Characteristic

Cost

END

Cost

22

Cost

7

4

Cost

10

10

-7

3

11

0

3

13

12

3

3

3

27

8

1

10

5

10

10

10

10

20

15

15

15

1

1

1

1

1

10

15

"Puzzling... Very puzzling..." muttered Wilbert Spiel. Through the lenses of the binocular headband magnifier, he could see brass gears turning in increments. The spring seemed to also be releasing tension and then tightening... by itself, seemingly. It was not driven by a pendulum, and there was no winding device and balance wheel either. And, most curiously, it carried the precise time without an escapement.

Lifting the magnifier from his nose and into his hair, Wilbert, closed the box and turned his head. The woman had a pleasant look upon her face, but with a hint of sadness which was understandable. After all, the items laid out on the tables upon the lawn were belongings of her late uncle. That it was a nice, sunny day with little wind may have comforted her slightly, but it was clear that she felt a loss. "There are some curiosities about it and I very much enjoy learning things mechanical and mathematic. I'd like to buy this one, fraulein, if you are certain that you want to sell it... "

"Ja. Uncle Franz has left quite a bit of debt and Josef and I, well we already have three clocks and our own house is decorated in a more modern fashion. This one wouldn't fit in our house." She fixed her hat to adjust the angle of the brim. When the sun no longer struck directly in her eyes she gave a momentary smile and then said, "Two hundred Francs would be a reasonable amount."

"Very well, I agree." Wilbert was never one to dicker over prices and he had a certain amount of money that he set aside for his hobby of horology. He retrieved his wallet and pulled out two bills that bore the likeness of the architect Francesco Borromini. "Two hundred Francs."

After putting the money in a small metal safe, the woman placed the box that contained the clock into a sturdy paper bag and handed it to Wilbert. Then, as if an afterthought, she placed a book, covered in the same green cloth-covered cardboard as the clock's box, into the bag as well, saying, "Oh, yes, I almost forgot, the book goes with the clock."

"Danke, fraulein," Wilbert said. He turned and walked down the cobblestone path to his car, leaving the estate sale behind.

For nearly two hours he had been sitting at the desk, parts of the clock lay on the counter lined up in order of their removal. Already, he had taken it apart and restored it together twice. Wilbert knew how the parts fit together, but he was still baffled with what made the clock, well, tick.

The book lay open on the desk. It was tinged with acid stain on the edges and the binding seemed frail, but the writings and diagrams were still quite legible. It was clear that the book had to do with the clock, but it was equally clear that the book was even more of a puzzle than the clock.

There were no words in the book. None at all, neither German nor Latin nor any other recognizable language. There were plenty of number of the Arabic style used throughout Europe. And there were plenty of symbols - some recognizable to a mathematician, and some that seemed to be entirely contrived.

"Oh, my," exclaimed Wilbert. Lost in the challenge of the puzzle, he had forgotten about the soup that he had heating on the stove. So entranced was he that event he smell of burned cream of mushroom had not been noticed until that moment. He rushed to the kitchen, turned off the stove and threw the windows wide open.

After that Wilbert returned to the desk. "Best to start at the begining and work my way to the end."

Interestingly, the first thing that he determined was that the first page was the last and the last, the first. For two days, he worked through the book, deciphering the symbols from context and syntax. There was a certain mathematical logic to it. Theorems, proofs, geometry, probability, algebra, and calculus were all there.

As he delved further, the theorems and proofs became substantially more complicated and, well, even seemed magical. He began to test them by creating mechanical constructs. Using these formulae, the constructs could move of their own volition with no seeming source of power. They were perpetual motion machines. Further into the book, the formulae imbued machines with unusual properties. And, when he at last reached the end, he completely understood the New Math of the book although it was completely different from Mathematics as Mathematicians understood it to be.

Using the formulae of the book that came with the clock, Doctor Puzzle has created magical mechanical devices. He wears a Puzzling Cloak which both confuses attackers and entraps attacks. For close work he uses a staff made up of puzzle block links that can connect to each other in a variety of ways. But, for the most part, he uses a variety of Puzzles and Contraptions - including Word Puzzles and Puzzle Men - to confound villains. However, nearly any of these can be defeated if the puzzle is solved.

Dr. Spiel is one of the few people, even in academia that wear a bow tie; his usually has some sort of puzzle theme. The rest of his outfit is fairly typical, though, sweater, longsleve shirt, slacks, and tweed jacket. As Doctor Puzzle, he wears tights that have a jigsaw puzzle appearance. On his chest is a large 'DP' that has been stylized to look like an interlocking ring puzzle. To go along with this, he has a cloak that also looks like a dynamically shifting jigsaw puzzle and some strange-looking goggles. Attached at various places on his costume are a variety of miniature magical puzzles and contraptions that he uses to fight criminals.