🍂 Our newest puzzle type! Solve six little fall riddles, and every letter you find unlocks part of a hidden saying. Type right on the page (each letter fills itself in everywhere it belongs), or print it for the kitchen table. Typical solve time: 5–10 minutes. The answer key sits at the bottom — fold it backward along the dotted line before you start.
Every letter has its own number. Solve the riddles, then copy each letter into every box with the same number — and the hidden saying will spell itself out.
1.I'm round and red, and one a day keeps the doctor away.
41717229
2.I turn red and gold, then let go of my branch in the fall.
229414
3.You can't see me, but you can watch me chase the leaves down the street.
18186
4.I'm sweet and white, and I hide in cookies and in your coffee.
231326416
5.I'm pressed from apples and served warm on a chilly fall day.
586916
6.I'm spread on warm toast and I melt on hot corn.
24131515916
✂ fold backward along this line to hide the solution ✂
Solution hidden on screen — it prints automatically.
Solution
Hidden saying: PATIENCE IS BITTER, BUT ITS FRUIT IS SWEET. Riddles: 1 APPLE · 2 LEAF · 3 WIND · 4 SUGAR · 5 CIDER · 6 BUTTER Code: W=1 · A=4 · C=5 · D=6 · I=8 · E=9 · U=13 · F=14 · T=15 · R=16 · P=17 · N=18 · L=22 · S=23 · B=24 · G=26
How to Solve a Riddle Code
A Riddle Code is two puzzles that help each other. The riddles give you whole words, and every letter in those words has a number. Copy each letter into every box that shares its number, and the hidden saying at the top fills in. Work it the other way too: once a few letters land in the saying, the half-finished words up there can help you crack a riddle you were stuck on.
Start with the riddle you're surest of. You don't have to go in order. One confident answer can hand you four or five letters at once.
Look at the box pattern, not just the clue. The numbers tell you a lot before you read a word. Two boxes side by side with the same number means a double letter, like the TT in LETTER.
Use the free letter. You're given 9 = E, and E shows up in four of the six answers. Fill it in everywhere first. Suddenly every riddle has a letter or two showing.
Let the saying talk back. Two-letter words in the saying are a big help. There are only a handful of common ones, so once you have one letter of a short word, the other usually jumps out.
Walkthrough: Your First Few Moves
Here's how Mr. Puzzle opens this one.
Fill in every 9 with E. That puts five E's in the saying and one in four of the riddles.
Riddle 1 is five letters, ends in E, and has a double letter in the middle (17 17). A round red fruit that keeps the doctor away? That's your first word, and it hands you three new letters.
Riddle 2 now shows three of its four letters. Read them in order and the answer is almost a gift. Fill in its last letter everywhere it appears.
Riddle 6 is six letters with a double letter in the middle (15 15) and E second from the end. Think of what you spread on toast. Now go look at the saying: you'll find that same double letter in one of its words.
Stuck? Click for a nudge
The last word of the saying has two E's side by side. Think about how ripe fruit tastes.
Why It's Rated Easy
The riddles are everyday words, the free E gives every answer a head start, and the on-screen boxes fill themselves in for you. Most solvers finish in under ten minutes. It's a good one to try with kids or grandkids, since one person can read the riddles while the other fills the boxes.
About This Puzzle
Worth the Wait is the very first Riddle Code on The Puzzle Solver. It's a cousin of our Antonym Acrostic and our cryptograms: there's a number code to crack, but instead of working it out from letter patterns alone, friendly riddles hand you the letters one word at a time.
The hidden saying is an old proverb about patience. It's usually credited to the 18th-century French writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau, though the idea is far older than he is, and it fits the season nicely, with orchards full and harvest time here. Every riddle has a fall theme too, and every letter in the saying turns up in at least one riddle, so the puzzle can always be finished from the riddles alone.
In the mood for more autumn puzzles? Try Fall Is Coming, our interactive autumn crossword.