Fox Got Puzzles

Like the Dirty Projectors proclaimed in Gun Has No Trigger, “If you had looked, you might have just seen them.”

This is a departure from my norm, more in the vein of visual riddles, but I had a thought or two I just had to convey and the rest followed.  It was fun, so more to come, I think.  Some are a lil too old for the new crowd and vice versa- hope it felt like a fair mix.

Words- they sound like other words, and often form new words that have no related meaning when combined, like the guard in the gard-en or the skull pitcher scul-pture.

Now, as demonstrated, some are more homonymic than others and some will be a stretch- hence the answer box provided above.  Please note there’s 10 clues and 12 answers so a few are there just as fillers.  

-This Is Not About a Cootie Shot-

One of my newfound dreams since entering the world of puzzledom is to create a series of puzzles I like enough to try to get syndicated.  Serkul Surkel Dot Dot is my first effort at such an endeavor.  Here's what it will look like...

Plain black and white is the desired style the syndicators I've looked at ask for, so that much is pegged down, but it could also look like this:

And I think rather than nail it down as far as what kind of components the clues will solve for, they will likely stay flexible so that I can use all kinds of varieties of solutions, such as combining words, letters, or just random noise syllables.  More to come soon, along with more certainty!

Answers The 1st puzzle breaks down to best, edge, ew,* Kate, and id, which sounds like the actual answer "best educated." The 2nd puzzle answers are GE, NI,** US, and IS. *Remember the joke as a kid- do you like seafood? then someone says yes and the original question asker shows the chewed up food in their mouth- ew. **Monty Python reference- Google it if you're still curious :)

See what I did there? Don't wash, don't rinse- just repeat.

Here's another example: Last Halloween I was approached by a  __ __ __ __ __  and his  __ __ __  who looked just like something out of a Doodle by  __ __ __ __ __ __.

Hector Gomez via openclipart.org, OpenClips via pixabay.com

Answer Last Halloween I was approached by a GHOUL and his GOO who looked like something out of a Doodle by GOOGLE.

The blanks here correspond to a 'ghoul' and his 'goo,' which when reversed and combined sound just like Google. In each sentence ahead, the end portion of the site's name will come first, though words within them might be broken up. Unlike this example though, every other answer is spelled out exactly like the name of the site.

Ready?

Let the Puzzles Begin!

1. The best  __ __ __ __  I ever read and my smirking  __ __ __ __  are my cover and profile picture on  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __.

Photos8.com via Wikimedia Commons, LOwens via Wikimedia Commons

Answer Each answer is given after the clue following it, spoiler-free style.

2. After resting against a fence  __ __ __ __  and recovering from all his   __ __ __ __ __ __ __, the Big Bad Wolf ate a  __ __ __  of bacon and caught up on the news from The  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __    __ __ __ __ .

gaspirtz.com via Wikimedia Commons

Answer #1 Book, Face; Facebook

3. After ingesting five times the recommended  __ __ __ __  of magic chocolate bars, her  __ __ __ __ __-bed felt more like a magic carpet than an air mattress and she found herself too busy flying to take a photo to put on  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __. 

Youtube.com via BuzzFeed (See the action-packed GIFs here)

Answer #2 Post, Huffing, Ton; Huffington Post

4. Known for his character who exclaimed things like, "This is  __ __! I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth,” comedian  __ __ __ __  Foxx has a lot of memes but not his own subcategory on  __ __ __ __ __ __.

ABC Television via Wikimedia Commons

Answer #3 Gram, Insta; Instagram

5. With too many occurrences to  __ __ __ __, many of my Fridays have been like  __ __ __ __ __'__  from the movie Friday, except instead of hiding from Big Perm (I mean Big Worm), I'm hunting for a job on  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __.

best-of-thatsite

Answer #4 It, Redd; Reddit

6. When Nikki stole a package from her neighbor's  __ __ __ __, Paris (ironically unaware of the federal laws against it) said, “That's  __ __ __,” as per an email conversation they had in the 2003 via  __ __ __ __ __ __ __.

Wikimedia Commons

Answer #5 List, Craig's; Craigslist

7. The one time I actually got in the ring and tried to  _ _ _, I thought I could  _ _ _ _  the other guy in one punch, but it didn't work out that way and the proof lives on forever in the cloud on  _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

USMC via Wikimedia Commons

Answer #6 Mail, Hot; Hotmail

8. When there was a report on TMZ about Miley Cyrus swimming around naked in the San Francisco  _ _ _  on “_," I knew it wasn't a rabid mermaid I had seen and started printing pictures to sell on  _ _ _ _ .

xotz via DeviantArt.com

Answer #7 Box, Drop; Dropbox

9. If a baby wants a "dwink" from your "__ __ __ __" and the child is related to famed fighter Laila  __ __ __, you better just give it up and try to buy yourself another via   __ __ __ __ __ __ __ .

Wikimedia Commons

Answer #8  Bay, E; eBay

10. After I drank the full 8 ounce  __ __ __  of whiskey, my  __ __  took control and told my ego, “__ __, tonight's the night I finally get a mutual like,” and I started clicking star after star on  __ __ __ __ __ __ __.

Yamavu Derivative Work via Wikimedia Commons

Answer #9 Baba, Ali; Alibaba

Bonus Puzzle- Ignore any letter that is the color of the two buttons found in the image for clue #10. What's left will reveal my motivation for this post and what Edgar Cayce called "today's answer to tomorrow's questions."

Answer #10 Cup, Id, OK; OKCupid

Th-th-that's all, folks!

But fret not!  After all- 

"And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."  

T.S. Eliot reminds me that though this is the end of this post, hopefully it's the start of something much bigger.

-Here Goes-

I’d like to welcome to the stage for the first time- Esoterica Eclectica- which will showcase things I care about in this world in the form of puzzles. Some might get heavy, but let’s get this party started light (seewhatididthere?).

High Bridge in Farmville, VA

Part of the Rails-to-Trails program, the High Bridge Trail State Park is one of the many awesome things to see in Virginia. The bridge that is the focal point of the park is nearly half a mile long and rises over the treeline up to 120+ feet at its high point above the Appomattox River.

One of the best parts about going to the High Bridge is enjoying a meal at Macado’s in nearby Farmville after the hike. It’s a Virginia-born and based company, founded and headquartered in Roanoke with locations from Charlotte, NC to the Shenandoah Valley. The Farmville location comes as close to me as any, but I was introduced to Macado's years ago in Blacksburg when I went to visit friends at Virginia Tech and have been a big fan ever since.

-SO THE PUZZLE-  There are many specialty sandwiches at Macado’s, each with a unique name. Below you will find a list of 12 of them, of which 7 will have matching clues in the boxes. Each time you pair a clue with a sandwich, take note of the clue's box number and write down the corresponding letter from the sandwich ‘s name on the numbered blank below.

For example, if Rin Tin Tin were the match for the clue in the first box, you would write an “R” on the first blank. If Rin Tin Tin were the match for the 4th clue, then you would write down the 4th letter from his name, “T,” in the 4th blank.

Once you’ve got all 7 letters, unscramble them to figure out the one thing I always get at Macado’s. Even with their vast selection, this is definitely my must-have.

(Editor's Note-In a dreamworld, I'd be able to turn puzzles like this into a touch-screen game where you could just drag and drop the sandwich's name onto the matching clue, which would then highlight the letter you need from that particular sandwich. Let's hope next year's tech budget's a little bigger.)

While this was made just for fun, interactive marketing opportunities like this provide consumers a chance to choose to connect and engage with their companies they like on a different level than more traditional, passive ads. From what I’ve seen in this puzzle of life, people tend to value what they earn more than what they are given and are therefore more apt to use a coupon/gift card they feel like they had to work for or discover. It’s an exciting potential win-win-win, for customer, company, and the puzzleman.

-Welcome-

(That's almost as catchy as "this party," right?)

In terms of producing puzzlehunts, my chance to start the party right comes in the form of Starter Clues. Oftentimes the clue will reveal where we will meet for our event, but if that's already been determined it may just solve for a link to a website or video related to our theme for the day.

Perhaps most importantly Starter Clues allow participants to get a feel for the type of puzzles they will face in their event. They serve as a warm-up exercise and their answers are only a good proper Googling away, instead of on the plaque of a statue or in the form of graffiti on the side of a building like during the actual event.

Here are some of my favorites from my first year with Ravenchase Adventures in what I perceive to be a progressive order of difficulty, along with some commentary to provide context.

1. Birthday Party for Children at a Park

I play soccer and love to juggle the ball, so this was the perfect warm-up exercise for them and me. I'll always remember that group of 20+ kids screaming and running across the park towards me as I try to maintain focus and keep the ball in the air... I don't know how clowns do it!

Don't worry- they get more complex.

2. Corporate Teambuilding Event at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

For this type of clue, I'm striving for something similar to Jeopardy trivia, but more like College Jeopardy than the standard set. I try to incorporate pop culture and general knowledge, finding a balance between the well known and conventional to the obscure and edgy. Like this:

Fox: "I'll take Weird Ways with Words and Numbers for a grand point two, Alex."

Alex: "Here's the clue- you can express the number 50 with this one character.".*beep beep*  "Fox?"

Fox: "Who is Curtis Jackson*?" (*50 Cent)

Alex: "Wrong again, you are now at a record negative ten thousand. Efohex?"

Efohex: "What is L?"

Alex: "Correct for twelve hundred."

Answers The answer to each puzzle will follow the puzzle after it, i.e. the answer to puzzle #2 is below puzzle #3. I don't want to spoil it by having it listed here with the clues and hopefully it will be more user-friendly to scroll down than to read backwards or upside-down text. Is it?

3. Birthday Party for Adults in East Village NYC

This one was tricky to plan for as I had never been to New York before and my client had never really heard of a puzzlehunt before. Fortunately, she was tons of fun to work with and coordinating with her helped allow me to get a feel for what her group was like (awesome), and then the tone was set. Plans were to end at a bar called "The Library," so every answer was a book title.

Each of the clues should be Google-able, but if you do get stuck on one I'd recommend moving on to another and perhaps you'll figure out the book title with only just a few letters. A great article awaits you once you do.

Answer #2 1. L (Roman Numeral)   2. T&K (Greek Letters)   3. 44 (as in 44th President)   4.  SX (South by SouthWest, SXSW) tinyurl.com/ltk44sx

4. Corporate Law Firm's Associates' Weekend in Shockoe Bottom RVA

The Idea behind this one is that while it's neat to lead people to websites, sometimes it's better to be able to craft my own messages for people to find. Craigslist allows for the perfect opportunity to embed my message discretely amongst countless others, but it's easily found once you determine the unique term to search for.

Ah, Craigslist- not just for creeps, but also weird stuff like this.

Answer #3  1. WH (HW backwards) 2. ER (TV Show) 3. ES (As in ESPN)   4. WA (Washington)  5. LD (Larry David)   6. O (As in Othello) www.tiny.cc/whereswaldo

5. Elementary School Faculty at The National Gallery of Art

So here I am, using a drawing program with no spell-check and I get this assignment for all the teachers and administration from a top-notch elementary school. After being especially mindful of my spelling and grammar, I was ready and this is the starter clue I came up with. They got it quickly and the next thing I knew I was meeting two busloads full of educators right by the National Mall in Downtown DC.

One last thing about the event- Is it any surprise the team with the art teacher in it won in very convincing fashion? I make puzzles as fair as possible, but sometimes a person just has an inherent edge.

Answer #4 1. LE:  LEN (Song- Steal My Sunshine) 2. HU:  Chumbawamba (Tubthumping) 3. ZZ:  ZZ Top (Sharp Dressed Man/Legs) 4. NT:  Interpol (All the Rage Back Home) 5. PU:  Public Enemy (Bring the Noise) (The Craigslist ad is long gone btw)

6. Georgetown Law Students on The National Mall

In retrospect, this task was daunting. It was only my third event and I wasn't sure how to make it challenging enough for this exceptionally bright group without being just cruelly confusing. Braille writing that led into an anagram seemed like enough layering, especially once I learned they were just finishing up finals before the puzzlehunt started.

Answer #5 (From left to right) 1.One fourth 2. Virginia 3. Pencil 4. Knowing 5. Weathervane 6. Ampersand fourth, ia, pencil, nw, vane, and= fourth and pencil vane ia nw= 4th and Pennsylvania NW= 4th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, DC

Spoiler Buffer Photo

This photo primarily exists to create space between the puzzle #6 and its answer, but it also reveals my alias to my pen name if you can follow the right line on this cryptowheel.

Answer #6 The Braille translates to "Rad Quality Herb," which is an anagram of "The Library Quad"

Well, I guess that's good for starters...

-Greetings-

I make puzzles, so it only makes sense that I'd take the opportunity to turn my header and avatar combo into a puzzle of sorts and kick things off in the right spirit on this here tumblr account.  As for who I am, I will explain more in later posts, but let's not ruin the mood of this pristine moment.

The picture included in this post offers up some instructions that aren't included in my actual header. Some clues/further explanation are as follows:

If, instead of the orange hand shown, there were a written “Don't Walk” sign and you tried to cross this intersection of Broadway and Spring Street anyways, you would be the embodiment of the act hidden in the phrase.

Conversely, the most visible sign in this Lower Manhattan scene offers up the best advice I can give you for this or any other puzzle, and by following it you would do the opposite of this mystery phrase.

*So, try, don't... Either way it's meant to be (or not meant to be), but there is no question.*

Here's a zoomed-in version of the puzzle with the most visible sign hopefully at its clearest visibility.

The answer is below the line of x's and dashes, harmless digital barbwire that helps protect you from seeing the answer too soon.

The most visible sign of this Soho scene is Guess, which if you did do, then you didn't "Defy Soho Text."  The 3 pairs are ef, oh, and ex, which sound out the 3 letters of my name f-o-x.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name,