Encyclopedia Britannica: “The first recorded use of cryptography for correspondence was by the Spartans, who as early as 400 bc employed a cipher device called the scytale for secret communication between military commanders.”

I have brought the traditional text-based substitution cipher into the realm of contemporary art. The linear graphic lettering technique used to reveal each piece’s message and title is unique. My works are unmistakable and technically demanding to create. I invite you to read My Story – a fifty-year history of my linear graphics development. This all began with a bar challenge I accepted in 1972. Owners, and in some cases simply viewers of a simple Trithemian Web™ cipher, can unlock and reveal their secrets, which in the case of the more advanced ciphers, can include more than just its message.

Individual containers composed of vertically displayed but horizontally read characters are my trademark. These pieces are uniquely identifiable. One of a kind designer puzzles!

Steven Clontz – Mathematician, professor, and puzzle designer based out of the University of South Alabama.

Cryptic Puzzles

“These are the most common type of puzzles found in quality puzzlehunts and escape rooms, and enthusiasts consider these challenges to be simply “puzzles” Such puzzles might alternatively be called “designer” puzzles which are meant to be solved at most once by a given person, since part of the puzzle is the epiphany required to see an extraction technique.”