Mystery Hunt 2012 Recast: COMPLETE!!!

[Suspence]

Associated with a particular October 28 in the 1640s (+0)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waban

Waban was the first Native American to convert to Christianity, on Oct 28, 1646. Waban is also a town near Boston, and a T stop, which I know from my trips on the Green Line from Riverside to Fenway.

Assuming T stops is what we are looking for:

* Sounds like it’s full of Asians (+3) - CHINATOWN
* Type of servant (-1) - BUTLER
* Son of the British monarch (+3) - CHARLES
* If you like it, you may be a fish lover (+4) - AQUARIUM
* Shape sharing its name with an ex-president that never faced an assassination attempt (-3) - CLEVELAND CIRCLE
* Building where official business is conducted, perhaps (+0) - GOVERNMENT CENTER
* Associated with a particular October 28 in the 1640s (+0) - WABAN
* Existed 30 and 20 years ago, but not 10 years ago (+5) - WORLD TRADE CENTER
* Cluster of a particular type of tree (+2) - CEDAR GROVE
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[gftt]

Nice. I don't think I would have made the T connection had you given me a year.

assuming + means outbound and - means inbound...
CHINATOWN+ 3 = MASS AVE
BUTLER -1 = CEDAR GROVE
CHARLES + 3 = HARVARD SQUARE
AQUARIUM + 4 = ORIENT HEIGHTS
CLEVELAND CIRCLE -3 = TAPPAN STREET
GVMT CENTER + 0 = GOVERNMENT CENTER
WABAN + 0 = WABAN
WORLD TRADE CENTER + 5 = 21 DRY DOCK AVE or TERMINAL C
CEDAR GROVE + 2 = MILTON

Well, that doesn't seem helpful.

[Suspence]

Maybe this one is MIT-centric, so that each station represents the number of stops it would take to get from MIT to that stop?

KENDALL/MIT to CHARLES is 1 stop
KENDALL/MIT to AQUARIUM is 6 stops
KENDALL/MIT to CHARLES is 22 stops (I think)
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[gftt]

Each clue has 2 T stops.

* Sounds like it’s full of Asians (+3) - CHINATOWN or ORIENT HEIGHTS; 7 stop distance + 3 = 10 = J
* Type of servant (-1) - BUTLER or PORTER; 16 -1 = 15 = O
* Son of the British monarch (+3) - CHARLES or ANDREW; 5 + 3 = H
* If you like it, you may be a fish lover (+4) - AQUARIUM or ALEWIFE; 10 + 4 = N
* Shape sharing its name with an ex-president that never faced an assassination attempt (-3) - CLEVELAND CIRCLE or WASHINGTON SQUARE; 4-3 =1 = A
* Building where official business is conducted, perhaps (+0) - GOVERNMENT CENTER or COURTHOUSE; 4 = D
* Associated with a particular October 28 in the 1640s (+0) - WABAN or ELIOT; 1 = A
* Existed 30 and 20 years ago, but not 10 years ago (+5) - WORLD TRADE CENTER or ???
* Cluster of a particular type of tree (+2) - CEDAR GROVE or OAK GROVE; 17 + 2 = S

call in JOHN ADAMS

[Suspence]

So, that gives us:

Into the Woodstock (in no particular order)
KINGS HIGHWAY BRIDGE - Keef Hartley Band
REST STOP - Ravi Shankar
JACK CARDIFF - Joe Cocker
GO DUTCH - Grateful Dead
RUSH HOUR - Richie Havens
BAKING SODA - Bert Sommer
TERRY GENE BOLLEA - The Grease Band
CHRIST CHURCH REGATTA - Credence Clearwater Revival
JERRY WEXLER - Johnny Winter
JAI HO - Jimi Hendrix
JOSH SCHWARTZ - John Sebastian
ARIGATO GOZAIMASU - Arlo Guthrie
CARDINAL JULES MAZARIN - Country Joe McDonald
CAPITOL HILL - Canned Heat
JOHN ADAMS - Jefferson Airplane

15 bands, but apparently order isn't significant. Not sure what to make of that.

First thought was something with the title initials - "Into the Woodstock". It's supposed to make the play worse:

Invite The Wiggles
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[LordKinbote]

JOHN ADAMS is right.

And that's it for that round.

You've unlocked the next critic: William S. Bergman

Investigator's Report

Answers already accumulated:

KINGS HIGHWAY BRIDGE
PINHEAD
JACK CARDIFF
CHRIST CHURCH REGATTA
JOSH SCHWARTZ
ARIGATO GOZAIMASU
CARDINAL JULES MAZARIN
(Answer to "Zugzwaang")

First new puzzle of the round: 25th Annual Putnam County Debate Tournament by James Grimmelmann

[gftt]

Don't forget the Dodgson meta. Am I the only one to have thought about it?

[Suspence]

Chess puzzle means I am useless...
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

What's the context for the Dodgson meta? We have 11/12 words, where does the chess stuff come from? Is that what the investigator reports are about?

[LordKinbote]

[Scurra]

For Into the Woodstock, if the answers are sorted into the order the artists played at Woodstock (using the Wikipedia entry as my reference), you get:

RUSH HOUR - Richie Havens 
BAKING SODA - Bert Sommer 
REST STOP - Ravi Shankar 
ARIGATO GOZAIMASU - Arlo Guthrie 
CARDINAL JULES MAZARIN - Country Joe McDonald 
JOSH SCHWARTZ - John Sebastian 
KINGS HIGHWAY BRIDGE - Keef Hartley Band 
CAPITOL HILL - Canned Heat 
GO DUTCH - Grateful Dead 
CHRIST CHURCH REGATTA - Credence Clearwater Revival 
JOHN ADAMS - Jefferson Airplane 
TERRY GENE BOLLEA - The Grease Band 
JACK CARDIFF - Joe Cocker 
JERRY WEXLER - Johnny Winter 
JAI HO - Jimi Hendrix 

The last letters spell out RAPUNZEL HAS AFRO, which I imagine would annoy a critic (Into the Woods is certainly all about twisted fairy tales, but probably not that twisted..!)
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[LordKinbote]

[Scurra]

Looking at the debating tournament one, this paragraph struck me:

Now you listen to me, young lady. That plate doesn’t look empty to me. Are you going to finish your carrots or not? Do you want to be eaten by a monster? That’s right, there’s a monster that lives in your closet and comes out at night. What do you mean there’s no such thing as monsters in the closet? There are too, with big dripping metal fangs and horrible sticky tentacles. And there’s only one kind of little girl that never gets eaten by monsters: princesses. What do you mean, why not? They choke on the tiaras and the fairy dust, it makes them cough, of course. Now there’s no such thing as a princess who leaves carrots on her plate. So you see? No, I don’t know whether monsters are carnivores or omnivores. That’s not the point. The point is, every last little girl who leaves carrots on her plate gets eaten by a monster. And that means you. I guarantee it. There. Now will you eat your carrots?

It looks like a symbolic logic argument but obfuscated. i.e. there are a bunch of premises which ought to lead to a conclusion:
A monster lives in your closet and comes out at night.
Only one kind of little girl doesn't get eaten by monsters: princesses
No princess ever leaves carrots on her plate
Every little girl who leaves carrots on her plate gets eaten by a monster.

Although I am not sure that there is any actual conclusion that can be drawn from this that isn't already stated? But this is not my field of expertise at all.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Scurra]

[Suspence]

Maybe each paragraph represents a logic fallacy?
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

Friends, Romans, and countrymen, lend me your ears. I come not to praise the aqueduct, but to bury it. I shall demonstrate that the construction of an aqueduct is a sure and certain cause of the plague. For when Brundisium built an aqueduct, the gods sent that most ominous of omens, a raven upon the city gate. I have read the future in every organ of the sacrificial ox, and it is doom. Is it not written in the annals that a raven upon the city gate is often followed by the most terrible plague? Let us speak no more of the aqueduct for the sake of our prosperity and Roman virtue. Moreover, Carthage must be destroyed!

Theres a post hoc ergo propter hoc, plus the end seems like a non sequitur.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

[Scurra]

Gentlemen. Perhaps you’re wondering why I’ve called this meeting. Don’t we have more vital things to be doing, like filling in our defensive perimeter, or setting up the radar array? Well, I’ll get straight to it. Gentlemen, I’m very much afraid that not all of us on Strike Team Indigo are going to make it out of here alive. The SKD are aware that we’re here. I don’t know when they’ll start the ion bombardment, but when it comes, you can bet it’ll be bad. And it gets worse. You see, I’ve also discovered that there are traitors in our midst. That’s right, some members of Strike Team Indigo aren’t loyal to the mission we all swore to see through. This became clear to me when I intercepted a coded transmission using an SKD NavSec protocol coming from… our current position. It is highly probable that we’re under surveillance even as we speak; indeed, I would not be surprised if there were SKD snipers in position around us. The only reasonable assumption, under the circumstances, is that our mission has been irrevocably compromised, and I would like to be clear on the implications. Our first priority must be our own safety. If you want to make it out alive, then the one thing you absolutely cannot afford to do is display any further signs of loyalty to the original mission. If you agree with my assessment, I would like you all to nod once, slowly, so that we’re clear on this. Good? Good.

Premise: not all of us on Strike Team Indigo are going to make it out of here alive
Premise: there are traitors in our midst...some members of Strike Team Indigo aren’t loyal to the mission we all swore to see through
Conclusion: If you want to make it out alive, then the one thing you absolutely cannot afford to do is display any further signs of loyalty to the original mission

Does that make sense? It seems to make a fairly solid argument to me rather than any sort of logical fallacy.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[gftt*]

The geometry proof doesn't have a logical fallacy. It just has a faulty assumption: "since all right triangles are isosceles..."

[Scurra]

Actually, I think you are on to something there. I don't think the arguments necessarily have to be true, they just have to form a syllogism.
Please note that I am not at all convinced by the syllogisms in the following posts! This is not my specialist field at all...

Consider the class of isosceles triangles ABC, and arbitrarily designate AB and BC to be the equal sides. Let D be the midpoint of AC. Since BD equals itself, that’s two sides each of BAD and BCD. Now all isosceles triangles have two equal angles. Thus, BAD equals BCD. This makes triangles BAD and BCD congruent. Angles BDA and BDC correspond, so they’re also equal: together they make up a straight angle, so they’re both right. That makes BAD and BCD both right triangles. So, since all right triangles are isosceles, this gives us AB = AD and BC = CD. By transitivity, AD = AB = BC = CD. This establishes AD = DC, and since these equal segments are adjacent to the equal angles in triangle ABC, it follows that ABC is a right triangle. Since ABC has two equal angles, and we proved that it’s a right triangle, this establishes our conclusion. All triangles with two equal angles are right triangles. Q.E.D.

Premise: All isosceles triangles have two equal angles
Premise: All right triangles are isoceles
Conclusion: All triangles with two equal angles are right triangles

Well, I thought that this week, we really saw the first cracks starting to show in the administration’s united front on this issue. I mean, first on Monday, you had a statement from the lieutenant governor that, yes, he knew his kids were taking helicopter rides. So we’ve got expensive helicopter rides, the kind you have to pay for, and you’ve got the lieutenant governor saying on national TV that the payments weren’t always documented. It’s been obvious for weeks, but this was the first time someone on the inside is coming out and starting to admit it. And then on Wednesday, you had the budget director come right out and say that even after the audit, some of the funds in the capitol security budget still aren’t documented. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to draw this line. Isn’t it obvious that funds from the capitol security budget were used to pay for the lieutenant governor’s kids’ helicopter rides? Mark my words, we’re going to have a resignation by next week at the latest, and the only question is who it’ll be.

Premise: Payments for the lieutenant governor's kids' helicopter rides weren't always documented
Premise: Some of the funds in the capitol security budget aren't documented
Conclusion: Some of the funds in the capitol security budget were used to pay for the lieutenant governor's kids' helicopter rides.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Scurra]

Behold the greatest scientific advance of the century: the Ion Engine! My revolutionary new process converts ordinary tap water into a negatively potentiated fluid which automatically multiplies any current passed through it by a factor of ten, a hundred, a million! Perhaps you are wondering how this can be. It is simple, so simple once you understand my insight. Of course, as you know, Einstein’s reinterpretation of Maxwell’s equations implies that materials that are bounded in time and space must be only ordinarily conductive. But I have discovered that one water molecule in every ten million is not bounded in time and space! My secret process identifies and isolates these molecules. It followed, as soon as I applied an electric potential, that I had shown the existence of water molecules that were not ordinarily conductive. Now stand back, and I will demonstrate the future of physics, nay, the future of humanity!

Premise: materials that are bounded in time and space must be only ordinarily conductive
Premise: one water molecule in every ten million is not bounded in time and space
Conclusion: the existence of water molecules that were not ordinarily conductive.

Diane Morganbesser says she believes in safe streets, but what does her voting record really show? Over 60% of her campaign donations come from people who knit. But last year, after a gang of dangerous knitting addicts started holding up yarn stores, where was Diane Morganbesser? She even sponsored midnight knitting for teenagers and knitting-needle exchange programs. This election day, send Diane Morganbesser a message. Tell her that Springfield families are tired of fat-cat politicians like her, who take donations from hardened yarn thieves. Diane Morganbesser: wrong for working families, wrong for Springfield.

Premise: Over 60% of her campaign donations come from people who knit
Premise: a gang of dangerous knitting addicts started holding up yarn stores,
Conclusion: [Diane Morganbesser] takes donations from hardened yarn thieves
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Scurra]

Greetings in this blessed holiday seasons in name of our Lord and Three Wise Guys. I am widow of late minister of finance of Democratic Micronesian African Republic. I require your most urgent and confidential assistance spreading good tidings. It is imperative that you forward this letter to five investment advisers skilled in the craft of your most blessed acquaintance. (Central bankers and quantitative televangelists also most humbly recipients of good tidings but only supplementary, is necessary.) Woman in Indianapolis did not forward letter, and next day she was struck by lightning bolt. Do not think that lightning bolt can be sign of unusual grace, is never so: struck man is never to receive divine favor. For He will recognize his loyal servants in great act of repatriating sum of 167 million dollars United States with 5% commission for invaluable assistance. So divine favor will be withheld forever from all who do not forward letter to additional recipients. I wait your reply.

Premise: Do not think that lightning bolt can be sign of unusual grace, is never so:
Premise: struck man is never to receive divine favor
Conclusion: So divine favor will be withheld forever from all who do not forward letter to additional recipients.

Hey, guys, over here! Let’s work on the Round Eight meta! Seven answers is enough for any team to solve this meta, I’m sure of it. Why are you wasting your time on that crossword? I’ve seen this happen before: a team racks up seven answers, and then gets stuck forever on a stupid crossword just like this one. Every minute we spend on it is just going to distract us. Metas win Hunts. When HQ came and visited us, they said we were only a few puzzles behind the teams in the lead. This is our chance for a big push that will unlock a whole bunch of new puzzles. And just look at the size of that grid. Look, what I’m trying to say is, it doesn’t matter how good a team is, solving that crossword would take so long that it would make cracking the meta impossible. It’s the meta or nothing. Who’s with me?

Premise: Seven answers is enough to solve this meta
Premise: a team racks up seven answers, and then gets stuck forever on a stupid crossword just like this one
Conclusion: It’s the meta or nothing.
_________________
_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Suspence]

Trying to get this moving again...

I was stuck for a long time thinking how we would possibly derive anything from these logical arrangements, until I read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllogism#Types_of_syllogism

Apparently, different letters and names are used to represent different types of syllogisms, so that seems like a good place to start.

If I'm understanding it correctly, this:

Premise: All isosceles triangles have two equal angles
Premise: All right triangles are isoceles
Conclusion: All triangles with two equal angles are right triangles

Is a BARBARA, and Barbara is one of the names at the bottom...
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

Good job. So apparently the vowels of the participants' names identify a syllogism and must be matched with a paragraph exemplifying that syllogism.

The vowels are:

[Suspence]

Then we probably use the "score" to pick a word out of the paragraph.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

ALL materials that are bounded in time and space ARE ordinarily conductive
SOME water molecules ARE NOT not bounded in time and space
SOME water molecules ARE NOT not ordinarily conductive

AOO = Alonzo (86)

86th word of that paragraph is: I

SOME of her campaign donations ARE from people who knit
SOME knitting addicts ARE the ones holding up yarn stores
SOME of Diane's donations ARE from hardened yarn thieves

III = Rin-tin-tin (31)

31 = AFTER
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

All superheroes can defeat Zara.
Some superheroes are mere mortals.
Some mere mortals can defeat Zara.

a i i - Vladimir (15)

15th word is MAN

No closers drink coffee.
Some coffee doesn’t have caffeine.
Some closers, Mitch and Murray, have had no caffeine.
Some closers don't get the new blends.

e o o o - No match

Some payments are not documented
Some funds are not documented
Some funds are used to pay for helicopter rides

o o i = Lodowick (31)

31st word is a.

All isosceles triangles have two equal angles
All right triangles are isoceles
All triangles with two equal angles are right triangles

a a a = Barbara (50)

50th word is this.[/b]

[gftt*]

[novice]

[novice]

THIS - Barbara (50) - AAA - Paragraph 15
MAN - Vladimir (15) - AII - Paragraph 13
STOLE??? - Charlito (18) - AIO - Paragraph 9
? - Alphonse (86) - AOE - Paragraph ?
I - Alonzo (79) - AOO - Paragraph 1
CRAFT??? - Jessie (55) - EIE - Paragraph 5???
NAMED - Mark Bittman (39) - AIA - Paragraph 12 (backsolved)
AFTER - Rin-tin-tin (31) - III - Paragraph 2
A - Lodowick (31) - OOI - Paragraph 16
VITAL - Old Joe (14) - OOE - Paragraph 4
ORGAN - Will.i.am (65) - IIA - Paragraph 3
AND - Chewbacca (35) - EAA - Paragraph 8
? - Pope John XV (17) - OEO - Paragraph ?
YELLOW - Leona (68) - EOA - Paragraph 10
PRECIOUS - Jim Beam (13) - IEA - Paragraph 7
METAL - Meeghan (67) -EEA - Paragraph 11

[Scurra]

[Scurra]

[novice]

It seems the premises and conclusion aren't always communicated in the right order, so reordering the letters might be necessary.

I'm not 100% sure what's going on either.

[novice]

This man stole a space craft named after a vital organ and a yellow precious metal.

CALL IN ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX

[Scurra]

[Suspence]

Nice job.

LordKinbote has a 5-day old baby at home, hopefully he's still checking in and updating this thread with new puzzles. If not, I guess we'll cut him a break.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[LordKinbote]

[Suspence]

Nearly (6) almost
Brokeback scribe (5, 6) annie proulx
Marginal comment in a copy of Hamlet, maybe (10)
Like some intelligence (10) artificial
Gave up a base without pitching, maybe (6)
Elongated drink-stirring utensil (3, 5) bar spoon
It’s taken before an important test (6)
Caesar or Bonzo, for example (5) chimp
Unlike the cross product (11)
Montgomery Scott’s workplace (6, 4) engine room
The answers to the next two clues, for example (5)
Word before story or writer (5) ghost
Time for a Western showdown (4, 4) high noon
Smith and V portrayer (4, 7) hugo weaving
Part of IRA (10) republican
Like a maladroit fellow (6) clumsy
Pepsi relative (8, 3) mountain dew
Y-shaped African country (10) mozambique
Like pigs, crows, and bears (10)
Where Woody Allen usually shoots (2, 8)
Leo’s birthstone (4) ruby
Displayed, like a cast list (6)
Huge tree or vehicle (7) sequoia
Informal word for formal wear (3) tux
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[gftt*]

[gftt*]