Epistula Prīma
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© The Classical Couple.
The garden is full of roses; a dove sits on the steps. A young man has written a letter, and he means to send it — but first he must seal it with his ring, and find someone to carry it.
Seven puzzles stand between you and the letter's delivery. Solve one, and you move a little closer — until, at the end, one final word reveals what the letter promises.
Crossword — the vocabulary of a Roman household in springtime.
Anagrams — unscramble seven words for the people of the streets outside.
Cipher — decode a message, then answer the riddle it asks.
Matching — two verbs, dō and portō ("to give," "to carry"), 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 reveal 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 in springtime. 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 people of the streets outside. 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.
Two verbs, dō, dare ("to give") and portō, portāre ("to carry") — everything it takes to get a letter from his hand to hers — 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:
tandem — "at last." The ring has sealed it, the dove has taken flight, and at last the letter is on its way to her.