THE HARRY GREEN SHUFFLE

This was a prototype, describing how a deck of playing cards might be used as a method to sort clues for the $100,000 Challenge. Since all playing cards emerge from a freshly opened deck arranged in the same order, this could be a starting point. 52 Clues could then be arranged alongside, sorted in chronological order of the magicians’ birthdates.
3000 BC - DEDI KEPT HIS HEAD AND VOWED TO LOSE ANOTHER.
135 BC - SYRIAN BREATHED EASTERN FLAMES WITHOUT BURNS.
1595 - NICHOLAS HUNT PENNED HIS PRINT BOOK FORCEFULLY.
1600 - FRANCOIS BATTALIA CONSUMED STONE HALF A PECK A DAY.
1674 - MATTHEW BUCHINGER ACHIEVED UPWARD LOCAL FAME.
1734 - JACOB PHILADELPHIA SPIRITED TO FOUR TOWNS.
1742 - PHILIP ASTLEY PERFORMED WITH FLAIR IN LONDON TOWN.
1771 - OLIVIER BARED HIS ARMS AND DEALT TO THE MIDDLE OF FIVE.
1781 - ANDREW OEHLERS SCARY GHOSTS NUMBERED SIXTY.
1788 - LOUIS COMTE THREW HIS VOICE IN EACH DIRECTION.
1792 - IVAN IVANITZ CHABERT GULPED THE MOLTEN LEAD TOWARD LAST.
1793 - BARTOLOMEO BOSCOS ARENA WAS CUPS AND BALLS.
1801 - LUDWIG DOEBLER ELECTRIFIED NINE FANCY CANDLES.
1805 - ROBERT-HOUDIN CLOCKED SIX NOTES AT TWO NINETEEN.
1806 - JOHANN HOFZINSER ROUGHED AND SMOOTHED TO AMAZE.
1810 - SIGNOR BLITZ FLUNG HIS VOICE NORTHWARD.
1836 - DAVID P. ABBOTT MADE THE THIRD TEA KETTLE TALK.
1840 - DR H. S. LYNN RESTORED THE PROUD MAN LIMB BY LIMB.
1844 - ALEXANDER HERRMANN TOSSED THE KING OFTEN.
1848 - BALDWIN TALKED FROM WITHIN AN EERIE TRANCE.
1860 - HERBERT ALBINI OPENED A NEW DECK FACING SOUTH.
1861 - GEORGE MELIES FILMED AT THE CENTURY’S TRANSITION.
1868 - LULU HURST PROVED UNABLE TO BE LIFTED AT THE HOTEL.
1872 - LAFAYETTE QUICK CHANGED DIGGING STRAIGHT DOWN.
1873 - MAX MALINI PRODUCED ICE INSIDE FORTY SEVEN HATS.
1874 - HOUDINI ESCAPED NINETY ONE MILK CANS ALONE.
1876 - LEON LEVY BURNED THEN DUNKED WHEN ASKED.
1880 - CLAUDE CONLIN EDGED THROUGH THE SOUTHERN ICE.
1885 - CHEFALO TUGGED A ROPE AND THE DEVIL KNOT VANISHED.
1888 - CHARLES JORDAN COUNTED HIS CHICKENS IN NINES.
1892 - JOSEPH DUNNIGER DIVINED RIGHTLY WITH NO ASSIST.
1894 - DAI VERNON FOOLED A FOURTH AND SEVENTH ABOVE.
1895 - JACK GWYNNE FLEW HIS SILKY CARPET EASTERLY.
1898 - JOHN MULHOLLAND HELMED THE SPHINX FOR TWENTY.
1902 - DELL O’DELL PROMOTED SNAPPY PATTER INTO HISTORY.
1904 - BERT EASLEY LEANED SIXTY-SIX DEGREES PRONE.
1905 - BILL NEFF HOSTED SPOOKY MANIA AT MIDNIGHT.
1907 - THEODORE ANNEMANN RAN THE JINX AND PACED HIS STEPS.
1910 - LEON MANDRAKE LEFT THE CARNIVAL ON THE ROAD.
1910 - TOMMY MARTIN FATHOMED THE TRICK TO AN EGG.
1913 - ED MARLO WROTE OF A BOOK WHICH COULD NOT BE RED.
1914 - BILL BAIRD SHOT THE EIGHT BALL TO THE WEST.
1919 - JOHNNY ALADDIN HYNOTIZED HOLDING ONTO THE RAIL.
1926 - VAL ANDREWS ROSE A BONUS CARD UP FROM THE DECK.
1928 - GLORIA JACOBSEN VAMPED HER ACT ALONG THE EAST.
1931 - MILT LARSEN COFOUNDED THE GRAND WESTERN CASTLE.
1933 - MARTIN NASH CHEATS TO REVEAL THE FIVE ONLY ONCE.
1934 - HARRY BLACKSTONE JR STOOD BEFORE HIS FATHER.
1937 - TED LESLEY MARKED THE DECK IN GOOD CHEER.
1943 - IAN ADAIR MEASURED HIS DOVES IN INCHES.
1945 - CHRISTIAN STELZEL MANIPULATED HIS ROUTE TO HONOR.
1948 - DARWIN ORTIZ HELD A LECTURE ON FANCY CARD CHEATS.

Green opened a new pack of cards, discarded the jokers and nonessential cards, and executed five in-weaves. Then he took one red card and one black card out of the deck. He put them six inches apart, face-up on the table in front of Churchill. Handing the rest of the deck to the Prime Minister, he instructed him to deal out the rest of the cards, one card at a time. If Churchill believed the card was a red card, he should put it face down on top of the red card on the table. If he instinctively felt that it was a black card, he should put that one face down on top of the black card. He was to repeat this process for the rest of the deck.

BK told me about the “in-weave riffle” and the “out-weave riffle,” astonishing techniques that perfectly interlace each exact half pile of cards into one.
Here is the initial order of the deck fresh from the box, left to right, top to bottom.
And here is the order of the deck after The Harry Green Shuffle.

By rearranging the 52 magician clues to match the new order of the 52 playing cards, this created a final ordering of the clues.

I liked the idea of having to determine an ordering mechanism for the clues, especially one based on magic mythos, but DB tossed the shuffle and the magician clues as being too “outside the book.”

The notion of an ordering mechanism reincarnated in the final puzzle by dividing the 41 clues into PRECEPTS and PROSE and then using the SEEM the SAME homophone/anagram associations to establish the final order.

More abandoned ideas in The San Dimas Prototype.
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