Riddles have long been relished for their ability to captivate one's attention and induce an indescribable obsession for a solution.

In one famous case, a collection of enigmas, cryptograms, quandaries, rebuses, cruxes, and conundrums are grouped and named according to difficulty. The groups are (from easiest to most difficult) CRYSTAL, LEAF, SAND, WATER, METAL, and FIRE.

Each category contains a sequence of eight questions of increasing difficulty. Therefore, the eighth question of the FIRE set is considered by many to be the most difficult riddle of the collection, and possibly the most difficult question in existence.

The phrase "Fire 9" is a term used to describe a hypothetical riddle or question whose solution is exceedingly difficult to derive or comprehend.
Person A: "Man, I just can't figure out what the heck 6KR means!"

Person B: "You may as well try to find an end for pi. Give it up man, it's an enigma, a Fire 9."
by Jimmy Chapman March 5, 2008
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