Peggy Eickhoff Brown is the 2023 Riddler of the Year

It was a race to the river’s edge in Recreation Park when the final clue for the second riddle from The Lowell Riddler was issued in July.

Mark Weaver and Peggy Eickhoff Brown – who had been working together – were first on the scene with Paul Mundt not far behind. While Mark and Paul focused on the memorial monument there, Peggy was convinced that a reference to twins in one clue referred to trees.

“I knew it,” she says, but adds, “Nobody believed me.”

They did when she found the hidden medallion, wrapped in black tape, in the crook of a tree. Paul gamely took Peggy and Mark’s photo, and three chatted for a few minutes before Peggy suddenly realized they needed to get the photo to the Riddler. When it arrived in the Riddler’s inbox, it was a mere 16 minutes after the clue had been published.

That impressive time couldn’t be beat in August – although Paul and his brother Eric came close – and Peggy takes the crown as the 2023 Riddler of the Year.

Mark, who took home the honor last year, gets an assist for helping decipher the clues. “My job was to identify all the places where it wasn’t,” he says, noting that he and Peggy exchanged text messages to compare notes along the way.

This is the third year The Lowell Riddler has hidden medallions in the city and surrounding area for anyone to find, but Peggy didn’t participate at first. “I was thinking I don’t know if I can do that,” she explains. Then, she tried her hand at it last year and found two medallions.

“I don’t care about the prizes,” she says. “It’s the hunt.”

She loves poring over the clues to figure out the hidden meaning of each line and even goes back to review earlier riddles and solutions to help determine where the medallion could be hidden.

Both Peggy, who lives in Saranac, and Mark say the competition has helped them learn more about what Lowell has to offer. Most of all, though, they have simply enjoyed the chase.

“Peggy and I had a great time,” according to Mark. The two would exchange text messages to bounce off ideas about where the medallion would be and update one another on where they had already searched.

“Obsessive” might be the right word for it, Peggy says with a laugh. She shares that’s how her husband and sister describe her commitment to riddle-solving.

It’s all paid off now with a trophy and bragging rights for Peggy as the best riddler in the land (or at least Lowell). Honorable mentions go to the Mundt brothers and Christian Huisman, who solved the June riddle. Congratulations to all!

There’s no word yet on whether the The Lowell Riddler will be back for 2024 or if they are ready to retire for good. Once we know, you will too.