Chicago Tonight Puzzle: January Challenge

Watch the short video below to play the third installment of the Chicago Tonight Puzzle. (Yes: The video itself is the puzzle.) Send us your answer by Monday, Jan. 18 for a chance to win our puzzle prize!

Hint: The category for this month's puzzle is Chicago history. More details below from our puzzle pro on how to approach this, er, puzzling situation.

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So, how do I solve this thing?

You’ve reviewed the puzzle and are left scratching your head. Don’t worry! Solving these puzzles takes a different kind of thinking than the puzzles you see in the newspaper every day.

You’re breaking a code. Look for patterns.

You need to play the role of a detective. You’re breaking a code. Look for patterns. Start by paying close attention to what is being shown or said in the video clips and figure out what they have in common. If you can’t find anything, the solution might not have anything to do with the content of the videos. Think about what else is being shown, or heard. Think about the metadata of each clip. (That is, information about the clip, not in it.)

Look for patterns across all clips—or look for a lack of commonality where you might expect it. Be patient, flexible, and creative in your approach and you’ll eventually crack the code!

See more Chicago Tonight Puzzles: November challenge | December challenge


And the winner is ...

Ron Seeley. Congratulations, Ron! You were randomly selected from all of our correct answers and have won a prize package from WTTW and "Chicago Tonight."

Watch the video below to discover the answer to the January puzzle and how to, well, puzzle it out.


Thank you to all of our puzzlers who submitted answers to this month's challenge! Stay tuned for the next puzzle on Feb. 8.

About our puzzle crafter

Sandor Weisz is the commissioner of The Mystery League. He’s built puzzles for the likes of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, The University of Chicago, The House Theatre of Chicago, Marbles Game Store and Cards Against Humanity. He has been making puzzles and puzzle hunts since he was a teenager. You can often hear them on the NPR Sunday puzzle, or read them on his blog. His previous career was designing for the web. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two kids, with whom he records The ZED Show podcast. Find him on Twitter at @santheo and @pzlr.


Watch our January puzzle segment on "Chicago Tonight" and meet our puzzle pro Sandy. Spoiler alert: Sandy will talk about the solution to December's puzzle. If you don't want to know what the answer is to the December puzzle, don't watch!


The video cannot be displayed.

Before you go ...

A bonus puzzle from Sandy: Each image below represents a Chicago athlete. Think you've solved them all? Click here to see the answers.

Photo puzzle No. 1Photo puzzle No. 1

Photo puzzle No. 2Photo puzzle No. 2

Photo puzzle No. 3Photo puzzle No. 3

Photo puzzle No. 4Photo puzzle No. 4

Photo puzzle No. 5Photo puzzle No. 5

Photo puzzle No. 6Photo puzzle No. 6

Photo puzzle No. 7Photo puzzle No. 7

Photo puzzle No. 8Photo puzzle No. 8

Photo puzzle No. 9Photo puzzle No. 9

Photo puzzle No. 10Photo puzzle No. 10

Photo puzzle No. 11Photo puzzle No. 11

Photo puzzle No. 12Photo puzzle No. 12

Photo puzzle No. 13Photo puzzle No. 13

Photo puzzle No. 14Photo puzzle No. 14

Photo puzzle No. 15Photo puzzle No. 15

Please note: We have disabled the comments section so viewers resist the temptation to shout out their answers and inadvertently spoil the puzzle for others. Thanks for playing, and keep those answers coming!


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Thanks to our sponsors:

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