Mar 2024 - Mathematics

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Location (Math Laughs)

"the circumstance that contributed to celebration of queer identity?" would be the FACTOR that led to PRIDE month... which is very close to PRIME FACTOR.
Each of the lines is a clue to a phrase one letter off from one of the lines below.
Take the changed letters (e.g. the P from EMPTY PET) and read in the order at the bottom.
PI A LA MODE

Stuck on some of the clues? Here are some alternate clues for the across words: “feathery wrap” is also a “constricting snake”; “tranquil” is “chill and composed”; “narcotic shrub” is “type of cola”; “pupil’s place” is “what you see out of”; “___ d’oeuvres” is “French preposition”; “crew tool” is “rowing paddle”; “Greek T” is “negative lepton with a spin of ½”.
Still stuck? Here are some alternate clues for the down words: “alleviate” is “ease, e.g. fears”; “circle part” is “story ___ (plot development)”; “taxi” is “where the driver sits in a tractor”; “tilling tool” is “you use it to remove weeds”; “Western alliance” is “Oscar and Charlie’s alphabet”; “questionable in slang” is “short form of suspicious”; and “sealed resting place” is “mausoleum or sepulcher, for short”.
Once you have a few of the clues, the mathematical signs may help you get some of the rest.
The math signs follow the A1Z26 code, meaning A+B=C, and BxB=D, for example. Keep in mind that every math sign ONLY applies to the letters in the box on either side of it.
The small grid in the bottom right corner gives you the letters to extract to get the final answer to the puzzle.
NORTH REEF

Starting at the light entrance, you know that the light has to be reflected straight upwards, otherwise it will go straight into the wall. (Try drawing the laser's path as you place mirrors.)
The same logic can be applied going backwards from the exit.
After placing the mirrors, the light is bouncing all over the place. How could you take those bounces and decode them into an answer?
What type of cipher involves signals at various angles?
Try using semaphore on the angles of the light bouncing on the mirrors you placed.
INFO NET

Look at the sixth clue: What are three consecutive numbers which sum up to 9 (the total units of butter)?
Similarly, look at the fifth clue. How can you split up 10 (the overall units of spice) into three numbers so that two of them sum to the third?
Combining the fifth and eighth clues tells you exactly how many units of spice each of the recipes uses.
You can then use the eighth clue to eliminate some of the options for the amount of flour.
After narrowing down the amount of butter and spice, the second and third clues give you information about the amount of flour in the cake and muffin.
Look at the ninth clue -- using the seventh clue, the limited set of options from the previous clues, as well as the fact that the number of units of flour sum to 9, you can figure out exactly how much flour each of the recipes use.
From here, you can use the first, second, and third clues to resolve all of the units.
There's a reason that SPICE, BUTTER, and FLOUR are written in all caps...
Index into the names of the ingredients using the numbers from the logic puzzle, and arrange those letters in the order given at the bottom of the page.
PETIT FOUR

First, try to fill in the partially completed grid in the bottom left using the examples to infer the properties.
Look for patterns in the examples -- for example, what property is shared by all of the words under graphs with lines in the top right corner (MINIM, REDDER, REFER, TET)?
Just as all of the words under lines ending in the bottom left corner (ALMOST, DEFY, GLOOP, STY) have their letters in alphabetical order, all of the words under lines ending in the top left corner (MINIM, REDDER, REFER, TET) are palindromes (words read the same forwards and backwards) -- so write 'palindrome' in the top right corner of the grid at the bottom. Try to infer the other unknown properties in the same way.
[Partial answer] The properties are, starting from the top left and working clockwise: Containing X, Having no A, E, I, O, or U, Palindrome, Verb, Having a doubled letter, Ending with T, Letters in alphabetical order, Starting with M.
Now that you know all of the properties, try going in the other direction to fill in the squares at the bottom right.
For example, the word BOXY is under the first box. Which of the properties does the word BOXY have? What line would be associated with that word?
BOXY (the first word under the first answer box) has its letters in alphabetical order and contains an X, so you should draw a line from the top left corner to the bottom left corner in the first box. Repeat the same process for the other words under each box.
PLOT WORK

Look at all of the answers together -- what (number-related) property do they all share?
All of the answers have a number hidden inside of them.
Put the answers inside of the spaces and read the highlighted letters.
FLOOR IT

There are multiple ways to begin solving a puzzle like this; one way is to identify letters that usually appear at the end of words or are doubled, which are more likely to be “I”s (like Z, for example).
You can also look for letters that appear right before known letters like C, which can only be Ms or Ds. Look at the instances of the letter U, for example, which appear in the words GUCCI, MUNROE and MCURLY. What letter must that be?
Have a look at the letter S, which is the only letter that ever appears in front of an M. What letter must that be?
Now look at the letter A. It appears in the middle of words like SMASH, MUSAVI and GNAW, and is doubled in the word BAATH. What letter must it be?
At this point, you have the letters Z, U, S, and A, in addition to I, V, X, L, C, D and M. That means you probably have enough information to solve the equation JAZZ + SUXXIX = MCURLY to identify the letters J, R and Y.
Try out equations like MUFFY + ACE = MUSAVI now.
The answers to the equations listed above are Z=I, U=D, S=C,A=X,J=M,R=X,Y=I,F=X,E=V
Once you’ve deciphered all the letters, you can extract those from the cells with bold outlines (don’t forget to put all the deciphered letters in alphabetical order in their columns).
ZERO SUM