Conundrum

“Conundrum (noun): A riddle involving disparate things and whose answer involves a pun; problem or perplexing phenomenon; quizzical matter.

‘It’s the social reformers and novelists who create these artificial conundrums; they want to see their rotten literature; they want to make us forget that the only interesting and important part of the business is what nobody talks or writes about.’ Norman Douglas, South Wind”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.