The Cartographer's Lie

About The Cartographer's Lie

Each day The Cartographer's Lie draws a small island as a hex chart, numbered and dated, the same for everyone. Every hex is a type of ground with a two-letter code, such as heath, scree, reef, sink, shoal and saltmarsh, and the chart also carries landmarks like beacons, trig points and wrecks, readings such as a magnetic anomaly, and dashed district boundaries that divide it into sheets.

The puzzle is that one hex is a lie, drawn as something it is not. You get a short set of survey notes, every one of them true, for example The lie lies south of every beacon. Read together, the notes leave exactly one hex that fits them all. You can mark hexes as maybe, probably or ruled out as you reason, and when you are sure you file a correction. You have three; a refused one is stamped on the chart and adds three minutes.

The clock starts when you turn the chart over and does not stop, and the daily board ranks the judged time: the clock plus penalties. The browser offers Casual and Standard charts, and on Standard showing a note on the map costs a penalty. The iPhone app plays the same island and adds Hard charts, streaks, ratings, a career ladder and daily duels, with the Fiendish chart in its paid Cartographer's Guild membership. A new chart is drawn at 5am New York time.

It suits players who like clue-based deduction puzzles such as Clues by Sam or Alibi and enjoy reading a map.

How to play The Cartographer's Lie

1. Open the chart key to learn the day's grounds, landmarks and boundaries.
2. Press Begin the survey to turn the chart over and start the clock.
3. Read each true survey note and rule out the hexes it excludes.
4. Mark hexes as maybe, probably or ruled out until one is left.
5. Select that hex and file your correction; you have three tries, and each wrong one adds three minutes.

Screenshots

Tips

• Open the key before the first note: each note names a landmark or ground exactly as the key does.
• Start with the note that rules out the most hexes, such as a direction from a landmark.
• Watch dashed and solid landmarks: a reported one is drawn differently from a surveyed one.
• Do not guess early, since a refused correction costs three minutes on the judged time.

Questions