H E L L O
my name is
Dr. Shapiro's Puzzle of the Day

Today's Puzzle

Wednesday, April 7


How many of these people (one of whom is a fictional character) can you name?

BONUS: What fictional pirate could be fittingly added to this puzzle?

   


     Note: Clicking "Submit" will send your response to Dr. Shapiro.

Yesterday's Puzzle + Solution

Oakland's Grand Lake Theater, a classic moviehouse, has been closed for the last year, but they have been entertaining passers-by with parody movie posters like the one at left (there's another great one for "The Man in the Paper Mask").

My favorite detail on this poster is the studio name, which I have blurred out and circled in pink. What is the name? (Hint: It differs from the actual studio it's referencing in two ways, and it's a pun.)

Solution Instead of 20th Century Fox, the studio is… 21st Century Pox.

Congratulations to yesterday's solvers Connor and Mr. Gregg. Thanks to everybody who made a guess!

About This Site

Though he now teaches mathematics, Dr. (né Mr.) Shapiro's first job in a K–12 school was as a lunch monitor in Davis, CA. It was there that he originated the Puzzle of the Day, even rewarding correct answers with tickets in denominations like "15 points" (though without a clear idea of how he'd ultimately redeem these). Dr. Shapiro's favorite puzzle from this pre-professional era was "Tell me the location of the beehive on this campus."

Ten years later, Dr. Shapiro revived Puzzle of the Day at Proof School, writing each day's puzzle on a name tag. After 600 puzzles or so, he was just starting to feel normal about students reading his chest all the time when campus closed and the puzzle, like the rest of our lives, moved online. New puzzles are posted daily on school days.

Want to catch up on old PotDs? There's an archive currently containing puzzles from March 2020 to March 2021.