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Location Puzzle: Episode Recap
- The word “listen” is important. Which code on the code sheet involves listening to someone speak?
- NATO words are (in order): Charlie, India, Tango, Yankee, Echo, November, Delta, and Sierra. What do these spell out?
- PARTIAL SOLUTION: NATO letters spell out CITY ENDS, which indicates that you should look at the final letter of each city name in the episode recap.
- The cities are (in order): Zagreb, Nairobi, London, Lansing, Thessaloniki, Aberdeen, and Saint Petersburg. What do the last letters spell out?
- BINGING
Technical Challenge
- The word “element” is important. What do you think it might refer to?
- There is a chemical element hidden in each step of the recipe. For example, “cobalt” is hidden here: “Use a sharp knife to slice corn off the cob. Alternatively, use a corn stripper tool.”
- Hidden elements are (in order): Copper, Einsteinium, Cobalt, Boron, Oxygen, Neon, Iron, Argon, Tungsten, and Arsenic.
- “Use shortening” means to look at the chemical symbols for these elements: Cu, Es, Co, B, O, Ne, Fe, Ar, W, As.
- You’ll need to combine the letters to form five words: Cues, Cob, One, Fear, and Was.
- These words are familiar because they appear in some steps of the recipe. Can you find them?
- “Counting” means you’ll need to count the number of words into each step. For example, “cob” appears 20 words into step 3.
- Translate the word positions into letters (20 is T, 1 is A, etc.).
- TABLE
The Judges
- The term “mixed up” is important. What might that refer to?
- You’ll need to anagram one word in each of the judges comments. Once anagrammed, these words can be found in the “dishes” column.
- PARTIAL SOLUTION: Here are the words to anagram and the dishes they correspond to:
“A delightfully rustic dessert!” > “Rustic” anagrams to “citrus” - The word “citrus” can be found in “Episode 5: Cake with citrus compote”
“Tasted like you used cheap ingredients.” > “Cheap” anagrams to “peach” - The word “peach” can be found in “Episode 7: Peach cobbler”
“It’s plainer than your usual dishes.”> “Plainer” anagrams to “praline” - The word “praline” can be found in “Episode 4: Almond praline”
“You were fretful, but it turned out delicious!” > “Fretful” anagrams to “truffle”- The word “truffle” can be found in “Episode 1: Chocolate truffle”
“You can’t blame this one on the time limit.” > “Blame” anagrams to “melba” - The word “melba” can be found in “Episode 6: Melba toast topped with pâté”
“You decided to go with the flow this time.” > “Flow” anagrams to “fowl” - The word “fowl” can be found in “Episode 2: Guinea fowl pie”
“This is one for the ages” > “Ages” anagrams to “sage” - The word “sage” can be found in “Episode 3: Potato and sage tart”
- Use the episode numbers to index the comments. For example, look at the 5th letter of comment #1, since episode #5 corresponds to judges’ comment #1.
- BLENDER
The Artist
- Each object depicted in the grid needs a letter added to it.
- PARTIAL SOLUTION: The answers (in order):
Snail (add “s” to nail)
Shack (add “h” sack)
Coat (add “a” to cot)
Card (add “d” to car)
Beacon (add “e” to bacon)
Tear (add “t” to ear)
Shake (add “h” to sake)
Cane (add “e” to can)
Grain (add “a” to grin)
Heron (add “n” to hero)
Pail (add “i” to pal)
Mice (add “m” to ice)
Orca (add “a” to orc)
Seal (add “l” to sea)
Hose (add “s” to hoe)
- Have you kept track of what letters are added to each object word?
- Letters spell out “shade the animals.”
- Animals are snail, heron, mice, orca, and seal.
- “Zero” and “one” means you should use binary. How can you convert the shaded and unshaded squares to binary?
- The shaded squares represent ones, and the unshaded squares represent zeroes. This leads to 10000, 00001, and 01110, which spells out the solution.
- PAN
Letters from Alice
- The words “letters” and “sounds like” are bolded. What might that refer to?
- PARTIAL SOLUTION: The blanks above Hiro’s letter should be filled in with the following words:
WHY
TERNS
TOO
EM
- What does “why terns too em” sound like? How might it relate to the blanks below?
- PARTIAL SOLUTION: “Y” turns to “M.” Write an “M” above the letter “Y” in the blanks below.
- There might be other words in Hiro’s letter that sound like letters of the alphabet.
- PARTIAL SOLUTION: There are words in Hiro’s letter that sound like letters of the alphabet: YOU, ARE, SEE, EX, BE, TEA
- The phrase “keep looking up” in the preamble text is important. What might it mean?
- PARTIAL SOLUTION: Look at the blank above each word that sounds like a letter of the alphabet: “H” is above “you” (“U”), “Y” is above “are” (“R”), “T” is above “see” (“C”), “R” is above “ex” (“X”), “O” is above “be” (“B”), and “E” is above “tea” (“T”).
- MORE THYME
Meta: The Finale
- The meta references the solving methods from the main set of puzzles. The names of past contestants hint at which puzzles to reference.
- For Art Rader’s quote, use the solving method from The Artist.
For Anna Graham’s quote, use the solving method from The Judges.
For Judd Jovart’s quote, use the solving method from The Artist.
For Molly Cule’s quote, use the solving method from Technical Challenge.
For Lissa N. Cair-Fulli’s quote, use the solving method from Letters From Alice.
For Ella Mintz’s quote, use the solving method from Technical Challenge.
For Dee Zyne-Criddick’s quote, use the solving method from The Artist.
For Saul McZup’s quote, use the solving method from The Judges.
For Rhea Orr-Durr’s quote, use the solving method from The Judges.
- Place the letter(s) on the blanks in order. There are images that depict the answers to the main set of puzzles (table, thyme, blender, and pan) for reference.
- PARTIAL SOLUTION: Answer to part 1 is STY CORNERS.
- “Sty” clues pig pen. The corner objects in the tent diagram are also pig pen letters.
- Starting with the entrance (marked “please enter”) and moving around the tent, the letters spell out “CAKE.”
- CAKE