Category: Solution

This story has references to characters from many different fairy tales. In fact, every sentence besides the first makes reference to a different character. The key to solving the puzzle is identifying these characters.

Character	Source
Baba Yaga	Slavic folklore
Ivan Tsarevitch	Russian folk lore, referencing Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf
Goldilocks	Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Boy Who Cried Wolf	The Boy Who Cried Wolf (Aesop)
Ali Baba	Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Arabian Nights)
Dog	The Town Musicians of Bremen (Brothers Grimm)
Woodcutter	The Honest Woodcutter (Aesop)
Hansel	Hansel and Gretel (Brothers Grimm)
Aladdin	Aladdin (Arabian Nights)
Tortoise	The Tortoise and the Hare (Aesop)

The first letters of the clued characters, with spaces added at the paragraph breaks, spell out BIG BAD WHAT. A common figure in many fairy tales is the Big Bad WOLF.

This is a fairly standard logic grid puzzle, but there are fewer clues than normally seen. However, the clues are very constrictive, and the puzzle can be solved as normal. One possible logic path is as follows:

The third clue states that one three-day stretch was Stuffy Nose, Dylan, and Pecans, in that order. The fifth clue says that another two-day stretch consists of Shellfish and Milk, as well as Dizziness and Hives. Since the three-day period starts with a symptom and ends with an allergen, the two-day and three-day periods do not overlap, and must be one after the other, since there are only five days.

By the first clue, Sam had a reaction to either Shellfish or Soy, and the reaction was either a Stomachache or Stuffy Nose. Since Shellfish cannot have caused either of those, according to clue five, Sam is allergic to Soy.

Sam cannot be allergic to Shellfish, Milk, or Pecans, nor are they Dylan. By process of elimination, Soy gives Sam a Stuffy Nose. Knowing that, Dylan must be allergic to Eggs.

By clue four, the anaphylaxis occurred two days after Jordan’s reaction. Since Sam got the Stuffy Nose, the Pecans did not cause Anaphylaxis. This means that Eggs gave Dylan Anaphylaxis. More importantly, it means that Dylan’s reaction cannot have been on Tuesday, so the Shellfish allergy was on Monday, the Milk reaction was on Tuesday and it was Jordan, Sam’s Soy Stuffy Nose was on Wednesday, Dylan’s Egg Anaphylaxis was on Thursday, and the Pecan allergy was on Friday.

Combining this order with clue five, Hives were on Monday or Tuesday. From clue two, we know that Taylor must have had the reaction Monday, and Hives were Tuesday. Using clue five, this leaves Dizziness for Monday.

The last remaining person and symptom – Alex and Stomachache – must therefore end up on Friday.

The completed grid looks like this:

Read in order, the letters in the highlighted spaces spell out RENADEXTURALETTETRSINTHISTESXT. This looks close to a clue phrase, but it appears to have extra letters. Ignoring four of the letters, the phrase READ EXTRA LETTERS IN THIS TEXT. The extra letters spell out NUTS, the answer to the puzzle.

Experienced solvers will quickly notice that there are fifteen sandwich orders and thirty slices of bread. Combined with the note that each sandwich contains two slices of bread and a filling, this points to combining two piece of bread words along with something else to form the sandwich words. The slices of bread are given in alphabetical order. In given order, the sandwiches are:

• CORNBREAD = CORN + B + READ
• DIVERGENT = DIVE + R + GENT
• HUNGERING = HUNG + E + RING
• CAMPANILE = CAMP + A + NILE
• BEARDLESS = BEAR + D + LESS
• FIREFLIES = FIRE + F + LIES
• ALLOWED = ALL + O + WED
• HYPERTEXT = HYPE + R + TEXT
• BACKHAND = BACK + H + AND
• ARMORED = ARM + O + RED
• AIRSTREAM = AIRS + T + REAM
• BANDAGE = BAN + D + AGE
• BILLOWING = BILL + O + WING
• ALTOGETHER = ALTO + G + ETHER
• LIMESTONE = LIME + S + TONE

The extra letters from the middle of the sandwiches spell out BREAD FOR HOT DOGS. BUNS are the bread used for hot dogs (which are definitely sandwiches).

I will start by saying that multiple people commented to let me know that this puzzle ended up not being fun, due to the large amount of research involved, some of it not easily accessible. I attempted to alleviate some of that with the revised version, but this was still, at its heart, a research puzzle. I recognize that this style of puzzle does not appeal to a good portion of my audience, and I will be avoiding it in the future. Thank you to everyone for bearing with me, and apologies for any stress this puzzle caused.

There are two versions of this puzzle, but the solving mechanism is the same for each – solvers trace out the journeys of the given characters, books, or movies to form letters, which can be read to find the answer. Not every location from the books or movies is included, and some are visited more than once.

Here is the revised version of the puzzle:

And here is the original, much longer, version:

Depending on the version of the puzzle, the letters spell out ANSWER MAPS or just simply MAPS. The answer to this puzzle is MAPS.

Each of the color/font combinations in the bowl of soup can be unscrambled to find a vegetable missing a letter. In rainbow order, which is also alphabetical order to prevent ambiguities, here are the vegetables:

The missing letters spell out ANSWER IS LEEK. The answer to the puzzle – and another vegetable missing from the soup – is LEEK.

Each of the hairstyles is associated with a particular fictional character, whose name fits into the blanks provided.

In order, the letters underlined in green spell out the answer, TRESSED, which either refers to braided hair, or to having hair in general.

Each of the phrases in the left column completes a punning definition for a word ending in -ER. For example, a person who makes loud noises is a DINNER, since a DIN is a loud noise. To assist in solving, the right column provides actual definitions for the same words. Normal conventions for adding -ER are used, such as dropping the E when the root ends with it, or doubling the final consonant of the root.

A person who…	-ER Word	Definition
Makes loud noises	DIN-NER	Meal
Deactivates	OFF-ER	Deal
Approaches the sunrise	EAST-ER	Upcoming Holiday
Displays	SHOW-ER	Clean Oneself
Enjoys lakes	POND-ER	Consider
Celebrates a day early	EVE-R	At Any Time
Makes notches	NICK-ER	Whinny
Uses pennies	CENT-ER	Middle
Runs a hotel	INN-ER	Middle
Survives	LIVE-R	Internal Organ
Builds bridges	ARCH-ER	Bowman
Caresses	RUB-BER	Tire Material
Blabs	TELL-ER	Banker

Reading the first letters of the -ER words, in order of the left column (since the right is given in alphabetical order) spells out DOES PENCIL ART. A person who does pencil art is a DRAW-ER. The answer is DRAWER.

One solution to this variant Tents puzzle is as follows:

The fourth column cannot have any tents, and the only way for the sixth row to contain five tents is for them to be in the first, third, eighth, and tenth columns. There are only three trees in the first two rows, so they must all be matched to tents in the first row, in the second, tenth, and either the fifth or seventh columns. Eliminating all spaces orthogonally adjacent to a tent, or not orthogonally adjacent to a tree gives the following:

The tree in row seven, column seven only has one possible location for a tent, to its left. This forces the one remaining tent in row six to be in column five. The two trees in column five and the tree in column six are the only trees which can still have tents in column five, which forces a tent in row one, column five, which in turn forces a tent in row four, column five. This leaves only two valid locations for tents in row two, yielding the following grid:

There are now only two legal tent locations in row three, and the tent in row four, column two is forced, completing that row. The first two columns have enough tents, and the third column has just enough space for its three. Likewise, columns eight and ten are complete, and column nine gets tents in all remaining spots:

At this point, the final three tents are easily placed, starting with the tree in row eight, then the one in row ten, and finally the tree in row nine, giving the final grid:

The cells with the tents spell out the phrase IT’S A HOMOPHONE FOR IN TENTS. The answer is INTENSE. Inspiration for this clue phrase comes from the old one-liner “Camping is in tents”.

The answer to each of the clues contains a single silent letter. In order, the answers are:

• ISLAND
• WRONG
• BREAD
• HYMN
• VISCOUNT
• PTEROSAUR (or PTERANODON)
• SCORE
• INDICT
• FRUIT
• GLOVES
• DEBRIS
• LEOPARD
• FEBRUARY (The R may be pronounced, but that is the secondary pronunciation according to several dictionaries)
• DOSSIER
• IMAGINE
• MNEMONIC
• YOUNG
• TSUNAMI
• GIVE
• THUMB
• BUILD
• BUFFET
• LISTEN
• JEOPARDY
• COLUMN

The silent letters, in order, spell out SWAN SPECIES OR REMOTE BUTTON. The solution is MUTE.