Fēstus Sōlis
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© The Classical Couple.
The storm has finally passed. The new building stands finished at last, the sun is out again, and today of all days the household has more than the weather to celebrate — for today marks the day a child in the family was born.
Seven puzzles stand between you and the festival itself. Solve one, and the day moves a little further along — until, at the end, one final word names what everyone is celebrating.
Crossword — the vocabulary of a Roman household's festival day.
Anagrams — unscramble seven words for the wider world beyond the house.
Cipher — decode a message, then answer the riddle it asks.
Matching — one verb, exstruō ("to build"), 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 what happens, 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 Roman household's festival day. Every clue gives the English meaning; you supply the Latin. Fill the grid — every crossing letter must agree both ways. Five cells are marked in red: once the grid is solved, their letters unscramble into one more word.
The grid is correct. Unscramble the five red letters:
Seven words for the wider world beyond the house. 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, exstruō, exstruere ("to build") — the storm has passed, and the new building stands finished — 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 what happens.
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:
nātāle — "a birthday." The storm has passed, the building stands finished, and today the whole household celebrates the day a child was born.