Riddle and Crosswords

When asked what he is good at Riddle responds,

“Speed crosswords. I can solve crossword puzzles extremely quickly. Sometimes in one second flat. When I was a child, the textbooks my mother bought me every month had crossword puzzles on the last page.

I wasn’t allowed any other form of entertainment whatsoever back when I lived at home. So 1 greatly looked forward to solving crosswords after I was done with my studies.

Eventually, just solving them grew boring, so I started wondering if there was a way I could add more challenge to it. I tried timing myself, and I found a great deal of enjoyment in shaving seconds off with each attempt.

There are plenty of things I enjoy about them, but if I had to choose one thing, it would be the sense of accomplishment they provide. It’s satisfying to fill in empty squares, of course. But the real reward is the way they let you apply the results of your daily studies.”

Riddle says that he is thinking of holding a speed crossword tournament to help raise the grades of students at Heartslabyul, and that he has been creating his own crossword puzzles ever since he was a child.

Riddle explains that he first began doing so out of a desire to give his self-made puzzles to Trey and Chenya, but—as he was banned from seeing them—it is possible that he never had the chance to do so: he says he has built up a collection over over 3,000.

During the Ghost Marriage event Riddle notices that a poem Rook recites spells “I love you” when one puts together the first letter of the first word of each line, explaining, “I’m a crossword expert, as it happens.” (Ace: “How is that relevant?!”)

During the Lantern event Idia and Ortho provide the library group with a collection of crossword puzzles. Deuce balks at the label of “super difficult” and Ortho says, “We’ve got some puzzles for grade schoolers if you really want.” Deuce points out that that is likely the reason the brothers gave them such hard puzzles to start with and Riddle interjects: “You two should have done your research. Rapid crossword solving happens to be a specialty of mine. I’ll have this finished in no time.”

Riddle then completed the entire book of puzzles in under half an hour, giving credit to Jack for helping with clue related to a strength training exercise.

Deuce says that Riddle has given him a book of crossword puzzles, and he has solved six out of 50.

Lilia is surprised when Riddle reveals that he knows the rules of Beach Flags and Riddle explains, “I know about it because it came up in a crossword puzzle in the back of some reading material. I haven’t tried it myself…”

Towards the end of Book 7 Riddle is given a crash-course in coding to protect Idia from Malleus.

Idia explains, “Damaged spell structures will have chunks missing. Sometimes the code will be scrambled. Reference the manuals to restore them to their original state,” and Riddle exclaims, “Using hints to fill in missing text? That sounds just like a crossword puzzle!,” successfully repairing the barrier that Malleus damages: “It’s like a crossword puzzle that’s all black spaces. But as long as I keep filling in the blanks, it will all come together!”