the site has been completely erased and replaced with these 132 movies.
Sylvie puts on her reading glasses, holds the phone sideways, gets annoyed that it went into landscape mode, turns it back, and begins to scroll through the list. She points at the movie Memento (and accidentally clicks the link).
“I think I saw this one," she says. "Batman guy? Tattoos? Backwards scenes? Purposely confusing?”
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Martin says hesitantly, nervous to validate any dissenting opinions about Christopher Nolan, in case any men on the Internet are listening.
Sylvie reads a couple more movie titles, then drops the phone to her desk. “Print this film diary out for me. I think I have enough to figure out exactly what your friend’s been up to.”
Can you do the same? Crack the code in Phil the cinephile’s Letterboxd profile and answer three questions:
1. How did he get the keys to the Criterion closet?
2. What was his disguise?
3. What city is he hiding out in?
You do not need to make your own account on Letterboxd to view Phil’s account.
If you already have one, I can’t stop you from following it, but it doesn’t seem like he’s logging in again any time soon, so I wouldn’t waste your time.
To submit your answer, please click this link and fill out the form. You have until 11:59pm ET on September 25th to submit your guess. There is no advantage to being first, so take your time!
NOTE: You are more than welcome to use the comment section of this post, but this is decidedly not the place to submit your answer or share hints. Doing so may result in your disqualification.
Think of your comments like you’re the guy in the van on a heist: your input is always welcome, but don’t give away too much. You never know who’s listening in.
Reply