Sortēs Iactae
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© The Classical Couple.
The street is packed from wall to wall. Before the race can even begin, the drivers must cast lots for their starting places — and everyone in the crowd has their own idea about who fortune will favor.
Seven puzzles stand between you and the race itself. Solve one, and the crowd presses a little closer — until, at the end, one final word names the very thing everyone is waiting on.
Crossword — the vocabulary of a city gathered for a race.
Anagrams — unscramble seven words for the danger the city has already faced.
Cipher — decode a message, then answer the riddle it asks.
Matching — one verb, redūcō ("to lead back"), active and passive, in every tense you know.
Picture Count — reassemble a scattered scene, then count what you see.
Odd One Out — find the mismatched word in each row to learn how the day unfolds, then answer questions about it.
Final Rebus — one clue from every lock. Their first letters, rearranged, spell the final word.
Every answer box checks itself instantly. Spelling and capitalization are forgiving — macrons are never required.
Fifteen words from a city gathered for a race. Every clue gives the English meaning; you supply the Latin. Fill the grid — every crossing letter must agree both ways. Six cells are marked in red: once the grid is solved, their letters unscramble into one more word.
The grid is correct. Unscramble the six red letters:
Seven words for the danger the city has already faced. Unscramble each one.
A message has been shifted 3 letters forward through the alphabet. Shift each letter back 3 to decode it — the message speaks for itself. Answer the question it asks, in Latin.
Decode the message — it already asks its own question at the end.
One verb, redūcō, redūcere ("to lead back") — the horses, the drivers, the whole procession — active and passive, in every tense you know. Drag each English meaning onto its matching Latin form.
The picture below has been scattered into 24 pieces — click two to swap them. Each piece locks in place once it's correct. When the whole picture is assembled, five counting questions will appear — in Latin, they ask quot ("how many") of each thing you can find.
Click two pieces to swap them. Correct pieces lock in place — keep going until the whole picture is assembled.
In each row, three tiles belong together and one doesn't. Drag out the odd tile. Find all 15 to learn how the day unfolds.
Now that the story is whole, answer these in Latin:
One clue from every lock you solved. Answer each in Latin — the first letter of each answer will reveal itself, in the order the locks appeared.
You're almost there! Arrange these letters to make a word.
The password was:
sortēs — "the lots." The drivers take their places, the crowd falls silent, and the race is finally, truly, about to begin.