March 2021 - Life in 2020

Tap on any hint box to view it.

Location:

  1. The minus signs mean to subtract the second word from the first.
  2. “Close enough” means the subtraction does not have to be letter for letter. Look for sound-alikes.
  3. The first of the four pairs is “LACH NESS” (or “LOCH NESS”) – “NEST” = “LACH”, “LOCH” (or “LOCK”).
  4. The remaining three are “BREAK DOWN” – “BRAKE” = “DOWN,” “REBATE” – “BAIT” = “RE” and “MAPLE LEAF” – “MAY POLE” = “LEAF”.
  5. “LACHDOWN RELEAF”, “LOCHDOWN RELEAF” or “LOCKDOWN RELIEF”

A Re-reunion Guaranteed to Please

  1. There are lots of places you can start. One of these is near the ticket window. Consider columns 37, 38 & 39 and the stripes that separate them –( 1S 1L) and (1S). Together with the stipulation that nobody in row C had anyone directly in front of them should let you fill in the three columns.
  2. Based on the previous hint: The solitary 1S tells you that there can only be one person in columns 38 & 39 and they can be both in the middle row or both in the top row. The 1S 1L to the left of that rules out the middle row, since the 1L must be between a row A and a row C. This information, together with the final 1M tells you that the final four columns must be as follows: 37 = A&C, 38 = A, 39 = A, 40 = B. Continue using this kind of logic to fill in the rest of the grid.
  3. When you have filled out the entire grid, you should have four ambiguous placements where the fan could be in either row A or row B. The stipulation that the top row has precisely 26 fans in it should solve all of these ambiguities.
  4. Do dots in two-by-three clusters remind you of any particular code?
  5. Use braille to decipher the 20-letter partial solve–which is a song title.
  6. Song title is “DON’T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME.” And what group first recorded that song?
  7. THE POLICE

Adhering to the Guidelines

  1. Each speech bubble has two italicized clues followed by the number of letters in the words being hinted at. These two words should be written in order in the spaces in front of the respective speaker.
  2. For example, the first character: conveyance(7) is TRANSIT and organized labor(5) is UNION. So TRANSIT UNION should be written in front of the first speaker. Also figure out the 2, 3 or 4 letter answers for the words on the masks.These are in alphabetical order. The two shortest ones are not actually words.
  3. The word pairs for each speaker are “TRANSIT UNION,” ‘QUACK BRINE,” “DIP DEFECT,” “LOCO GOWN,”‘VAT WINE,” “FACT SEWS,” “CONE ONION,” “SOFA NUDE,” “CONVEX FACE” “REST SWING,” AND “READ MARY.” The words for the masks are: “ALES,” “CCI,” “COVE,” “KD,” “KEN,” “LIT,” “MISS,” “OPEN,” “RANT,”“SIN” and “TAG.”
  4. When the masks are placed on the correct faces, they will cover up letters, and end up making a new pandemic related word (or phrase).
  5. These newly formed words/phrases are: “TRANSMISSION,” “QUARANTINE,” “DISINFECT,” “LOCKDOWN,” “VACCINE,” “FAKENEWS,” “CONTAGION,” “SOLITUDE,” “CONVALESCE,” “REOPENING” and “RECOVERY.”
  6. Each character has a specific number associated with their face.
  7. These numbers are: 6, 5, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 4, 6. What do you think they tell you?
  8. These numbers tell you which letter in each newly formed word/phrase to use in the final solution.
  9. MASKING TAPE

Twisted Logic

  1. The words for the twelve clues are alphabetically arranged: BLEACH, CURVE, DOGS, HAIR, ONLINE, PANTS, PORCH, RATS, TOILET, VIRAL, WEIGHT, ZERO.
  2. This is now a word find puzzle (up & down, left & right, diagonal) with an adjustable grid!
  3. The shaded/red letters are the first letters of the words you are looking for.
  4. The pips on each letter for each found word should be added together.
  5. This gives the following sums: BLEACH(16), CURVE(9), DOGS(22), HAIR(15), ONLINE(20), PANTS(1), PORCH(12), RATS(20), TOILET(9), VIRAL(13), WEIGHT(5), ZERO(19)
  6. PIVOTAL TIMES

Virtual Learning

  1. 'Edana was always immediately to the right of Gabrielle in every arrangement' means Gabrielle = 1 and Edana = 2 or Gabrielle = 5 and Edana = 6 or Gabrielle = 11 and Edana = 12.
  2. 'Crosby and Liza were always in opposite corners in every arrangement' means they must be 1 and 12 (or 12 and 1), which means what about Gabrielle and Edana?
  3. The order of the students (and co-teachers) is LIZA, ALONZO, BROOKE, DOMINIC, GABRIELLE, EDANA, KEYSHIA, FRANK, JIMMY, HAYDEN, ISLA, CROSBY, MS. RORY, MS. DEDE.
  4. Now look at the third letters of each name.
  5. ZOOMBAYA MY LORD. (Derived from “Kumbaya, my Lord,” a folk song popularized in the late 50’s by, among others, Pete Seeger… “Someone’s texting, my lord, Zoombaya…”)

Meta: A Visionary Use of Technology

  1. The four solutions should be written in the top line of each set, and since each has a unique length, this should be easy. The second and third words in each set must be determined by the clues and know that the asterisks all represent the same letter.
  2. The common letter represented by the asterisks is “I.”
  3. NATURALIZATION, CLIMATOLOGISTS, DISPROVEN, NOSTALGIA, DISGRACEFUL, DEHYDRATION, INVISIBILITY, DODECAHEDRON
  4. The second word in each set has just one intersection (same letter in the same ordinal position) with the solution word/phrase. The same holds true for the third word. Determine these eight “intersections".
  5. The eight intersections in order are “A” in the 6th, “M" in the 4th, “P” in the 4th, “L” in the 6th, “S” in the 3rd, “T” in the 8th,“V” in the 3rd, and “A” in the 6th. Now see how the chart is set up with letters on the y-axis and numbers on the x-axis.
  6. Connect these coordinates dot-to-dot on the chart. What letters do they cross through?
  7. CONTACT TRACING.

Bonus: Making Your Connection

  1. Draw the paths of each two-leg connecting flight. Do these resemble any commonly used code?
  2. Use semaphore to spell out the solution.
  3. FLIGHT RISK
  4. These are all cities that have active Puzzled Pint groups – all except Zurich, Switzerland.