THE PUZZLER

The genre of books that contain hidden clues leading to a buried treasure or cash prize is sometimes called “armchair treasure hunts.”

Criteria include ingenuity, staying power, the puzzles’ effect on history—and whether they gave the author a good kind of headache or bad kind of headache.

Edgar Allan Poe loved ciphers—and in 1841, "The Raven" author issued a cipher-related challenge.

If you wanted to find love in the Victorian era, you'd need to do a little decoding first.

In Victorian England, romance was a literal puzzle. Here are three ways that 19th-century singles pitched woo.

Old Gold Puzzle: Courtesy of Crown Publishing; Jigsaw Puzzle: MerveKarahan // iStock via Getty Images Plus

How did Americans make money during the Great Depression? Some sold apples on street corners and others became migrant farmers. But about 2 million Americans tried to strike it rich another way: By doing puzzles.

THE PUZZLER

3 of History's Most Fascinating Armchair Treasure Hunts (Plus One You Can Try Yourself)

10 of the Greatest Puzzles in History

Edgar Allan Poe's Cipher Challenge

3 Types of Victorian Era Love Puzzles (Plus 3 Puzzles to Solve Yourself)

The Great Rebus Craze of 1937 (Plus 4 Rebuses to Solve Yourself)