Tag: Solution

In this nonogram puzzle, many of the clues have been obscured. However, since each clue must be at least one and surrounded by white clues, the puzzle is still solvable:

The pattern of blocks within the 2×3 glitchy regions can be read as Braille letters, spelling out the answer CORRUPT.

Each of the dots in the puzzle has a clue with an answer that either is or sounds like an English letter, a Greek letter, or a number. Of those three sets, only the English letters is complete. Connecting each letter from A to Z gives the following:

At a diagonal from upper-left to lower-right, the line forms the answer LETTERS, written in cursive.

This is a simplified version of a rows garden puzzle. Across answers fit into their listed rows in order, and the white, yellow, and gold clues fit into the hexagons of their color, going either clockwise or counter-clockwise as indicated. Combining these two types of clues allows the grid to be completed as so:

The only letters which are not clued twice are the top six letters and bottom six letters. Read out, they spell the phrase FRENCH FOR BEE. The French word for bee is ABEILLE.

As suggested by the title, the pieces can be cut apart and reassembled as a puzzle:

If the grid lines are ignored, the remaining lines divide the finished puzzle into a number of irregularly-shaped regions, most of which are relatively small. However, certain letters appear when looking at the larger regions:

These letters spell out the answer, SURGERY.

Each of the lines of letters can be split into two different foods which go together – except there is one letter missing:

• ICACECKEREM = Cake & Ice Cre[a]m
• BEGACOGS = Baco[n] & Eggs
• MEPAGATHEBATTLILS = [S]paghetti & Meatballs
• AFFCHILECKSEN = Chicken & [W]affles
• SPAPPLERT = Salt & P[e]pper
• MACHECEASONEI = Maca[r]oni & Cheese
• LOINOVERNS = Liver & On[i]ons
• CCHREACKEEERS = Chee[s]e & Crackers
• CHIFIPHS = Fi[s]h & Chips
• SPOTETATOKES = Steak & Pot[a]toes
• PEJEANTBLUTTLERY = Pean[u]t Butter & Jelly
• PAYNCRAKUPES = Pancakes & [S]yrup
• CAPERROSTS = Pe[a]s & Carrots
• BFURRIERES = Bur[g]er & Fries
• COMIOLKISK = Milk & Cooki[e]s

The missing letters spell out ANSWER IS SAUSAGE. The answer is SAUSAGE, which is a food which is made by chopping up and mixing together other foods.

Each of the coats of arms shown represents a letter in a different encoding. The ornamentation on top of each crest is a clue to the encoding used.

Ornamentation	Encoding	Letter
Telegraph keys	Morse code	S
Boar	Pigpen cipher	A
Signal flags	Flag semaphore	L
Sherlock Holmes	Dancing men cipher	T
Cat in the Hat hat silhouette	Dr. Seuss’s ABC	A
Sailing ship	Int’l maritime signal flags	N
Blind Justice	Braille	T

The letters spell out SALTANT, which is a word solvers may not be familiar with. However, looking it up reveals that it is a heraldic term referring to an animal featured in a leaping pose.

In each pair of clues, the solution to the clue on the right sounds like the solution to the clue on the left with a syllable added. In each case, this syllable sounds like the name of a letter. (The clue in the flavor text is M + TEA = EMPTY):

• C + SON = SEASON
• O + ZONE = OZONE
• L + SEE = ELSIE
• O = MITT = OMIT
• R + GONE = ARGON
• L + DUST = ELDEST
• E + STIR = EASTER
• S + TEAM = ESTEEM
• S + CAPE = ESCAPE
• B + LINE = BEELINE
• I + PATCH = EYE PATCH
• L + BOW = ELBOW
• L + FIN = ELFIN
• I + RATE = IRATE
• A + GENT = AGENT
• R + GOLLY = ARGALI
• D + SIDE = DECIDE
• S + CHOIR = ESQUIRE
• O + PULL = OPAL
• R + CANE = ARCANE
• B + WEAR = BEWARE

The added letters spell out the phrase COLORLESS BILLIARDS ORB, which is a CUE BALL, which of course sounds like Q + BALL.

In these three arithmetic problems, there are ten letters, which can be assumed to each replace a different digit from zero to nine. There are several ways to work through this puzzle, but one logical path is below:

• In the division problem, A – H = 0, and H – Y = 0. Since no two letters can represent the same digit, A must be one more than H, which is one more than Y.
• Again using the division problem, AR – HT = Y. However, since A is one more than H, and R = 0, this means that 10 – T = Y.
• Replacing R with 0 give H00 – YNE = HU. This gives the new information that 10 – E = U and 9 – N = H. Since YTE – YNE = H0, T – N = H as well. Therefore T is 9. Since 10 – T = Y, Y is 1. Based on what we know from the first step, H is 2 and A is 3. With T being 9 and H being 2, 9 – N = 2, so N is 7.
• Also in the division problem, E – E = R. Since this occurs in the ones column, R must be equal to 0. In the tens column of the addition problem, this means that C + 0 = C. Since this is true, nothing has been borrowed, and E + E = S. The only possible values for E are 1-4. Since 1, 2, and 3 are already taken, E is 4 and S is 8.
• Only C and U are left to identify, and there are many places to do so. The division problem shows that HT x U = YNE, or U = 174 / 29. U is 6, leaving C as 5.

The final translated math facts are 90654 + 5304 = 95958, 539 x 247 = 133133, and 309401 / 29 = 10669.

The question marks from one to seven are replacing the digits 3, 5, 9, 1, 3, 0, and 1. Translated to letters, these spell out the answer ACTUARY.