[Solution] On the Board Again – 12 September 2022

This metapuzzle first requires deducing that the given image is that of a Monopoly board. This can be done through the number and size of the spaces, the references to different roads in the flavor text, or most easily through the use of the GO arrow.

Starting at the GO arrow and proceeding around the board, the numbers (ignoring +/- signs) can be converted to letters using A=1, B=2, etc. This spells out the instruction SHIFT THE SEVENTH LETTER USING THIS NUMBER. Looking at the puzzle answers from the eight previous puzzles, they can each be associated with a specific space on the Monopoly board, one of each color of property. These pairs are:

• ITALIAN FOOD = Mediterranean Avenue
• EAST ASIAN = Oriental Avenue
• NON-NEWTONIAN FLUID = States Avenue (Non-Newtonian fluids are not a state of matter, but may contain properties of multiple states.)
• DISCIPLE – St. James Place (St. Charles could also be considered a disciple, but is not one of the classic twelve)
• FORT WAYNE – Indiana Avenue (Fort Wayne is a city in Indiana.)
• GULF STREAM – Atlantic Avenue
• LIBERTY BELL – Pennsylvania Avenue
• CUYAHOGA VALLEY – Park Place (Cuyahoga Valley is a national park, and the state it is in – Ohio – is not represented on the Monopoly board at all.)

Shifting the seventh letter of each answer forward or backward by the number given on the space of its associated property, wrapping from A-Z or Z-A as necessary (ITALIAN FOOD‘s seventh letter is N; Mediterranean Avenue’s shift is +19; Nineteen letters after N is a G, assuming that after reaching Z, the alphabet wraps around to A) gives the answer GOOD GAME.

*This metapuzzle was not intended to be so difficult. Originally, only the second half of the puzzle existed – the matching of the puzzle answers to their properties, and the shifting of what at that time was their first letter by the number given.

However, very late in the process, concerns arose that it might be too difficult for solvers to figure out what to do. I decided to make the puzzle easier by adding a hint people could read by using the numbers around the board. At this point, multiple puzzles had been written, and State Your Name had already come out. I was unable to come up with a good hint phrase using the needed first-letter shifts.

At this point, I should have abandoned the idea and resigned myself to having a difficult metapuzzle. However, I persevered and was able to find a hint that worked – as long as I changed the critical letter from the first to the seventh. It seemed like a perfect compromise. What could go wrong?

As it turned out, what I had done, rather than adding an extra hint for people who got stuck on the meta, is created a required message that had to be found before the puzzle could be solved, because without the message, there is no reason to try the seventh letter of the answers.

From feedback during the first week the puzzle was available, multiple people had come up with the idea of matching answers to Monopoly spaces, but nobody had thought to read the numbers in isolation. My attempts to make the puzzle easier turned a hard-but-fair puzzle into one which requires solvers to try one very specific step in order to make any progress. I can only apologize, and thank you all for sticking around. This next metapuzzle will be much simpler.