Denis Auroux - Other Interests

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Music

I composed part of the original score for the 2025 MIT Mystery Hunt. The plot imposed the Hush Little Baby lullaby as main theme, but the music also blends in other well-known themes associated to each of the main characters.

• The orchestral portion of the kickoff event soundtrack. (The other portion of the score was composed by Karen Tingley; you can see the kickoff video here.)
• The soundtracks for the live interactions with four of the main characters: Papa, Gladys, Carter, and Katrina.

You can listen to me playing some classical pieces on my piano. Since I am not a professional pianist, needless to say that it's far from perfect.

• Chopin's Etude Opus 10 No. 1 in C major (1:56)   (File Size: 1.9 MB)
• Rachmaninov's Prelude Opus 23 No. 4 in D major (4:00)   (File Size: 3.8 MB)
• Debussy's Prelude Pour Le Piano (3:29)   (File Size: 3.3 MB)

While I am primarily a classical musician, during my undergraduate years I got interested in electronic music. Here are a few pieces I composed in 1994-96. (Listen at your own risk).

• Intro (2:39)   (File Size: 2.4 MB)
• New World (4:08)   (File Size: 3.8 MB)
• Light Maze (3:41)   (File Size: 3.4 MB)
• Fangataufa (4:08)   (File Size: 3.8 MB)

Puzzles

I am really into puzzles, and have participated in the World Puzzle Championship several times.

• Magnetic cross-sums - a hard puzzle I designed for the 2006 French WPC qualifying test.
• Magnetic fences - a puzzle I designed for the 2007 French WPC qualifying test.
• The 2008 French WPC qualifying test.
• Sudoku: Not? - a puzzle I designed for the MIT math department's 2008 Integral newsletter.
• The 2010 French WPC qualifying test.
• The 2011 French/Belgian WPC qualifying test.
• The 2012 French WPC qualifying test.
• Some puzzles I designed for the 2013 French WPC qualifying test: instructions, puzzles, solutions.
• "Classics: Hexed and Remixed", a LMI puzzle test I authored: instructions and puzzles
• Regional Battleships - a puzzle I designed for the 2015 LMI Puzzle Marathon.
• The 2015 French WPC qualifying test.
• Hex Slitherlink - a puzzle I wrote for the 2016 LMI Puzzle Marathon -- and another slightly harder Hex Slitherlink puzzle that wasn't selected.
• Four logic puzzles I wrote for the 2018 Mystery Hunt: puzzles, solutions
• The 2019 French WPC puzzle test.
• Round 2 of the 2023 French Puzzle Championship: instructions and puzzles
• Four logic puzzles I wrote for the 2025 Mystery Hunt: Maze of Lies, This Is Just a Test, Bermuda Triangle, Good Fences Make Good Otherwise Incompatible Neighbors, and a music puzzle: Cacciando Trio Misterioso.
• Round 2 of the 2025 French Puzzle Championship: instructions and puzzles