From TES issue 48 (November 2007)

Series 3. Level 1/2.
THE BRICKED-OFF WINDOW PUZZLE

This challenge involved the advisors' screen being blocked off with nine brick-filled windows, obscuring their (and our) view of the dungeoneer, and any hazards that might be in the room to endanger them. The advisors had to use their wits (if they had any) to find a way to get rid of the bricked-off windows so that they could see their dungeoneer again, and guide them out safely. Invariably, this would involve calling out in the correct order the letters or pictures that were printed onto the bricked-off window segments. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, this puzzle was used three times during series 3, and each time it seemed to present the team with a fairly major problem.
Ross was the first to encounter this puzzle, at the very end of level one. Three of the nine windows were clear, allowing any true Knightmare fan to recognise the fact that Ross was in the wellway room. However, there could have been any number of hazards lurking behind the letters I, D, A, H, M, T and E. It took the team ages to work out that the correct incantation was THE MAID, which was, of course, the object of their quest, as they had been told to rescue Mellisandre. Even after Treguard mentioned that more than one word might be involved, the task took Ross’s advisors quite some time to get to grips with. To be fair to them, it was a new and daunting task, and they managed to solve it in the end. When the bricks had cleared away, there were shown to be several holes in the floor between Ross and the wellway, underlining the need for the advisors to be able to see the entire room before they could get Ross safely to the well.

This puzzle's second appearance took place in level two, with Scott and his ill-fated band. They had taken the wrong path at the Spindizzy, and were apparently presented with this as an additional challenge. Instead of letters on the windows, this time there was an array of pictures, as well as a number two. The pictures were of Scott, his three advisors and Treguard. Treguard explained quite clearly that the advisors were supposed to choose two windows to look through, and tell Scott to call out their names, but the advisors did not seem to understand this simple premise – they thought that Scott had to choose two names at random, and they had to hope for the best! Despite Treguard’s best attempts to help them (”Which will help you the best? – Treguard) the advisors allowed Scott to choose the first window quite blindly. He chose Treguard, which really didn’t help that much. However, the advisors then cottoned on, and told Scott to choose advisor Ian, who was in the middle of the screen. This did, at least, allow the team to see enough of the room (which again had several holes in the floor) for them to guide Scott out safely, but they really did almost slip up on this.

The Bricked-Off Window Puzzle's third and final appearance was in the final episode of series 3, when it was undoubtedly included as a bit of filler to keep dungeoneer Chris and his friends busy until the impending conclusion of the quest season. The letters on offer this time were I, D, L, E, H and S. To those of us familiar with Ross’s quest, it was quite obvious that the solution was SHIELD, the object of Chris’s quest, although he had no chance of having enough time actually to redeem it, of course. Again, the solution seemed to completely escape the advisors, who otherwise seemed to be fairly intelligent. Treguard had to tell them to ”think of your quest” before they finally worked it out, and even then they seemed to have trouble grasping the simple premise that the calling of letters was all that was required. Behind the bricks this time, a huge pit (one of Khar’s bolt-holes, although he was not there on this occasion) could be seen to span the entire room. Chris almost walked into it anyway, even with all the bricks gone!

So, there we have it. Like many of Knightmare’s challenges, this one seems so incredibly simple to the learned observer almost twenty years later, but it did flummox the teams so at the time. Still, this made for the kind of tense, exciting viewing that we Knightmare fans always craved, which has to be a good thing, right? Well, I must confess, the Bricked-Off Wall Puzzle can get a tiny bit boring on occasion, in my own humble opinion.

Difficulty: 8 A real stumper, it seems!
Killer Instinct: 1 Treguard always ensured the team got there in the end.
Gore Factor: 0 But the bore factor might be higher…
Fairness: 7 It should have been a nice, simple little puzzle, but it didn’t turn out that way!

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