The Volokh Conspiracy
[Puzzleblogger Kevan Choset, January 20, 2006 at 11:27am] Trackbacks
Mystery Hunt Example:

The following words were the answers to one round of puzzles at the 2006 MIT Mystery Hunt (just getting these answers took the ~20 people on my team several hours):

  • Lemon

  • Guggenheim

  • Thornhill

  • Coyle

  • Brown

  • Friend

  • Barenblatt

  • Griswold

These answers, when combined in the proper way, lead to a one-word "meta-answer." What is that meta-answer?

(Thanks to the Mystery Hunt for this challenge. This "meta-puzzle" was conceived by long-time VC reader Noah Snyder and implemented by Roger Ford.)

HINT: The answer is an eight letter word. Adam's comment is correct. Try putting the given words in some logical order and see where that leads you.

Kevan Choset (mail):
The answer to yesterday's puzzle is that the listed people were the only Nobel Prize winners to be portrayed in Oscar-nominated performances.
1.20.2006 11:28am
Adam (mail):
They're all Supreme Court cases, but beyond that . . . ?
1.20.2006 11:49am
Tom Anger (mail) (www):
Plaintiff?
1.20.2006 11:55am
Roger Ford (mail):
I'm also a longtime VC reader, by the way. Though I would suggest giving the answers in alphabetical order, lest they wrongly imply that the order given matters.
1.20.2006 12:15pm
Roger Ford (mail):
A little more context: in this round, the meta answer you're looking for is Dana Scully's pass phrase.
1.20.2006 12:17pm
Defending the Indefensible:
I am diabolykal. verry h
appy Zilllllyun
1.20.2006 12:55pm
Defending the Indefensible:
Roger,
Speaking of this puzzle, do you enjoy the new Battlestar Galactica series?
1.20.2006 12:56pm
Roger Ford (mail):
DfI: I've never seen it.

What DfI got was what we gave teams that solved this meta, but the answer is simpler than that.
1.20.2006 1:27pm
Roger Ford (mail):
(Oops, I mean DtI, not DfI.)
1.20.2006 1:32pm
Defending the Indefensible:
Roger,

One of the main characters in BSG is named Capt. Kara Thrace, but her nickname is the answer to this puzzle.
1.20.2006 1:35pm
Roger Ford (mail):
Interesting. I'm pretty sure that's a total coincidence. :)
1.20.2006 1:54pm
Cheburashka (mail):
The new series is pretty good. I watched an episode for the irony, but ended up getting into it.
1.20.2006 2:06pm
Jon Jon :
The Dana Scully hint gave me the answer, but figuring out why that was the answer took a bit of work. Put the cases in chronological order, and then take the first letter of the respondent in each case. For example, Coyle would stand for the letter 's'.
1.20.2006 5:09pm
James Taranto (mail) (www):
None of them have been in my kitchen. Well, except Lemon.
1.20.2006 6:39pm
Defending the Indefensible:
Per Jon Jon's hint, Coyle would stand for the letter s.
1.20.2006 10:43pm
mhslacker (mail):
Whoa! How about putting those up behind a "show more"? I intend to go back and do the Hunt puzzles that I couldn't do this weekend because of a prior committment. Spoiling a whole round is totally uncool.
1.21.2006 2:24pm
Noah Klein (mail):
That is really cool! I know the answer has become a phenomenon, but that is awesome. I wonder how long it took them to develop it, especially since it took a team about 20 hours to figure it out. I don't know about anybody else, but the answer was actually on my campus in the Student Union.

Noah
1.21.2006 10:59pm
Francis Heaney (www):
Which team did you play on, Kevan?
1.24.2006 12:11pm

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