The Minstrel
by Mike Sylvia
Solution: BILLY ELLIOT
The first step in this puzzle is to determine that the sound bites have been alphabetized by artist, and that a word has been removed from each of them. Next solvers must identify the songs in the sound file, as well as the words that have been deleted. They are:
Asia, “Heat of the Moment” --------------------------------------------- incidents
Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, “Zoot Suit Riot” --------------------------- brown-eyed
Dashboard Confessional, “Screaming Infidelities” ------------------ laugh
Dave Matthews Band, “The Space Between” ------------------------ madness
David Gray, “Babylon” --------------------------------------------------- ridicule
Eddie Money, “Take Me Home Tonight” ----------------------------- Ronnie
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, “Relax” ---------------------------------- laser beams
Hootie and the Blowfish, “Only Wanna Be With You” ------------- end
Lou Bega, “Mambo #5” -------------------------------------------------- trumpet
M, “Pop Musik” ----------------------------------------------------------- Munich
Michael Jackson, “Thriller” ---------------------------------------------- jaws
Oasis, “Don’t Go Away” ------------------------------------------------ education
Pet Shop Boys, “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” --- inclination
Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Can’t Stop” --------------------------------- engineering
REM, “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” ---------------------------- violent
Simon and Garfunkel, “I am a Rock” ---------------------------------- island
Staind, “For You” --------------------------------------------------------- silence
Talking Heads, “Burning Down the House” --------------------------- nasty
The Rembrandts, “I’ll Be There for You” ----------------------------- gear
The Verve, “Bittersweet Symphony” ----------------------------------- airwaves
U2, “Peace on Earth” ------------------------------------------------------ overtake
Weird Al Yankovic, “Cavity Search” ----------------------------------- absurd
Next, solvers must realize that one artist had one letter in his name, one artist had two (counting “2” as a letter), and so on up to the artist with 22 letters in their name. Sorting the artists and their associated words in this manner gives us:
M --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Munich
U2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- overtake
REM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- violent
Asia ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ incidents
Oasis ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- education
Staind --------------------------------------------------------------------------- silence
Lou Bega ----------------------------------------------------------------------- trumpet
The Verve ---------------------------------------------------------------------- airwaves
David Gray --------------------------------------------------------------------- ridicule
Eddie Money ------------------------------------------------------------------- Ronnie
Pet Shop Boys ----------------------------------------------------------------- inclination
Talking Heads ------------------------------------------------------------------ nasty
The Rembrandts --------------------------------------------------------------- gear
Michael Jackson ---------------------------------------------------------------- jaws
Weird Al Yankovic ------------------------------------------------------------ absurd
Dave Matthews Band ---------------------------------------------------------- madness
Simon and Garfunkel ---------------------------------------------------------- island
Red Hot Chili Peppers -------------------------------------------------------- engineering
Cherry Poppin’ Daddies ------------------------------------------------------ brown-eyed
Hootie and the Blowfish ------------------------------------------------------- end
Dashboard Confessional ------------------------------------------------------ laugh
Frankie Goes to Hollywood -------------------------------------------------- laser beams
Reading the first letters of the words gives the message “MOVIE STARRING JAMIE BELL,” which means that the answer is BILLY ELLIOT.
Author’s Notes:
This was the second puzzle designed, and probably the most fun to design. I owe a large “thank you” to KaZaA, lyricsfind.com, and Media Jukebox’s Media Editor program. Oh, and thanks once again to Tahnan, who test-solved this and all of the puzzles.
After Solving The Minstrel:
“Billy Elliot. Just great. I look for a Mage, and instead I get Ballerina Boy.”
BWOMP!
“Hey! I heard that!”
“Right. Look, kid, what do you say we go look for some Mages that might actually be helpful?”
“You’re not exactly a people person, are you?”
