People in Liverpool are being asked to crack a 'near impossible' riddle revealing a secret location in the city for a chance to win a week-long stay in a luxury dog-friendly lodge in a 'glorious corner of Devon'.
The idea for the competition came when 38-year-old Nathan Timblin, who works in digital marketing for Cofton Holidays was 'messing around' with riddles in the office. Dubbed the 'Master Riddler' by colleagues at the holiday park, he really got into them as a young child, partly inspired by one of his favourite comic book villains, The Riddler.
He told the ECHO: "It's always been one of those things from when I was a kid, just doing puzzles and riddles, learning them and then setting them myself. I think it's just the challenge [I enjoy]. They can be super hard, and they can be about absolutely anything."
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For Cofton Holiday's competition, Nathan spent two weeks researching and writing five 'mind-boggling' riddles for each of ten locations - Liverpool, Cardiff, Devon, Bath, Manchester, Cornwall, Bristol, Edinburgh, Birmingham and London.
Each of the five riddles reveals a clue leading to the secret destination in each area, where successful codebreakers are asked to take a photo of themselves and post it on social media. Whoever takes the best photo at the correct location will be given £250 to spent at Cofton Holidays.
The first person to submit the right answer for Liverpool's location will win a gift hamper and the coveted title of 'Liverpool's Best Riddle Breaker', with the same applying to the first person to crack the codes for each of the other nine locations.
Everyone who submits a correct location "will be entered into a nationwide ballot to win a one week stay in a "luxury dog-friendly lodge with a hot tub for up to four people, and two dogs, during peak summer season next year". Cofton Holidays also has on-site entertainment, restaurants , high ropes and an indoor pool, with "a myriad of cycle paths or wander nature trails" and beaches in the area for exploring the local wildlife.
Nathan said: "We heard that it would have been [WWII codebreaker Alan] Turing's 110th birthday this summer had he still been with us, and as my colleagues are yet to successfully solve any of my riddles, they've challenged me to open it up to the public to see just how difficult they are to crack. My boss Chris bets that no one will be able to solve them, so he's promised to give away a free week's stay in our best lodge during peak season."
He advised people to "think outside the box" and not take riddles "too literally" because they're "not always the most logical things to solve". The five riddles about Liverpool are:
Riddle 1:
I can be very attractive to fools,
Or shining with gleaming jewels
Colour rich and so is my taste,
Show me off or it would be a waste!
I can come in many ways,
But for each you have to pay!
What am I?
Riddle 2:
From my belly I hear your sound,
Launching from the grassy ground,
I'm very hungry, very old,
Emblazed in a crest in bold,
For many people I'm a staple dinner,
Are you too green to be a winner?
What am I?
Riddle 3:
You can find me underground,
I'm hiding treasures that mustn’t be found
I provide shelter for those who pray,
Curved in shape but not all the way,
I am also a great help to those,
Who jump and stretch and make a pose,
What am I?
Riddle 4:
I come to take but not in peace,
My plan is only to increase.
The chance to win and overtake,
A bigger empire this will make.
History writes of me many times,
In poem, book, verse and rhymes.
What am I?
Riddle 5:
I sleep in the mud, but not in the ground,
Houses afar I can be easily found,
I'm a whole island but not a saint,
An undisputed king, and music I make,
The first or the second the answer is clear,
Behind the silver screen I appear.
What am I?
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