Can you solve the human cannonball riddle? - Alex Rosenthal
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Does this puzzle remind you of a certain beloved pastime? You might have noticed some similarities to Sudoku, which also requires solvers to apply logic to a combinatorial number-placement puzzle. These types of recreational mathematic games have a long history in popular entertainment, with early “magic square” examples appearing in 19th century French newspapers—for example, this puzzle featured in Le Siècle in 1892. Kordemsky essentially created a stacked version of this type of problem (think 3D chess from Star Trek), using a visual aid (rabbits) as a stand-in for numerical values. Its complexity belies its true simplicity, which characterizes much of The Moscow Puzzles and, we hope, our Human Cannonball riddle.
Want more puzzles? TED-Ed has lots of fun and challenging brainteasers in our Riddle Series!

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