Ron Gilbert himself linked this article on his blog. It is about a selection of ten outstanding puzzles in adventure games and why they are considered so good.

Ten Great Adventure-Game Puzzles

The Secret of Monkey Island is mentioned at number #9 (the entries are sorted chronologically, so this is no indication of greatness): "Teaching the cannibals how to get a head". The reason why it was included is its comedy value.

I enjoyed reading about Monkey Island (and other classic adventure games) and especially the great words about Ron Gilbert (he deserves all the recognition in the world). I would have probably selected another puzzle myself (there are too many to choose from), but I must admit I've always had a soft spot for the friendly cannibals.

It's an interesting reading, thanks for sharing! I don't know many of the games on the list, but I enjoyed reading the LucasArts games entries, especially since Maniac Mansion and the first Monkey Island are my favorite of them all.

I agree on the Monkey Island puzzle, there are so many great ones in that game, I never thought of the leaflet to get ahead in navigation (funny as it was) as a "great" puzzle. My favorite always was learning insults to defeat the Sword Master, other favorites are the melting grog jars and the part when you're thrown underwater and you're surrounded with several unreachable objects to cut the rope, lol, so simple and clever. :)

Which are some of your favorite Monkey Island puzzles?

This is my favorite as well! I consider it a great dialogue puzzle with some RPG elements (you need to "learn" skills and "level up"). Honor mentions would go to following the shopkeeper to find the Sword Master and using the catapult in Monkey Island to get more bananas -and other things. ;)

The catapult is lots of fun, I always found hilarious that you could use it to sink the ship. Following the shopkeeper is another good one... my little nephew loved that part when I showed him the game, now he's a fan of the series. :)