# Hodios paste pack: Puzzles
Everything in Puzzles from Hodios, the open prompt library by Hermes IDE: 4 entries, catalog 2026.1002.2.
Every entry is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Copy, change and share them freely, no attribution needed.
Browse and search the library at https://hermes-ide.com/prompts
## How to use
Find an entry below and copy the text inside its block into ChatGPT, claude.ai or any chat. Replace each [PLACEHOLDER] with your own material. Personas, rules and styles work best as custom instructions or project instructions.
## Contents
- Puzzles
- [Create escape-room puzzles](#create-escape-room-puzzles) (prompt)
- [Make a logic grid puzzle](#make-logic-puzzle) (prompt)
- [Write crossword clues](#write-crossword-clues) (prompt)
- [Write riddles](#write-riddles) (prompt)
---
## Create escape-room puzzles
`create-escape-room-puzzles` · prompt · Puzzles · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/create-escape-room-puzzles
Designs a themed chain of escape-room puzzles with a flow map, solutions, props, reset steps and three-step hint ladders, timed to the session. Use for home games, parties and classrooms.
````markdown
You design escape rooms, from commercial venues to birthday parties. A good room is a chain of "aha" moments that a group solves together: every puzzle is fair (the clues are in the room), each solution unlocks something that leads onward, nobody stands idle, and the game master can rescue a stuck team with a hint without giving the game away.
Theme: [THEME]
Players: 4
Time limit: 60 minutes
1. Write the story and goal in three sentences: who the players are, what they must do, and why the clock is running.
2. Design the flow: a mostly parallel structure with two or three tracks that merge into a final meta-puzzle, so a group of 4 can split up. Aim for one puzzle per one or two players at any time. Show it as a text flow map.
3. Design five to nine puzzles, varied in type (search, cipher, pattern, logic, physical, observation, teamwork). For each: what the players find, what they must figure out, the solution, what it unlocks, the props, and the estimated solve time.
4. Write a three-step hint ladder for each puzzle: a nudge (where to look), a direction (what to try), and the answer.
5. Design a finale that uses something from each track.
6. Check timing: the sum along the longest path should be about 70 to 80 percent of 60 minutes, leaving room for wandering. Adjust the number of puzzles to fit.
7. List props with low-cost alternatives (printables, combination padlocks, envelopes, UV pens) and a reset checklist.
- Every puzzle is solvable from what is in the room; no outside knowledge beyond what the stated audience can be expected to have.
- No red herrings unless the user asks; if any, mark them clearly for the game master.
- Every lock or code has exactly one valid answer, and the answer format (four digits, a word, a colour order) is signposted on the lock or the puzzle.
- Safety: never lock real exits or lock anyone in; nothing that needs climbing, heavy lifting, flames or small parts for young children.
- Fit the setting: a home game uses household space and a printer; a venue may use built props.
## Story and goal
## Flow map
A text diagram of tracks and dependencies.
## Puzzles
One subsection per puzzle: Find, Figure out, Solution, Unlocks, Props, Time, Hints (1, 2, 3).
## Finale
## Props list
Table: Item | Used in | Cheap alternative.
## Reset checklist
## Running the game
Briefing script (under 100 words), when to offer hints, and the debrief.
````
---
## Make a logic grid puzzle
`make-logic-puzzle` · prompt · Puzzles · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/make-logic-puzzle
Creates a themed logic grid puzzle, proves its solution is unique by solving it from the clues alone, and supplies the grid, answer and step-by-step worked solution. Use for puzzle books and classes.
````markdown
You construct logic grid puzzles for puzzle magazines. The rule that matters most is that the puzzle has exactly one solution, reachable by deduction alone, with no guessing. Constructors guarantee this by building the answer first, writing clues, and then solving the puzzle from the clues only, step by step; if any step needs a guess, or the clues allow two answers, the clues are revised before publication. A great puzzle also has no redundant clue and at least one satisfying deduction.
Theme: [THEME]
Difficulty: medium
1. Choose the categories and items for the theme at the size the difficulty sets. The first category (usually people) is the anchor. Include an ordered category (positions, times, ages, prices) for medium and hard so relative clues are possible.
2. Fix the hidden solution: a complete one-to-one assignment across all categories.
3. Write clues that are true of the solution, mixing types by difficulty: direct ("Ana grows beans"), negative ("The tomato grower is not Ben"), relative ("The person in house 2 lives just left of the one who grows peas"), either-or ("Either Cleo or the carrot grower lives in house 4"), and grouping ("Of Dev and the person in house 1, one grows peas and the other is 40").
4. Verify by solving from the clues only, as a solver would, without using your knowledge of the hidden solution. Record each step as "From clue N (and clue M), X is eliminated or confirmed". Every step must be forced.
5. If at any point no forced step exists, or the clues allow more than one assignment, add or sharpen a clue and solve again from the start. Repeat until the deduction completes and matches the hidden solution.
6. Remove any clue whose deletion still leaves a unique, guess-free solution, re-checking after each removal.
7. Re-verify the final clue set one last time against the hidden solution: every clue must be true of it.
- Never present a puzzle whose solving chain you did not complete. If you cannot make the chain work at this size, reduce the size by one item and say so.
- Clues must be unambiguous: define "left of", "before", "older" and similar relations in the introduction where needed.
- Keep the theme consistent and the items distinct (no two items that could be confused).
- Keep clue count reasonable: about 5 to 8 for easy, 8 to 12 for medium, 12 to 18 for hard.
## Puzzle
A short introduction with the categories listed, then numbered clues.
## Grid
A blank text grid the solver can copy (anchor category against each other category).
## Solution
A table of the full assignment.
## Worked solution
Numbered deduction steps citing clue numbers.
## Uniqueness
Two or three sentences explaining why the completed forced chain proves exactly one solution, and the number of clues removed as redundant.
````
---
## Write crossword clues
`write-crossword-clues` · prompt · Puzzles · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-crossword-clues
Writes standard or cryptic crossword clues for a list of answers, with the enumeration, a difficulty rating and a fairness check for each clue, plus a parsing for every cryptic clue.
````markdown
You are an experienced crossword setter who writes both standard and cryptic clues. A standard clue is a definition, synonym, fill-in-the-blank or light misdirection that leads to exactly one answer of the given length, and it matches the answer's part of speech, tense and number. A cryptic clue has two parts: a definition at the start or end, and wordplay that leads to the same answer by a fair, recognised device (anagram, charade, container, deletion, hidden word, reversal, homophone, double definition, initial letters, or a complete "&lit" clue), joined by an indicator, with a surface reading that makes sense as an ordinary sentence. In the Ximenean tradition the setter says what they mean, though not in the way the solver expects: every word in the clue has a job, abbreviations are standard ones (N for north, L for learner), and indicators clearly signal the device.
Answers: [ANSWERS]
Style: standard
1. For each answer, write one clue in the standard style, with the enumeration in brackets after it, for example (5) or (3,4) for phrases and (5-4) for hyphenated words.
2. If the style is standard: vary the clue types (definition, synonym, fill-in-the-blank, light wordplay or a question-mark clue for a pun), match part of speech and tense exactly, and give a difficulty rating of easy, medium or hard for the audience given.
3. If the style is cryptic: for each clue, identify the definition and the device, write a smooth surface, and give the full parsing (for example: "Definition: 'fruit'. Wordplay: anagram (indicated by 'crushed') of LEMON + reversal of…"). Vary the devices across the set.
4. Check each clue for fairness and write a short note: does it lead to exactly one answer of this length? Does the definition match the answer's part of speech? For cryptic clues, does every letter of the answer come from the wordplay, is every word in the clue used, and is the indicator a recognised one? Fix any clue that fails before presenting it.
5. Give an alternative clue for any answer whose first clue is weak, too obscure or relies on general knowledge the audience may lack.
- Write original clues; do not reuse clues from published crosswords.
- Do not use the answer, or a word with the same root, inside its own clue.
- Use spelling and references for the language variety and audience given; if unknown, ask or assume UK English for cryptic clues and US English for standard clues, and say so.
- Avoid obscure abbreviations and references unless the audience is expert; prefer clues a solver can verify from the wordplay alone.
- Count letters carefully: check the enumeration against the answer, and for anagrams check that the fodder contains exactly the answer's letters.
- If an answer is not a real word or phrase, or is misspelled, say so rather than clueing it as given.
- If no answers are given, ask for them.
## Clues
A table. Standard: # | Clue | Enumeration | Answer | Difficulty. Cryptic: # | Clue | Enumeration | Answer | Parsing.
## Fairness notes
One line per clue: what was checked, and any fix made.
## Alternatives
````
---
## Write riddles
`write-riddles` · prompt · Puzzles · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-riddles
Writes original riddles graded by difficulty and pitched to the solvers' age, each with one fair answer, two hints that narrow it down and a check that no other answer fits.
````markdown
You write riddles. A good riddle describes something truthfully in a misleading way: every line is literally true of the answer, but suggests something else until the solver sees it. It has one best answer that, once heard, makes the solver groan or laugh because it was fair. The classic techniques are personification ("I have a face but no eyes"), double meanings of words (a "bark", "keys", a "bank"), paradox ("the more you take, the more you leave behind"), and describing a familiar thing from an unusual angle. Younger solvers need concrete objects and simple wordplay; older solvers enjoy abstract answers and layered double meanings.
Theme: everyday objects and nature
Solvers: mixed family, ages 8 and up
Number of riddles: 10
1. Write 10 original riddles on the theme, ordered from easiest to hardest, roughly a third easy, a third medium and a third hard for this age group. Label each with its difficulty.
2. Use a mix of techniques and forms: short rhyming riddles, "I am…" riddles, "What has…?" riddles, and one or two that need lateral thinking. Keep them short: two to four lines.
3. For each riddle, write two hints: the first narrows the field (where you find it, what category it is), the second nearly gives it away.
4. Check each riddle for fairness before including it: every clue must be true of the answer, and no other common answer should fit all the clues equally well. If another answer fits, add a line that rules it out or replace the riddle. Note any acceptable alternative answer.
5. Add notes for the host: which riddles work best read aloud, which suit a treasure hunt or a party round, and how to reveal answers to keep it fun.
- Original riddles only. Do not reproduce well-known traditional riddles (for example the Sphinx's riddle, "What has keys but can't open locks?" or "The more you take, the more you leave behind") unless the user asks for classics; if a new riddle is close to a famous one, rework it.
- Vocabulary and references must suit the age; for young children, avoid wordplay that depends on words they will not know.
- Nothing scary, gross or mean beyond what the age and theme suit (Halloween can be spooky; not gory for young children).
- Keep answers to a common word or short phrase solvers know.
- If the theme is a treasure hunt, make each answer a real place or object in the setting described and note the order.
## Riddles
Numbered, each with its difficulty in brackets.
## Hints
Numbered to match: Hint 1, Hint 2.
## Answers
Numbered to match, with any acceptable alternative.
## Notes for the host
````