Only people clever enough to be a spy can solve this 'impossible' riddle

Fancy testing your with a riddle that’s more challenging than it seems?

This isn’t your average guess-the-word or mathematic brain teaser. It’s so tricky that only those with the sharpest minds, possibly spy-level cleverness, will be able to solve it. So, are you up for the challenge? Get ready to engage your problem-solving skills because cracking this code.

Here’s the riddle, all you have to do is find the word hidden amidst the following words: Madison, Saturn, Do, Nitrogen, Exodus. At first glance, these words might seem like they have absolutely nothing in common as they are everything from historical names to scientific terms to things you’d hear in a music lesson or a Sunday service. This puzzle was originally shared by , the UK's intelligence, security and cyber agency.

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But here's the twist—these words are connected in a specific way, and there’s a hidden logic behind the puzzle. All you have to do is figure out the sequence they belong to and take the nth letter from each word.

Now that it’s been explained do you think you can solve it? Before you dive in, let’s remember why puzzles like this are so great for the brain. Solving brainteasers is a fantastic workout for your mind, improving your memory, sharpness, and problem-solving skills. It’s like hitting the gym for your brain so don’t give yourself too hard a time if you don’t solve it all but do give it your best shot!

If you are still trying to figure it out then look away. Here’s how you get to the answer: the trick to solving this riddle lies in recognising that each word is part of a sequence. So, you need to look at the nth letter of each word, based on its position in a specific order. Here’s the sequence:

Madison is the 4th President of the United States. So, you take the 4th letter of Madison, which is I. Saturn is the 6th planet in our solar system. Therefore, you need the 6th letter of Saturn, which is N. Do is the first note in the tonic sol-fa scale, so the 1st letter of Do is D.

Nitrogen is the 7th element on the periodic table. The 7th letter of Nitrogen is E. Exodus is the 2nd book of the Bible, so the 2nd letter of Exodus is X. When you put those letters together—I, N, D, E, and X—what you get is: INDEX. Yes, that’s the answer.

The real challenge is figuring out how the words are connected to their sequences. And that’s what makes brain teasers like this so great—they force you to think outside the box, build connections, and use your logical skills in ways you might not have expected. If you didn’t figure this one out don’t worry - it’s super hard but at least you tried.