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Standing Orders

Played on March 24, 2026 · Puzzle #40

The voice

I maintain this and check on it every few months

The scenario

Something has been doing the exact same thing, in the exact same spot, every single night for over a century. It has never been thanked. It has never been answered. It does not know if anyone is watching. It repeats itself regardless.

About this puzzle

This is a Everyday puzzle of hard difficulty with one hidden answer. Players had up to 5 questions to ask the constrained voice before having to commit to an answer.

Everyday puzzles describe ordinary objects or moments through the eyes of someone who lacks the words for them, turning the mundane briefly strange and then suddenly obvious.

How players scored

  • Perfect score (100)8%
  • Above 7511%
  • 50 to 7528%
  • Below 500%
  • Gave up52%

Distribution across all production attempts.

How constrained voices work

Every 5Qs puzzle is built around a constrained voice. The voice knows the answer but can only communicate within a specific perspective — a doorman new to the city, a dog who only thinks in smell and crunch, an empty lot that has never been occupied before. The voice will not name the answer outright. The fun is figuring out what to ask so that the lens reveals enough for you to put a name on what the voice is describing.