Back-Room Boy (1942)

Plotzle Expert · Puzzle #4 · April 26, 2026 · Comedy

Six plot descriptions for Back-Room Boy (1942). One is the real plot. Five are convincing fakes. Read them and guess which is real.

1. A former radio producer retreats to his basement after a public meltdown and starts an anonymous podcast that becomes wildly popular while his aboveground life completely falls apart.
2. Two janitorial staff members at a prestigious university start attending philosophy lectures during their night shifts and begin anonymously answering student questions on the department bulletin board with surprising wisdom.
3. A shy inventory clerk at a textile warehouse discovers his knack for mediating workplace disputes and accidentally becomes the unofficial counselor for everyone's petty grievances and romantic entanglements.
4. An introverted tailor works in the back of his brother's trendy boutique and falls for a customer who keeps returning with elaborate alteration requests as an excuse to talk.
5. A married accountant begins an affair with a colleague in the firm's storage room but their trysts keep getting interrupted by increasingly absurd office emergencies and nosy coworkers.
6. A man takes a lighthouse job after his engagement ends, but twelve other people arrive on the island and they begin disappearing one by one in suspicious circumstances.