Dictionary

puzzlemaster en · NOUN

Etymology

From puzzle + master.

Meanings

1. Someone who designs or creates puzzles.
   • To get us to try a little harder, at dinner we played a little game that I called "Can You Say?" As Bossy Mama, I acted as puzzlemaster, and did my best to challenge the kids without ever stumping them. 2013, Launa Schweizer, Home Away: A Year of Misapprehensions, Transformations, and Rosé at Lunch, →ISBN, page 67:
   • A few puzzles come from Sam Loyd, the famous nineteenth-century American puzzlemaster. 2005, Clifford A[lan] Pickover, A Passion for Mathematics: Numbers, Puzzles, Madness, Religion, and the Quest for Reality, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, →ISBN, page 7:
   • During escape games, puzzlemasters are seated in a control room, giving players hints when they're needed. [Nicole] Chan is considered the head puzzlemaster at Trapology—she designs the challenges and puzzles for her games. 2015 October 5, Madeline Bilis, “Meet Boston’s Independent Puzzlemasters”, in Boston Magazine, Boston, M.A.: Metrocorp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2022:
   • Tracy Bennett — the puzzlemaster with best job in the Wordle 2022 November 13, Laura Pullman, “(article title)”, in Time, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Nov 2022:
   • The first Ebola puzzle went up six months ago, and biochemists are following up on some of the virus-blocking designs developed by Foldit's puzzlemasters. 2014 August 29, Alan Boyle, “Foldit Video Gamers Join the Fight Against Ebola Virus”, in NBC News, archived from the original on 19 Dec 2022:
   • In this book, we offer you the challenge of breaking several types of real ciphers and cryptograms, all devised by noted Australian puzzlemaster Denise Sutherland (author of Word Searches For Dummies [Wiley]). 2010, Denis Sutherland, Mark E Koltko Rivera, chapter 1, in Cracking Codes and Cryptograms, Indianapolis, I.N.: Wiley, →ISBN, page 9:
2. Someone exceptionally skilled at solving puzzles.
   • After eight months the musical 3-year-olds were expert puzzlemasters, scoring 80 percent higher than their playmates did in spatial intelligence -- the ability to visualize the world accurately. 1996 February 18, “Why Do Schools Flunk Biology?”, in Newsweek, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek Publishing LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Jan 2022:
   • What kind of challenge? I had no idea. I sighed and looked around the warehouse. I felt like a puzzlemaster surrounded by pieces, none of them fitting together as if they were from different puzzles. 2012, Deborah Coonts, So Damn Lucky, →ISBN, page 153:
   • In any case, even the puzzlemaster could find no clues in the weird notations. 2009, Jeffery Deaver, chapter 25, in Roadside Crosses, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 235:

Forms

Relateds

quizmaster