Discuss "Before Repairs" Here

[Courk]

Link to the puzzle.

[esme]

The number of lines (14 plus "none") does not correspond to the number of pictures (13). The pictures are not clearly ordered in lines or columns.

Some of the pictures written column-wise:

(CHECK)MATE
(esp guy)
(woman)
(chart)
SIGHT
FILE / RASP
BOO (Mario/Yoshi ghost character)
DENT (damaged car)
(bird)
(floating or sliding device)
(dog)
(SAFETY) PIN
SKELETON
_________________
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

[Sentran]

I haven't gone far into this yet, but a bit of searching led me to this image.
I don't know if the specific name of the object will help in any way. Hopefully after I get some homework done I'll be able to search a bit more.
_________________
Sentran
"Speaking of double negatives, I haven't read greylab yet today." - Lifeinmomland

[bgg1996]

More specifically,

Environmental Prediction in the Gulf of Maine (chart) This
Valdada 10X56 Tactical Scope This
Mockingbird clipart This
Checkmate
Grater
inflatable snow tube This
Blindfold Cloth Magic This
Boo (Mario Ghost) This
Pencil Drawing of a Dog This
Teri Hatcher This
Dent This
Safety Pin This
Skeleton This
_________________
The one member below 18

[esme*]

Given this information, the sixth line might be "KILL A MOCKINGBIRD". (The title is missing a TO, though.)

[Oscar]

The key to this puzzle is in the title. ('Before repairs' = 'pre-fixes')

If we take the metric prefixes from 'exa' to 'pico' and match them with the pictures we get (with a bit of guesswork and a lot of mangled pronunciation):

exa + skeleton = exoskeleton
peta + file = pedophile?
tera + pin = terrapin
giga + pet = gigapet?
mega + ? = ?
kilo + mockingbird = kill a mockingbird
hecto + graph = hectograph
deca + dent = decadent
(none)
deci + mate = decimate
centi + mentalist = sentimentalist
milli + teri = military
micro + scope = microscope
nano + tube = nanotube
pico + boo = peekaboo

Taking the letters indicated by the numbers in each word and putting them in order gives:
STOR?ISMISSING



So presumably the required answer is MEGASTORE rather than STORE?

[groza528]

I think you omitted the wrong letter from the answer string, but that is correct

[Oscar]

Oh right, the string was STOREISMI?SING

BTW was the name 'El Blobbo' supposed to be a pointer in any way? (It's a pretty weird name for a matador)

[groza528]

No, it was just a GL reference that was slightly more topical when the puzzle was written. We used to have a forumgoer with that handle. Same with radwulf if you're following the rest of the "story."