# States List Puzzle, Hoax or Forgotten Website? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-forgotten-website/588246 "2011-07-07T23:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AntiCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a587f6/32.png) [@AntiCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntiCoyote)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-forgotten-website/588246/1 "2011-07-07T23:57:03Z")
I was reading about Internet hoaxes and came across, mentioned a puzzle that ordered the states of the USA in some mysterious order. And you were supposed to figure it out. I even found a thread about it on the Straight Dope > **[States List Puzzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=395306)** > > The hippo / TV thread got me to googling and I found this from years ago. Does anyone know what this was about or if it was ever solved http://lex.net/puzzle/ THanks The original site is [States List Puzzle](http://lex.net/puzzle/) If you go to the main page: [http://lex.net](http://lex.net) the site seems kind of fake too. You can’t do anything and the site is passcoded on every link and hasn’t been updated since 2003. You can get around the [States List Puzzle](http://lex.net/puzzle) though So what do you all think? Is this a hoax with no answer or was it a genuine attempt but later forgot about ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-forgotten-website/588246/2 "2011-07-08T00:04:29Z")
I remember that one well. Plenty of people here did try to solve it and came up with some approximate answers but no exact ones. I don’t know if was a true hoax. Maybe the writer just made a bad mistake in the details and started something that he/she didn’t know how to get out of. That isn’t the only example of that though. There was another puzzle that proved unsolvable or seemed like it was designed to be that. It was one of the puzzles like 16 o i a p = 16 ounces in a pound. I forget what it was exactly because it was probably just made up but some Dopers did come up with real answers that fit but they were too obscure to be real. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-forgotten-website/588246/3 "2011-07-08T00:39:53Z")
13 k f of a d? ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-forgotten-website/588246/4 "2011-07-08T01:21:39Z")
14 k of g in a f p d?