A Guide to Confuse Mode

Confused by Confuse mode? Hopefully this guide will give you some useful tips that'll help you avoid spending 3 or 4 blue crystals on a single puzzle.

Disclaimer

Confuse mode is arguably the hardest mode in the entire game. So hard, in fact, that it's unavailable to new players. You first have to prove yourself in Standard, Expert, and Random modes. Therefore, I will assume that you're familiar with some of the usual tricks for finding mimics and safe chests, such as knowing that a red chest that says there's a mimic among the red boxes must be safe and must be telling the truth, and I won't explain how they work for most game modes. I will, however, explain any differences that playing on Confuse mode makes, like how that red chest may still be guaranteed to be safe but isn't guaranteed to be truthful.

As in most game modes, there will be some puzzles that have multiple valid solutions and require the use of items such as blue crystals to work out which valid solution is the right one. The reason why the game gives you 7 blue crystals at the start of a Confuse dungeon is because this happens much more frequently in Confuse mode, so those 7 blue crystals will usually not be enough to see you through. I highly recommend buying every blue crystal you can from shops, but if you do this and follow the tips from this guide, you may find you end the dungeon with 1 or 2 blue crystals to spare. Or you might not, depending on the puzzles you get.

A Guide to the Guide

I will be using a lot of visual examples throughout this guide, so here I will go through the notation I use.

• Red T: This chest is telling the truth
  
• Orange S: This chest is safe to open (ie, not a mimic), but could be truthful or the confused box
  
• Yellow C: This chest is the confused box - it's safe to open, but it's lying
  
• Green L: This chest is lying, but could be a mimic or the confused box
  
• Blue M: This chest is a mimic
  
• Purple N: This chest is not the confused box, but it could be a truthful safe chest or a lying mimic
  
• White line connecting two chests: At least one of the connected chests is lying

Additionally, all examples of complete puzzles I show will have 9 chests arranged in a 3x3 grid like this, although the principles will be just as applicable to puzzles with fewer chests. I will use compass directions to refer to the different chests, so the top-left one will be northwest and the middle-right one will be east. Center will still be center though.

Puzzle 1

To help illustrate the principles this guide advises you to follow, I will go through some examples of puzzles. Here is the first one we will be looking at:

Step 1: Open all chests that obviously can't be mimics

Since you'll be using a lot of blue crystals in a Confuse dungeon, you want to avoid potentially wasting them on chests that couldn't possibly be mimics.

In this puzzle, west and southeast must both be safe for the same reasons that they would be safe in most game modes. However, unlike in most game modes, you don't know for sure that west and southeast are both telling the truth. For all you know, one of them could be the confused box.

Step 2: Start tracking down the liars

A good way to narrow down the positions of liars is to find distinct (ie, non-overlapping) pairs of chests that must each have at least one liar. The most obvious is when two chests make contradictory claims, such as in this puzzle.
Note that I haven't connected northwest to center or north to southwest, despite those also being pairs of chests that contradict each other. This is to keep things clear not just visually but also mentally. You don't want to count 4 pairs of chests with a liar and think that means you've found 4 liars by mistake.

Step 3: Start tracking down the truthful chests

You may have done some of this during step 1, but it's much easier to do once you've narrowed down the locations of some of the liars.

In this puzzle, all the chests in the rightmost column are making the same claim: "The bottom row has at least 1 Mimic." This means either they're all lying or they're all telling the truth. But the number of liars in a Confuse puzzle is always the number of mimics plus one confused box - in this case, 3 liars. One of them is either northwest or north, as indicated by the white line, and one of them is either center or southwest. That means there is only 1 liar outside of those 4 chests, so the ones in the rightmost column can't all be lying. They must be telling the truth.
Don't forget to open the truthful chests so you don't have a blue crystal simply confirming that they are safe!

Step 4: Confirm the locations of the liars (and more truthful chests)

With the information from truthful chests, as well as the fact that those chests are safe, you can start to determine exactly which chests in the pairs you found earlier are the liars. In this case, "The rightmost column contains no Mimics" is true and "The rightmost column has 1 or more Mimics" is false.

There's no need for the white lines now so I'll get rid of them.
It's important to note that there is always exactly 1 confused box. This means any group of chests that contains 2 or more liars is guaranteed to have a mimic in it. In this case, the leftmost column has 2 liars, so at least 1 of them is a mimic, which means that west isn't just safe, it's also telling the truth.

Since this puzzle has 9 chests and 3 liars (2 mimics + 1 confused box), that means there are exactly 6 chests that tell the truth. Now that west's claim has been verified, this brings the total number of truthful chests found to 6:

1. North
   
2. Northeast
   
3. West
   
4. Center
   
5. East
   
6. Southeast

This leaves northwest, southwest, and south as the 3 liars.

Step 5: Identify mimics and the confused box

So you've worked out where all the liars are. Now it's time to work out which one is the confused box and any that have to be mimics.

Fortunately, there's no need for a blue crystal in this puzzle. Why? Well, south claims that the top row has at least 1 mimic, right? But south is lying, so there's really no mimics in the top row. This means the lying northwest must be the confused box, leaving the other 2 liars to be mimics.
In a more difficult puzzle, you might reach this step and be unable to conclusively solve the puzzle. In which case, as long as you've opened all chests you know to be safe, this is the time to use a blue crystal. With any luck, it'll give you the information you need to finish solving the puzzle.

On the other hand, you may have gotten a head start on this step during a previous step. Perhaps you found a truthful chest accusing another chest of being a mimic, in which case the accused is indeed a mimic. Or maybe you found a truthful chest claiming that a particular chest is not a mimic, but you know that other chest is lying so it has to be the confused box.

Puzzle 2

Here's an example now of a puzzle where step 1 can get you very far:
First of all, there are 4 chests claiming that there is no mimic among the red boxes. Since the total number of liars in the puzzle is 3, these 4 chests can't all be lying so they must all be telling the truth.

Additionally, a blue mimic couldn't say that there is a blue mimic, so the 2 blue chests claiming that there's a blue mimic must also be safe. They must also be truthful since there is only one confused box. Whenever 2 or more safe chests agree on something, they must be telling the truth.

And just like that, all 6 truthful chests have been accounted for. There's no need to perform steps 2 and 3, and all that needs to be done for step 4 is noting that the other 3 chests are liars.
Quickly proceeding to step 5, note that the statement "There is no Mimic among the black boxes" is spoken only by liars. This means there is a mimic among the black boxes. Southwest is the only black box that is not confirmed to be telling the truth, so it must be a mimic.
Now here's a question for you: is the confused box in the northeast position and the other mimic in the center position, or is it the other way around?

Think about it for a minute.

...

No idea? Congratulations, you've run into the main reason why you got 7 blue crystals at the start of your run! Scenarios like this are common in Confuse dungeons, where you've found where all the liars are but you can't work out which one is the confused box.

Don't forget to open the chests you know are safe first - imagine using a blue crystal only for it to say that northwest is safe. Like, no ♥♥♥♥ Sherlock!

Puzzle 3

This next puzzle provides examples of other ways to perform some of the steps above.
First of all, since there are 3 liars, any statement made by 4 or more chests must be true. There are no such statements this time, but there are 3 chests (northwest, southwest, and southeast) claiming that there are no red mimics. In theory, those 3 chests could all be lying as long as all 6 other chests are telling the truth. In practice? Let's see ...
According to this, center and east would both have to be truthful mimics. But this isn't Doubt mode, this is Confuse mode, and there are no truthful mimics! Therefore:

• Those 3 suspected chests (northwest, southwest, and southeast) cannot be lying; they must be telling the truth
  
• Since center's claim directly contradicts them, center must be lying
  
• All other red chests (northeast, east, and south) are safe because there are no red mimics, but not necessarily truthful

Now let's look at another way to track down liars: looking for direct accusations. In other words, chests that claim that another specific chest is a mimic. Normally, whenever a chest does this, there are 2 possibilities:

• The accuser is telling the truth and the accused is a mimic
  
• The accuser is a mimic and the accused is a truthful safe chest

In Confuse mode, however, there are 2 additional possibilities:

• The accuser is the confused box and the accused is a truthful safe chest
  
• The accuser is a mimic and the accused is the confused box

In all 4 scenarios, however, there is at least one liar between the two chests. With 3 chests making accusations and no overlap between any of them, you can narrow down the locations of the liars even further.
Two things stand out here. The first is that north must be telling the truth because all 3 liars have now been accounted for with those pairs of connected chests.

The second is the northeast-east pair. Northeast has falsely accused east of being a mimic, but northeast has also been confirmed to be a safe chest. There's only one explanation for this: northeast is the confused box!

Once you know which box is the confused box, all other safe chests must be truthful and all other liars must be mimics.

With that in mind, the solution to this puzzle can only be ...

Puzzle 4

So far, you've seen puzzles with some fairly easy starting points. Certain chests must be safe, certain pairs of chests must contain a liar, and therefore certain other chests must be telling the truth.

Sometimes, however, there isn't an immediately obvious starting point, like with this puzzle:
No chests are making contradictory claims or accusing each other of being mimics, and no chest is claiming that its own group has at least 1 mimic. Yes, northeast says that there's 1 black mimic, but a black mimic could make that claim if there were actually 2 black mimics.

At times like this, you often need to apply a little proof by contradiction. Consider a possibility and see if it turns out to be impossible.

In this case, consider the 2 chests saying there are no blue mimics (north and west) and the 2 chests saying there are no red mimics (east and southeast). On the face of it, these claims are perfectly consistent with each other - after all, the last puzzle didn't have any red or blue mimics. So, suppose all 4 of those chests are telling the truth in this puzzle. What would that mean?

Well ...
See the problem? This puzzle's meant to have 2 mimics but there's only room left for 1. This means there can't be both no red mimics and no blue mimics, so either north and west are lying or east and southeast are lying.
With that in mind, could southwest be lying? If it is and there are no black mimics, then all black liars must be confused boxes. Northeast is lying about the number of black mimics so it's a confused box, and it's established that either north or east is lying so that results in a second confused box.

But wait, Confuse puzzles only ever have 1 confused box, not 2! So there is definitely at least 1 black mimic and southwest is telling the truth. Could there be 2 black mimics? If there were, then there would be no red mimics and no blue mimics, but that possibility has already been disproved. So northeast's claim that there is 1 black mimic must also be true.
Even after you've made a start, however, it might not be immediately obvious what to consider next, but don't worry. Just keep trying questions of the same nature, testing to see if a particular chest (or, better yet, a group of chests saying the same thing) could be telling the truth or lying, and you should be able to rule out more scenarios.

In this case, could there be a blue mimic? If so, then:

• 1 black mimic + 1 blue mimic = 2 mimics, so there are no red mimics, so east and southeast are truthful
  
• North is lying and, since it's the last black chest, it must be a mimic
  
• West is lying because it agrees with a mimic
  
• South is lying because the entire rightmost column is confirmed to be safe
  
• Northwest is lying because there is a mimic in the top row

So that's 4 chests that have to be lying if there's a blue mimic, but this puzzle only has 3 liars (2 mimics + 1 confused box). This proves that there can't be a blue mimic, so north and west must be telling the truth, meaning east and southeast are lying. A few more things fall into place thanks to this information.

Both east and southeast are lying black chests, but they can't both be mimics because truth-telling northeast says there's 1 black mimic. So one of them is the black mimic northeast is talking about and the other is the confused box. Whichever way around it is, there will be a mimic in the rightmost column, so south must be telling the truth.

Finally, there is a red mimic somewhere, but there's only 2 red chests remaining. One of them must be a lying mimic, and the other one must be telling the truth since the confused box has already been accounted for.
At this point there are actually 2 valid solutions:

1. Center and east are the mimics, southeast is the confused box, and northwest is telling the truth
   
2. Northwest and southeast are the mimics, east is the confused box, and center is telling the truth

But at least you only needed to use 1 blue crystal instead of 3 or 4!

About (Direct) Accusation and Exoneration

Now that you have a solid idea of how to go about solving a Confuse puzzle, here are some more useful hints to help you out.

"You're a mimic!" "No, you!"

In most game modes, when a pair of chests directly accuse each other like this, it means one of them is a mimic and the other is a truthful safe chest. In Confuse mode, it means exactly the same thing. It's impossible for either chest to be confused.

Imagine if, in this example, the red chest was a confused box. That would make its own claim false, meaning the black chest would be safe, but it would also mean the black chest is lying about the red chest being a mimic. Taken together, it means the black chest would also have to be a confused box, but every Confuse puzzle has 1 confused box. No more, no less. So the red chest can't be a confused box.

The same logic can be applied if you start with the assumption that the black chest is a confused box, so the black chest also can't be a confused box.

Bosom Buddies

In most game modes, when a pair of chests directly vouch for each other like this, it means either they're both truthful safe chests or they're both mimics. In Confuse mode, just like with the previous situation, it still means the same thing because neither chest can possibly be confused.

Suppose the black chest here was a confused box. That would mean it's lying, so the red chest would have to be a mimic. However, the red chest's claim would be true, making it a truthful mimic. Truthful mimics do not exist in Confuse mode, so the black chest can't be the confused box.

The argument works the same way if you assume the red chest is confused, because that would make the black chest a truthful mimic. So the red chest also can't be the confused box.

"Your approval fills me with shame"

This scenario cannot happen in most game modes. Whether you assume the black chest is a truthful safe chest or a lying mimic, the red chest is a kind of chest that doesn't usually exist. In Confuse mode, however, this situation can and does arise. In fact, it's very helpful in narrowing down the position of the confused box.

First of all, the red chest must be safe. If it were a mimic, then its own claim would be a lie (so the black chest would be a mimic) and the black chest's claim would be true. This would make the black chest a truthful mimic, which isn't a thing in Confuse mode.

Knowing that the red chest is safe, the black chest is clearly lying. If the black chest is safe then that means it must be the confused box and the red chest was telling the truth. On the other hand, if the black chest is a mimic, then the red chest was lying, making the red chest the confused box.

Either way, one of those two chests is the confused box, so all other liars you find elsewhere in the puzzle will be mimics and all safe chests you find elsewhere will be telling the truth.

Additional Tips

Here are some more useful tips I couldn't fit neatly into another section of the guide.

Conga Line of Validation

This is one tactic for the Confuse dungeon that relies specifically on the number of mimics rather than the number of liars. It's also one you would have probably used at some point in another game mode, but this time it comes with a caveat.

In most game modes, if the black chest here is a mimic, then that means the red chest must be a mimic, which means the blue chest must be a mimic. If it's not possible for all 3 chests to be mimics, either because the puzzle doesn't have 3 mimics or because too many other mimics were found elsewhere, then the black chest must be safe. This means it's telling the truth, which makes the red chest safe, which means the red chest is truthful, so the blue chest must also be safe.

In Confuse mode, everything still applies as normal except for that last sentence. In fact, since no Confuse puzzle ever has more than 2 mimics, the black chest here is guaranteed to be safe. However, the black chest is not guaranteed to be telling the truth. In fact, there are 4 possible ways this scenario could play out:

• Black is confused, red and blue are mimics
  
• Black is truthful, red is confused, blue is a mimic
  
• Black and red are truthful, blue is confused
  
• All 3 chests are truthful

Comparing Mimic Counts

Some chests like to make claims comparing the number of mimics in two different groups, either the top and bottom rows, the left and right columns, or two different colours. In all cases, there are exactly 3 possibilities:

• Group A has more mimics than group B
  
• Group B has more mimics than group A
  
• Both groups have the same number of mimics

Logically, one and only one of those statements is going to be true. This means if you have a situation like in the above picture where one chest says group A has more mimics, one says group B has more, and one says they have the same number, you can group those 3 chests together, knowing that exactly 1 of them is telling the truth and 2 of them are lying.

Note that you can also have a similar situation arise if, say, one chest says there are no blue mimics, one chest says there is exactly 1 blue mimic, and one chest says there are 2 blue mimics. Since those are the only possibilities for the number of blue mimics, 1 of those chests is truthful and 2 are lying.

Pondering the Implications

Following on from the above example about the number of mimics in the top row vs. the bottom row, remember that Confuse puzzles never have more than 2 mimics. So for group A to have more mimics than group B, group A must have 1 or 2 mimics and group B must have 0. If group B had 1, group A would then need at least 2, bringing the total mimic count to 3, which is too many mimics for a Confuse puzzle.

The same logic can be applied to the claim that group B has more mimics than group A; group B would need to have at least 1 mimic while group A would need to have none.

For both groups to have the same number of mimics, either both groups have to have 1 mimic each and the third group (middle row, middle column, or third colour) has to have none, or both groups have to be completely free of mimics and all the mimics have to be in the third group.

This means, for example, that if one chest says "There is no Mimic among the red boxes" and another chest says "There are more Mimics in red than blue boxes", they can't both be telling the truth. But could they both be lying? Yes! If there is exactly 1 red mimic and 1 blue mimic, then the first chest is lying because there is a red mimic, and the second chest is lying because there's an equal number of red and blue mimics.

There are other times when two statements might not be literal opposites of each other but still can't both be true at the same time. Keep an eye out for those and remain open to the possibility that both chests are lying.

Bonus Exercise 1

Here is a modified version of puzzle 1:
Pay attention to south's new statement.

How many valid solutions are there?

Answer

There are 2 valid solutions.

As per steps 1-4 in the original puzzle 1, you still have the truthful chests and the liars in exactly the same positions (northwest, southwest, and south are the liars, everyone else is truthful), but now northwest has to be a mimic because "the top row contains no mimics" is a lie. Then southwest could be the other mimic and south the confused box, or vice versa. Either way, there would be a mimic in the leftmost column (northwest), there would be one in the top row (northwest) to make south a liar, there would be one in the bottom row (southwest or south), and there would be none in the rightmost column.

Bonus Exercise 2

Here is puzzle 2 for reference:
Make one change to this puzzle so that it has only one valid solution. The rules are as follows:

• You may change one chest's colour or statement
  
• Northeast, center, and southwest must still be liars and all other chests must still be truthful
  
• All chests' statements must still be "There is [a/no] Mimic among the [red/blue/black] boxes"

Answer

Change either northeast or center to a red chest. Whichever one you make red must be confused because there are no red mimics. Whichever chest stays blue will be a mimic along with southwest.

Bonus Exercise 3

Here is a modified version of puzzle 3:
Pay close attention to northeast and south's new statements and answer the following questions:

1. Could the 3 chests saying there are no red mimics all be lying now and the other 6 telling the truth?
   
2. Could those 3 chests still be telling the truth? If so, what would the solution(s) be now?
   
3. Which chests can you be 100% sure are safe to open?

Answers

1. If northwest, southwest, and southeast are lying, then there has to be a red mimic and all other chests must be telling the truth. What this means is:
   
   • South and northeast's claims are automatically true since center and east will be safe if they're telling the truth.
     
   • As the only red liar, northwest will have to be the red mimic, which is exactly what west says, so west is indeed truthful.
     
   • Between them, north, center, and east say that there's a red mimic and a black mimic but no blue mimic. Southeast is blue, so it can't be a mimic, so it must be the confused box. Southwest is black so it can be a mimic (and indeed it has to be).
   Therefore, northwest, southwest, and southeast could be lying in this scenario. If so, then northwest and southwest are the mimics and southeast is the confused box.
   
2. If northwest, southwest, and southeast are still telling the truth, making them truthful chests #1 to #3, then all red chests are safe, and west and center are 2 of the 3 liars in the puzzle. What this means is:
   
   • Northeast's claim that east isn't a mimic is truthful, so northeast is truthful chest #4.
     
   • The 2 confirmed liars west and center are both black, so there must be a black mimic, so north is truthful chest #5.
     
   • Both blue chests in the puzzle are truthful (and therefore safe), so east is truthful chest #6.
     
   • This means west, center, and south must be the 3 liars. But south is red and there are no red mimics, so south must be the confused box.
   Therefore, northwest, southwest, and southeast could still be telling the truth in this scenario. If so, then west and center are the mimics (just like in the original puzzle 3) and south is the confused box.
   
3. If northwest, southwest, and southeast are lying then northwest and southwest are the mimics as per the answer to question 1. If they're telling the truth, then west and center are the mimics as per the answer to question 2.
   
   Therefore, you can safely open north, south, and everything in the rightmost column before using a blue crystal. If the blue crystal says either chest in the middle row is safe, then they are both safe. If it says either chest in the left corners is safe, then both corner chests are safe.

Bonus Exercise 4

Here is puzzle 4 for reference:
For the following questions, change one chest's statement according to these rules:

• The new statement must be about either the number of mimics in a particular row or column or the number of mimics of a particular colour
  
• The chest's new statement cannot simply agree or conflict with another chest's statement (eg, no changing east to say that the top row has at least 1 mimic because that now conflicts with northwest's claim), but it can conflict with its own old statement (eg, you can change northwest to say the top row has at least 1 mimic)

Make this puzzle have only one valid solution, and in that solution:

1. There is 1 black mimic and 1 red mimic as in the original puzzle 4
   
2. There is 1 black mimic and 1 blue mimic

Hints

1. For most chests, the only thing you can change their statement to without violating one of the two rules of the exercise is something about the number of mimics in the leftmost column. The exceptions are northwest, center, and south, which could also have their new statements just be the opposite of their old ones. Anything else that obeys the first rule would cause the new statement to agree or conflict with another chest's statement, thus violating the second rule.
   
2. It's impossible for there to be 0 black mimics because this would make northeast the confused box and southwest a mimic, meaning east and southeast would also be lying. Even if you change northeast or southwest's statement to something true and say that the one you didn't change is confused, that means the other, unchanged black chests must be true, but then there are no mimics at all.
   
3. It's impossible for there to be 2 black mimics unless you change a black chest's statement. Otherwise at least one of the black mimics would be a truthful mimic.

Answers

1. This one has multiple possible answers, but one thing they all have in common is that the new statement is about the number of mimics in the leftmost column. Ignoring anything that violates the rules of the exercise:
   
   • You can't change northwest to say the top row has a mimic or south to say the rightmost column has none because, if there is 1 black mimic and 1 red mimic, the chest you change would become a second confused box.
     
   • Changing center to say the bottom row has no mimics results in 2 valid solutions: northwest and east are mimics and southeast is confused, or center and southeast are mimics and east is confused.
   So if the plan is to change one chest to talk about the leftmost column, which chest should it be? The obvious choice is south because its current statement is actually useless, but changing north, west, southwest, or even east works just as well with a couple of exceptions I'll explain in a bit. In any case:
   
   • The only way to have a number of black mimics other than 1 is if you change a black chest's statement and both the changed chest and northeast are the mimics. Changing north or east's statement can't result in it and northeast being mimics, however, because then both northwest and center would also be lying. Therefore, there is still 1 black mimic and the other mimic is either red or blue.
     
   • If the other mimic was blue and there were no red mimics, then north would be the 1 black mimic regardless of what it and east say, northwest would be confused, and then either west would be a mimic and center would be lying as well, or south would be a mimic and west would be lying as well. Either way, having no red mimics leads to too many liars, so there must be 1 black mimic, 1 red mimic, and no blue mimics. This means that, out of east and southeast, one of them must be a mimic and the other must be confused. This means north and south are both truthful, and if southwest says the leftmost column has a mimic in it, it must also be truthful.
     
   • If north, west, southwest, or south says the leftmost column has a mimic in it, then the mimic in the leftmost column has to be the one chest in that column that isn't confirmed to be safe: northwest. That means the other red chest in the center must be telling the truth, so southeast must be a mimic and east is the confused box.
     
   • If north or south says the leftmost column has no mimics, then the entire leftmost column is safe and truthful, so center, east, and southeast are the 3 liars. If center is lying, then the bottom row has no mimics, so southeast must be the confused box, leaving center and east as the mimics.
     
   • If southwest says the leftmost column has no mimics, it could be telling the truth, and center and east are the mimics just like before. Or it could be a mimic, making the northwest and center chests truthful, southeast the black mimic, and east the confused box. Similarly, if west says the leftmost column has no mimics, there's a second possible solution where north and south are mimics and northwest is confused. So these answers don't produce only one valid solution.
     
   • If east says the leftmost column has no mimics, it must be lying. Otherwise, as the only red chest remaining, center has to be the red mimic, and southeast has to be the black mimic, but this makes center a truthful mimic. The only solution is: northwest is the red mimic, center is truthful, southeast is the black mimic, and east is confused.
     
   • If east says the leftmost column has a mimic, it must still be lying. The only place for a mimic in the leftmost column is northwest, but if it's a mimic and east is truthful, then southeast must be a mimic and center must be truthful. Only problem is, where's the confused box? Therefore, east and center have to be the mimics and southeast must be confused.
2. Change northwest to say there's a mimic in the top row.
   
   • First of all, see hints 2 and 3 for why, unless you change a black chest's statement, there has to be exactly 1 black mimic, so northeast is still truthful.
     
   • Second of all, if northwest says there's a mimic in the top row, it can't possibly be confused because then north's claim would be true, east and southeast would be a mimic and a confused box (not necessarily in that order), and you would have 2 confused boxes.
     
   • Therefore, north must be the 1 black mimic, the second mimic is blue, and the entire rightmost column is safe. This actually results in both blue chests (west and south) lying, so all the other chests must be telling the truth. Crucially, center must be telling the truth, so south must be the blue mimic and west must be the confused box.

Summary

1. Start with chests you know must be safe
   
   • Chests that can't be lying for any reason (eg, because then there would be too many liars) are definitely truthful and definitely safe
     
   • Chests that can't be mimics for any reason (eg, because then there would be too many mimics or there would be one or more truthful mimics) are definitely safe but may or may not be confused
2. Work out roughly where the liars are
   
   • 2 chests that make inconsistent/contradictory claims, or one chest directly accusing another of being a mimic, means that at least one of those chests must be a liar
     
   • If you see 3 chests that all disagree with each other, either about which of two groups has more mimics or the exact number of mimics of a particular colour, 1 of those 3 chests is telling the truth and the other 2 are lying
     
   • Outside of the above, try to keep your chosen groups of chests that must have a liar separate from each other until a later step if possible
3. Work out where some truthful chests are
   
   • Once you've found as many distinct groups of chests with a liar in as there are liars in the puzzle, all chests outside those groups must be truthful
     
   • If 2 or more chests are making the same claim, those chests must either all be lying or all be telling the truth
     
   • If you find 2 or more safe chests that make the same claim, they must be telling the truth
     
   • If you find 2 safe chests that make contradictory claims, or one safe chest accusing another safe chest of being a mimic, one of those chests is the confused box and all other safe chests you find are telling the truth
4. Determine once and for all exactly which chests are the liars
   
   • Number of truthful chests = number of chests - number of liars, so once you find enough truthful chests, all other chests must be liars, and vice versa
     
   • There is always exactly 1 confused box, so any group that contains 2 or more liars must have a mimic in it
5. Work out which liar is the confused box, or use a blue crystal to find it

And if you get stuck, proof by contradiction is your friend.

• If a certain group of chests can't all be telling the truth for any reason, then you've narrowed down the location of at least one liar
  
• If a certain chest can't be a mimic, then you can open it safely and narrow down the positions of the mimics
  
• If a certain chest either can't be lying or can't be truthful, then you can use its clue (as written or negated) to figure out more of the puzzle

Shoutouts

First of all, thank you to Oni_The_Demon and overmind for their fantastic guides for general Mimic Logic gameplay. The two of them have pretty comprehensively covered the other game modes so I recommend you check out their guides if you haven't done so already.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3173467113
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3169013240
Second of all, thank you to P4wn4g3 for opening this thread about Confuse puzzles on the Mimic Logic forum, sharing their thoughts about possible rules one can follow, and presenting several puzzles they ran into during their trials. It really made me think hard about Confuse mode.

And finally, thank you for reading this guide. I hope it helps. Please let me know if there are any rules I have missed or any situations that you're unsure about, as well as any other feedback you might have about this guide.

[Onion_Bubs]

I have added some bonus exercises to the guide based on the example puzzles, ranging from pretty straightforward to quite tricky.

[Onion_Bubs]

I have added another puzzle to the guide. This one focuses on what to do when the starting point or the way forward isn't immediately obvious.

[Onion_Bubs]

I have added a link to that thread in the shoutouts.

[P4wn4g3]

Feel free to link to that thread, or just copy the summary of rules and tests I made. I find it convenient to have the list of rules and tests all listed one after the other so that I can just start at the top, go to the bottom, repeat.

[P4wn4g3]

Awesome, thanks for the guide and the shoutout!
People should use this guide over the other two, Overmind's doesn't (currently) have reliably correct info for confuse dungeon, though it does have some basics used in this guide. Oni_The_Demon doesn't currently have info on confuse dungeons.