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LordKinbote · Daedalian Member

Next: QED by Greg Clark

gftt* · Guest

gftt · Daedalian Member

J = 2 (from clue 15 across)
T = 1 (10 across => T = 1, 2, or 3, but 34 across => T = 1, 5, or 9)

23D implies that Q is either 3 or 5, since 2Q-down must have 4 digits
However 29D implies that Q-down cannot have 4 digits, so we must have Q=5. From 29D we further deduce that V=1

3D and 8D refer to UT across and UT down. T we know is 1 so U=3

26A refers to YU across. Hence Y = 1 or 3. We already have two 1's, and 13-across is not long enough to make 26A 4 digits anyway. Y=3

gftt · Daedalian Member

From 32A, we see that H-down is 4 digits at least. Hence H = 3 or 6 or 7. Combining with the info in 6-down we see that H = 6.

G must be 1 2 or 3 to be the first digit of a 2-digit clue, and we already have two 1's and two 3's. Let's put G=2...

L is prime (7D) but there is 1L down and 2L down (from clues 1d and 30d). We deduce that L=7

We have K-across (from 26A) and K-down (from 18D). There are already two 1's so K=5

33A means that N = 6 is too big. We already have 5, 3, 2 and 1 double-booked, so N=4

From 10A we see that C = 1,5,9; C=9 is the only possibility left.

31A and 32A refer to 2F down and 2D down; only possibilities for F/D left are 0, 7, and 9. However, 11A indicates that M is 2 away from D so D cannot be 0. Hence D is either 7 or 9 and M is either 5, 7, or 9. M cannot be 5 so M is 7 or 9, as is D. Probably D is 7 and M is 9 but I'll hold off on making that assumption. In any event we have L, C, D, and M being the 4 letters that are 7 and 9, so F=0.

gftt · Daedalian Member

20 down is prime so its last digit is odd. That means that 24 across is either 217 or 513. Either way the middle digit is 1.

14 down is 16 or 81, so 19 across is 636, 630, 696, 147, or 141. So 20 down is 61, 71 or 11. 11 doesn't work for 31 across, so 61 or 71 then. 31 across is 3172 or 3692 and must end in 2.

Thus 3-down starts with 3 or 4.

11 across is a permutation of 789 so 2 down can't begin with anything lower than 5. Hence, by 1 across, 3 down can't begin with anything lower than 4. So we have that it must start with 4, and we get 1-across as 6543 and 2-down as 567.

******

1 down tells us that 29 down starts with 6 or 7. 28 across is a permutation of 2A3 so A must be 6 or 7. We can't have another letter being 7, so A=6.

3down is either 3172 or 3692 plus 771 or 991. But the digits of 11-across are 7 8 and 9. Must be 3692 + 991. M=9, D=7.

gftt · Daedalian Member

This allows us to back track and determine that 19across is 147 and 14 down is 81. 13 across is 38? but must be a multiple of 9 so it is 387. Thus R-down is 43. Only possibility is R=8 which also tells us 5-across = 1234.

We have 34 across is 7180 and 32 down is 27. Since 30down and 27 down are anagrams we must have 27 down ending in 0 as well. 33 across is 4**0 and is 136 times 4 down. Also we can tell that 23 down ends in 8. So 33 across is 4080... and 26 across is 2854.

We also have 28 across is 362 and 30 down is 250.

gftt · Daedalian Member

OK, the numbers along the diagonal are
668841370

which correspond to letters
A/H
A/H
I/R
I/R
N/S
T/V
Y/U
D/L
E/F

Call in HAIRSTYLE?

LordKinbote · Daedalian Member

onethreeseven* · Guest

Hehe, this puzzle! Felicitous

LordKinbote · Daedalian Member

onethreeseven* · Guest

Never! I mean, they haven't even made it to Sheila yet.

Suspence · Daedalian Member

Any Old Puzzle

Contains natural and artificial flavortext.

RASPBERRY (Compass direction) = A
CINNAMONROLL (Going here might dry you out?) = N
SMORES (It may be sharp or flat) = S
STRAWBERRY (With FO, an explosive) = W
CHERRY (Young Men’s Christian Association, for short, for short) = E
BLUEBERRY (Several come before Batman) = R

MINICRISPSFROSTEDCHOCOLATE (Vote - U.S. gov’t debt rating, last winter)
WILDLICIOUSWILDGRAPE (Expression of joy - Author of a novel featuring Howard and Peter)
BROWNSUGARCINNAMONUNFROSTED (Sisterhood / Expression of agreement)
LIMITEDEDITIONGINGERBREAD ([Stephen King short story + Part of a Bart Simpson expression] / IEEE 754 value)
MINICRISPSFROSTEDSTRAWBERRY (Cat - Indian food)
NEWLIMITEDEDITIONCONFETTICAKE (Caregiver / U.S. state)
CHOCOLATECHIPCOOKIEDOUGH (Whedon character - Taqueria namesake)
RAINBOWCOOKIESANDWICH (Man who can cook - Star Alliance member)
NEWBROWNSUGARCINNAMONLOWFAT (Ivy alumni org. - Raggedy ___)

These appear to be flavors of Pop Tarts.
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gftt* · Guest

gftt* · Guest

Sisterhood / Expression of agreement : Might mean YAYA/YA (for a quotient of either 2 or YA, if these are variables that are being multiplied)

gftt* · Guest

Might all answers use only the letters A,Y,N?

(Compass direction) = N
(Going here might dry you out?) = AA
(It may be sharp or flat) =
(With FO, an explosive)
(Young Men’s Christian Association, for short, for short) = Y
(Several come before Batman) = NA

(Vote - U.S. gov’t debt rating, last winter) = NAY - AAA?
(Expression of joy - Author of a novel featuring Howard and Peter) = YAY - AYN?
(Sisterhood / Expression of agreement) = YAYA/YA
([Stephen King short story + Part of a Bart Simpson expression] / IEEE 754 value) = AYANA (or N.) + AY / NAN
(Cat - Indian food) = ?
(Caregiver / U.S. state) = ? / NY
(Whedon character - Taqueria namesake) = ? - ?
(Man who can cook - Star Alliance member) = YAN - ANA
(Ivy alumni org. - Raggedy ___) = ? - ANN

Suspence · Daedalian Member

(It may be sharp or flat) = A
(With FO, an explosive) = AN (as in ANFO)

Indian food = NAAN?

Ivy alumni org = AYA - Association of Yale Alumni

Taqueria namesake - ANNAs is a place in Boston.
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gftt* · Guest

RASPBERRY (N) = A
CINNAMONROLL (AA) = N
SMORES (A) = S
STRAWBERRY (AN) = W
CHERRY (Y) = E
BLUEBERRY (NA) = R

Might the A/Y/N answers be indices into the pop-tart name?
N = 2
AA = 3, 4, or 8
A = 1 or 6
AN = 5
Y = 3
NA = 7 or 8

Also, Whedon character = ANYA; Caregiver = NANNY or possibly NANA.

gftt* · Guest

A=1, N = 2, Y = 3 and view all A/N/Y words as numbers base 3. For instance AYANA = 13121 = 1*81 + 3*27 + 1*9 + 2 * 3 + 1 = 178, AY = 1*3 + 3 = 6, and NAN = 2*9 + 1*3 + 2 = 23.

(178 + 6) / 23 is 8, so use that as an index into the pop-tart. After doing all the answers we have I get FIRE*TONE.

Call in FIRESTONE

LordKinbote · Daedalian Member

Yup.

Next: Cross Breeding by Patrick Blindauer with input by Andrew Lin

onethreeseven* · Guest

Pop tarts.

Suspence · Daedalian Member

155 characters, 155 spaces.

One of the 8 letter words is likely CHO WCH OW

PAP ILL ON is also there, so I'm thinking dog breeds given the title.
POM ERA NI AN
POO DLE
COC KER SPA NI EL
BOX ER
DAL MAT IAN
SCO TTI SHT ERR IER
LAB RAD ORR ETR IEV ER
GER MAN SHO RTH AIR EDP OIN TER
HAV ANE SE
BAS SET HOU ND
CHI NES ESH ARP EI
MAL TE SE
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Suspence · Daedalian Member

These fill into the boxes as indicated, the underlined letters are the intersection of the two breeds.

CHOWCHOW
LABRADORRETRIEVER

PAPILLON
HAVANESE

BASSETHOUND
SCOTTISHTERRIER

MALTESE
POMERANIAN

DALMATIAN
CHINESESHARPEI

POODLE
COCKERSPANIEL

BOXER
GERMANSHORTHAIREDPOINTER
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Suspence · Daedalian Member

Each of these breeds, when crossed, seems to have a "designer hybrid" name.

CHABRADOR
HAVALLON
BASCOTTIE
MALTIPOM
SHARMATIAN
COCKAPOO
BOXAPOINT
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/hybriddogs.htm

Still not sure what to do with the empty red squares. I imagine it's obvious and I'm missing it...
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gftt* · Guest

I clicked on the solution to this one a while back, so I can't help you. Sorry....

Suspence · Daedalian Member

Rats, I was waiting for you to swoop. We need Scurra...
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Suspence · Daedalian Member

In case it helps someone else:

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Scurra · Daedalian Member

Suspence · Daedalian Member

I should mention that PAPILLON and HAVANESE are interchangeable in their positions currently. I'm assuming the use of the red squares will ultimately determine which goes where.

All the other breeds are in their only possible position.
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gftt* · Guest

While we're waiting for Scurra to save Suspence's bacon maybe we could re-open the Dodgson and Mayan Fair Lady metas?

Suspence · Daedalian Member

And here's Mayan Fair Lady:

1) BATED BREATH
2) DRUNK TANK
3) BUSINESS TRAVELERS
4) LOVE ETC
5) START OVER
6) VELVET ELVIS
7) CAR SEAT
8) CASH COW
9) MARS ROVER
10) FORGET PARIS
11) SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

It's probably worth noting that these are numbered in the meta (some other meta clues have not been numbered), therefore we're likely not looking to rearrange the order.

Just trying something:

Suspence · Daedalian Member

I don't know what to think of this, since I can't see where it would lead but you can add an H to each shorter word to make a new word:

1) BAThED BREATH
2) DRUNK ThANK
3) BUShINESS TRAVELERS
4) LOVE ETCh
5) START hOVER
6) VELVET ELVISh
7) ChAR SEAT
8) CASH ChOW
9) MARSh ROVER
10) FORGET PARISh
11) SOUTHWEST hAIRLINES
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gftt* · Guest

Nice catch! I would never have seen that. I was concentrating on Mayan-ness since all previous meta answers had to do with the new title rather than the old, but dropping H's fits with the original musical.

Now that the words with H's match the length of the other word, pick out the matching letter in the longer word:

ARVESTEARTS

so we should probably call in HARVEST HEARTS? Or do they want us to pronounce it Cockney style: 'arvest 'earts?

Suspence · Daedalian Member

See, that's the kind of swooping I need on the Mixed Breeds puzzle. Nicely done.
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gftt* · Guest

LordKinbote · Daedalian Member

HARVEST HEARTS is correct for the Mayan Fair Lady meta.

If you're curious, the idea of doing a Mayan theme round came about when we realized everyone was expecting us to do a Mayan end-of-the-world theme for the 2012 hunt. Someone suggested "Me and Mayan Girl" and I suggested the much more well-known "Mayan Fair Lady".

The puzzle went through several iterations based on just musical idea alone (I remember one had to do with anagrams of Mayan sites, but anagrams as meta structure are pretty played out.)

Finally, I came up with pretty much the idea you see here: add an H, then index into the other word to get a letter. However, I did none of the actual construction; I basically punted the idea and let Francis Heaney and Patrick Blindauer take it into the end zone. It's probably the most team-effort meta that was written.

LordKinbote · Daedalian Member

gftt · Daedalian Member

gftt · Daedalian Member

Another strange thing is that there are several puzzles created just for this meta, but it doesn't seem that the meta really has any need for any particular puzzle answer if all the answers are doing is providing choices from the set of tiles. If the puzzle answers were different, the meta still would work, you'd just have to rearrange the tiles. Am I missing something? Maybe we have to re-use the answers somewhere else in the course of the meta?

Suspence · Daedalian Member