I keep looking at the shape each set of digits make, but I've gotten nowhere. Converting to 1337 doesn't seem to give anything either.

There is something unusual about the letters which shows that they aren't random.

You have to add the numbers in each row/column, and convert with A=1, B=2 etc., but that has got me nowhere.

Eliminate everything that falls into the pattern

Don't bother trying to treat it like a cryptogram and lose an hour like I did.

There's no need to draw any diagonal lines. But...

...after you're done you'll still have to squint a bit to decipher the answer.

I tried to connect from 0 to 5 somehow, but couldn't find any way with straight lines, or with moves according to the numbers.
I tried to connect all the numbers of the same type, but got nothing.
I tried to connect all consecutive numbers and ended up with 4 numbers in the bottom left corner (4, 2, 5 and 4), but didn't get anything from that.
I tried to pretend as though the numerals were written on the 5x5 grid and to eliminate any instance of a numeral being placed where a line passes for it's big version, but got nothing.

You are trying to make a five letter word, on letter at a time.

You might have to use your imagination a bit to see the letters.

One of the methods you tried already is a good start.

There are a lot of words that you can make in a Boggle-like fashion (e.g., skiing), but that doesn't seem to lead anywhere.

There are a lot of double letters, most of which are in either the same row or column, but that doesn't seem to lead anywhere either (drawing lines among them, looking at the letters between them, and looking at the leftover letters have all failed me.

There is one row and one column that lack a vowel, so patterns of letters are going to have to span more than one.

Connecting the same numbers or crossing them out so the grid forms some sort of letter.

symmetry?

the bottom row of the left grid and the left column of the right grid each have a line of symmetry,

Spot-the-difference. Backwards.

...if the answer is five letters long, then why do the numbers start at 0?

Connect-the-dots.

take out the extra

There's a secret message to be found, but it's easy to get confused. The 8 letter word in the first box is almost a total red herring, don't try to find more words like it. Once you have the message, take it as literally as possible (which is tough, because it's phrased in a confusing way!).

I'm stumped. The only thing I notice is that E, M, W, V, U and Z are the only letters that are not repeated, but those do not appear to make a word. A appears 4 times, everything else is once or twice. That's gotta be a clue to the solution.

The way that probably seems most obvious, is the way to go. But keep in mind that the answer is skewed.

An anagram solver is a big help here.

Not all anagram solvers are created equally. I used the one at wordsolver.net.

SirNiko's clue tells me the first word is a red herring, but I can't make heads or tails of the other three boxes. I can make out stuff like "INTO" in box 2 and "SEE THE" in box 3, but I have no idea if I'm solving it properly.

The boxes are numbered for a reason.

Really. The anagram solver that you linked to won't accept strings as long as the entire set of letters from puzzle 4. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is a column with no vowels, so anagraming the individual columns doesn't work. Same thing with the rows. Therefore, the obvious ways to subdivide the grid to enter the letters into an anagram solver don't work.

Alternate anagram solvers will accept all of the letters (e.g., http://wordsmith.org/anagram/), but the number of possible answers is enormous.

I can't see how to brute-force it (besides, there has to be a more elegant way to do it), and I don't see how to implement your suggestion.

Note that Sir Niko states that it is ALMOST a red herring. In fact, the first word does play a role, but not the one you might expect

The boxes are numbered for a reason

Though, with the aid of anagrams I have found other words, including comers, bazaar, skiing, and cognac. This doesn't seem to help, though

I never suggested that I put all of the letters into the solver at once. They are arranged in rows for a reason....
Also, you should pay more attention to the features that the solver I linked to has. There is a very specific reason I used it and it has nothing to do with string length.

Wax on, wax off. What are these

of which you speak?

Thinking in circles is likely to confuse. Try putting all four "blocks" together, and see if you start forming words.

Much better hint. And I like the anagram solver choice. Though, if you know what you're doing it is unnecessary. (it does help, and was quite useful for checking my work)

I thought about taking one letter from each row, top to bottom, and forming a word with it, but if that's the method it seems highly unlikely Steve would have put double letters in two of the rows. Maybe that's still the right method, but I haven't found a word and it seems doubtful the wordsmith path supports that kind of a selective search. (But if it does, I want to know how! I've been searching for a solver that can build a word out of several groups of letters for ages!)

Very true; I figured out what needed to be done almost instantly, but I'm I'm actually quite terrible at word games. It would have taken me forever to figure everything out without help.

I'm an engineer, so for me the interesting part of the problem is figuring out the concept. The execution can be left to computers.

To solve this puzzle, you have to find what's missing.

And using your tool I can confirm that there is in fact only one answer (where all of the words involved are in the SOWPODS dictionary).

I agree with Steve... you need to see the pattern before using the tool, otherwise you're lost.

Now I have a 6x6 grid of nonsense. What next?

double vision

So I found a way to extract 4-letter words from the boxes, but it's just random words (and one repeat). Three of them are only proper 3-letter words after I ignore either the first or last letter, but one of those can go either way - although I can only make a 3-letter word from the leftover letters if the last one is

But on the other hand, two of them (including this one) make proper 4-letter words if they're slightly anagrammed.

Look for a message, not a set of letters

Hmm... I managed it with the TWL - or whatever the scrabble one was, but it gave me more options than I wanted. I figured it out by logic, but still - aack, for instance has more than one option (albeit the second is less common).

I've think I've found the secret message:

but could use a nudge from there...

There are certainly multiple intermediate solutions for several of the lines (four, I think), but after exhausively cataloging all of the possibilities and searching on all combinations, there is only one final answer that is a word in the larger dictionary.

You're not quite there; the message uses all of the letters. Apparently I'm sort of like half a step ahead of you because I'm pretty sure I've got the full message, I just can't figure out what the heck it means.

I don't care if you've pretty much spoiled the entire puzzle, that was exactly the kick I needed. Thanks. Now I just have to figure out what it means.

My message does use all the letters. However, (1) I'm still not convinced it's correct, and (2) I still don't know how to interpret it.

You are missing letters: the final four (starting with the "b" in "doorknob").

You are missing four letters from the full message.

Then you need to kind of force the next puzzle name from it

Spot-the-difference. Backwards.

Connect-the-dots.

A strange kind of acrostic.

Each row is a six-letter word, with a single letter missing.

I don't want to give anything away so I will just recommend which row to look at first:

The lines that I draw to connect the 1's don't look like anything, and neither does the negative space. The only one that makes any kind of sense is the 3's and 4's.

Ignore the vertical and concentrate on the horizontal at first.

What does consumption of a plethora of alcohol usually give you? No, I'm not talking about alcohol poisoning here.

Speak friend and enter.

Once I realized what needed to be done, I got it. It's relatively straightforward. I don't see how nagging any rams would be relevant.

Still confused, but with a new door to the the Mines of Moria in my living room.

Don't expect what you end up with to really look like letters. Use your imagination (alot!) combined with possible words that could be lurking in your answer. I was amazed when I typed in my candidate answer and went to the next puzzle!

You will eventually get a series of real words if you follow some great clues, especially if you combine the clues from curiousgeorgie and SirNiko. Even so, it still won't make any sense! Just type it in and see if it flies...

I put my new words back into a 6x7 grid and the answer appears? Or do I anagram from there?

There's no need to anagram anything. Just remember what was missing, and read from top to bottom.

the expanded dictionary

I didn't go in a clockwise direction to read the words, so they ended up in an even less sensible order.