Dust off those monocles and polish up on those puzzle solving skills because it’s that time of year again.

After a year off, the Herald Hunt, a South Florida institution, is back in action, this time at the new Marlins Stadium.

The hunt is scheduled for noon Nov. 13, and as always, Pulitzer winning humor columnist Dave Barry orchestrated the puzzle solving bonanza with award-winning editor Tom Shroder.

By Barry’s own admission, the duo are a little kooky.

“We’re not brilliant,” Barry said, “we’re just not sane.” About the series of complex Hunt clues, he added, “A lot of it is sort of doodling around on a napkin and leaping up from the dinner table.”

The Herald Hunt started as the Tropic Hunt in 1984. For the uninitiated, the Herald Hunt revolves around numbers and a specific geographical area in South Florida.

“Basically you solve five puzzles, and you get a number from each,” Barry said, “Each number corresponds to a clue — you have five clues — then at 3 p.m. we give you a final clue, and combined with the other five it tells you what to do. Usually there are several layers you have to do to solve it.”

It doesn’t happen every year, but over the span of its existence the hunt its been held at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Bicentennial Park — and once, the city of Coral Gables shut down all of Miracle Mile for the event.

“One year we erected a maze in downtown Miami,” he said. “The maze was made out of some kind of styrofoam, and of course that night there was a 70-mile-an-hour wind. It’s probably drifting over the atmosphere of Bangladesh right now.”

The impending opening of the stadium presented a unique opportunity, and because of its location, this year’s Hunt has something of a “baseball-ish” theme, Barry said.

“I don’t know who approached who, but fairly early on they asked if we’d be interested,” Barry said, “We went six months ago when it was a construction site. A lot of people probably just want to look at this thing that looks like a spaceship.”

The Hunt will not be inside the stadium, but around it. However, nothing in the area should be taken at face value, but also, don’t think about things too hard, Barry said.

“People miss obvious things because they’re too busy being smart,” he said.

The woman responsible for the obvious things, and the not as much so, is Elaine Pasekoff, whom Barry calls “the mistress of the hunt.” Her job is to take all the things that Barry and Shroder dream up and turn them into reality.

“It’s always a challenge to create all the puzzle pieces in the most affordable way possible,” Pasekoff said. “You do what you got to do. Even with the economy in the tank, this year’s hunt is going to be as remarkable and as fun as them all.”

She said there’s a prop this year that she “must not say but the way it will be displayed will knock your eyes out.”

Pasekoff advises bringing kids along because they can take a unique approach to problem-solving. Also, this year there’s a special puzzle element that will be handed out, so she said to be on site by 11:30, and as always, bring a copy of the Sunday Miami Herald, which will have exclusive information for the hunt.

“They look likes ads,” she said, “but they might not be.”

You can also visit a website run by Hunt historian Andy Wenzel. He has participated in and recorded all of the hunts since the first one, when he was 13 years old, and posts the results at http://www.tropichunt.com. He said a good Hunt team needs one of each of the following: good friends; a good general puzzle solver; someone who recognizes patterns and someone who can sprint.

“If you have at least people who cross those skills you have a pretty good shot,” Wenzel said.

As for Barry, all the preparations lead up to the maddening 3 p.m. climax, when he gives the “endgame,” or final clue.

“The key moment is the moment when the first person solves anything; when that happens we start to relax,” Barry said. “I’m personally looking forward to having a beer when it’s over.”