The Merlin Mystery: The Secret Lies Inside.... - Hardcover

Gunson, Jonathan; Coombe, Marten

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002246759 ISBN 13: 9780002246750

Publisher: Voyager, 1998

Synopsis

With alchemy and dragon’s fire, your fortune shall unfold For with each book the prize enriches by a grain of gold. So if you seek and find herein the fabled golden spell Merlin’s wand is yours to keep and all the gold as well.

In the mists of time, dark sorcerers tried to destroy our world. Only the power of three great wizards, Merlin, Blaise and Kells, could stop them. They gathered at Stonehenge to forge a great Wand to preserve the earth.

To symbolize the Earth itself: a fabulous crystal ball, of 150-million-year old rutillated Brazilian crystal. Around the crystal, a flaming corona of solid silver and 24 carat gold, a magical wall of flame to protect the world. The crystal ball is set upon a great branch – forged of solid silver – representing the Tree of Life itself: the gnarled oak growing within the circle at Stonehenge. And all about the Wand runic symbols of solid gold, alchemical sigils and a powerful touchstone of precious lapis lazuli.

The Wand has been lost for centuries: but now it has been found. It lies in a safe and secret place, to be freed only by the person who can break the code. Woven into the beautiful illustrations, the mythical symbols and the story of Merlin and the enchantress Nimue, is a fiendishly difficult puzzle.

A thousand clues: but only one solution: the spell of alchemy, that will unlock the wand.

About this title

Review:

Can you find Merlin's wand? If you can, you'll be richly rewarded. The Merlin Mystery rekindles the fervour that swept readers of Masquerade in the 1980s by offering an intricately detailed, bejewelled wand and a substantial cash prize to the first person to solve the Alchemist's Spell. Lavishly illustrated with elaborate paintings and symbols, The Merlin Mystery wraps its intricate, MENSA-certified puzzle in a story of the great wizard Merlin and his lover, the water sprite Nimue, who fight a dark sorcerer in magical settings. From glittering caves to magic cottages, the Arthurian cast of characters, which includes an owl, a cat and a talking crystal ball, seek the Pendragon Alchemy. But they can't find it without putting all the clues together... that's where you come in! It's possible that this puzzle will be solved by some expert logician somewhere, but it's equally likely to be solved by a clever, persistent kid without adult blinders on. Either way, The Merlin Mystery has a distinct advantage over Masquerade: once you solve the puzzle, you mail in your answer rather than digging up the countryside. There's also a companion CD, with new-age Celtic music to get you in the mood for some serious deductive work.

Review:

Fully validated by MENSA:

“The Merlin Mystery must be considered one of the most challenging puzzles since the Enigma project of World War II. I think it’s quite brilliant – an elaborately constructed but ultimately solvable puzzle which will give millions of people great fun, frustration and a sense of achievement. But it’s going to take a long time for anyone to solve it – it’s fiendish!”
David Chatten
CEO, MENSA

About this edition

• Publisher: Voyager
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0002246759
• ISBN 13: 9780002246750
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48