Synopsis

Challenge 69 - A Musical Maverick Mystery

As promised a few days ago, here’s a bit more on what to expect from ‘Challenge 69’.

I’ll be posting a few more times (with a few more teasers) before the story’s ‘release date’ on 10 August, so please subscribe now to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Challenge 69 - A Musical Maverick Mystery - Synopsis

To misquote Churchill, it’s like an impenetrable riddle, wrapped in a musical mystery, inside an enigmatic life!

What is the confusing ‘Challenge 69’ competition that has appeared so mystifyingly online? How have its carefully chosen recipients been targeted? And what could its unique prize, boastfully heralded as a one-off copy with no likeness, possibly be?

Stuart possesses an uncontrollably meandering mind, and with time on his hands enjoys wasting it productively. He’s a Google-era, virtual version of a Renaissance man, with a near infinite variety of interests to explore. A carefully nurtured musical monomania sits at the front of the queue.

As the ‘Challenge’ slowly unfolds it seems at first just another of Stuart’s delightful distractions, but as the competition intensifies, its convoluted clues becoming ever more difficult to solve, he finds a new sense of focus. One he hadn’t previously realised he’d lost.

While Stuart keeps a guiding hand on the ‘Challenge’ rudder, he comes to accept it’s a cryptic craft that can’t be successfully navigated alone. First his wife and son, having initially mocked it as another obsession, get drawn into the intrigue. Then, realising this mind melding approach improves their chances, Stuart widens his quizzical consortium further, recruiting his long-term concert-going companions Ed and Charlie to the cause.

‘Challenge 69’ cultivates an aura of inscrutability (becoming a mystery in itself), with no explanation online, a bizarre numbering pattern, and a growing series of un-linkable, unrelated solutions. To win the promised prize, an increasingly realistic prospect as they pass each test (and the number of ‘Challengers’ drops away), Stuart realises he must find the key to unlock the quest’s core conundrum, while still struggling to locate its door!

He has a growing suspicion ‘Challenge 69’ may have an underlying musical theme, and a fledgling theory its clues were set in a different (less connected) age. Could these be the tell-tale clues he’s seeking?

The story drops occasional hints as to who the mysterious ‘Challenge 69’ quiz setter might be, and what may have motivated their competition, but these questions can only finally be answered if Stuart (and team) can reach the final clue to claim their one-off reward.

Hopefully that has piqued your interest, so please subscribe now, and if you know any other music fans that like a good mystery, then please help to spread the word about ‘Challenge 69’ by sharing. Thanks.