About two months back we decided and committed ourselves to an afternoon of confounding puzzles. Then, we proceeded to send a plethora of amusing and confusing emails to each other. Finally, on June 6th we headed out to Freedom Plaza for the 2010 post hunt!!!! We included Saurabh, Vishal, Smita, Sandhya and me. Saurabh suggested team colour red, Smita said she was going with green...Vishal, Saurabh and I turn up in green only to find that Smita had come in orange-pink!! And Sandhya in blue...so much for our team communication rocking! :D
Anyway, on to Freedom Plaza, armed with four copies of the post magazine, cell phones, knowledge that all answers to the clues have to be a number and 5 wonderful problem solving brains we awaited noon to get our clues to start. Before then, we were to solve the 5 multiple choice questions in the magazine. Those answers coupled with the clues they would give us at noon would tell us where the 5 puzzles were. At noon they announced 5 numbers. Those numbers along with the alphabet answers to the multiple choice questions gave us the coordinates on the post hunt map indicating where the puzzles were.
Stage at Freedom Plaza
Initial Questions to Solve
The Hunt MapThe first puzzle was the Feet puzzle. We reached there and saw hundreds of casts of feet. Some of us started counting how many there were. There were 555 full feet and there was one half foot. In the magazine there was an illustration of the area around the Washington Monument. One of the bubbles on the page indicated that the monument is 555½ feet long. So, having figured that out, we headed toward the Washington monument.
The Feet Puzzle
Half Foot
The Illustration!On the way there we got side tracked and stopped at the Abstract Shapes puzzle. What it was, was a number spelled out in giant alphabets and buried halfway into the ground. We figured out that the number was 500.
500 PuzzleHaving solved that puzzle we resumed our direction to the monument. There we thought it might have to do with the flags since one of the bubbles on the same page that indicated the monument is 555½ feet tall said something about the flags representing the states of America. That wasn’t the answer. After walking around the monument, we noticed a man standing with a Dodgers jersey and a pink umbrella. This man was also shown in the cartoon. At the back of his jersey, he had they number 74. 74 was the answer to this puzzle.
Pink Umbrella ManThen we headed to the Credentials puzzle. Once there, post hunt volunteers handed us a cardboard credential with a string that said "HUNT BAR" and "Admit One" with the instructions to wear it around our necks. There was also a bar code on it. Once worn, if you looked at the bar code, it read "Nineteen plus". The second part of this clue involved going to the "bar" indicated on the map. Over there, volunteers handed us a flyer that said "You MUST be wearing shoes. Please check to make sure you are wearing shoes! How many are you wearing?". The answer was 2 and so we had to add 19 + 2 = 21. Which was the answer to this puzzle.
Credential
Flyer given at Hunt BarThen we headed to the Interpreter puzzle. There one of the organizers was giving a very "important" speech. He also had an interpreter with him. She was dressed in a referee outfit and was making gestures through the speech. Most of them seemed nonsensical. However, each time he said "The solution is clear" the interpreter would raise both her hands straight up. It indicated a touchdown. We eventually figured that out, and that it might represent the number 6. However, we didn't eventually reach the conclusion that it was signaling to the number 66. 66 was the answer to this puzzle.
Interpreter PuzzleThe last clue, Comic Strip Puzzle clue, was a comic strip with each panel labeled with a number. However, the numbers weren't in numerical order. The comic didn't make sense when read in the order the panels were or if the panels were arranged in numerical order. We had to arrange the panels so that the comic made sense. This order was obtained as 7 8 3 4 5 6 2. It represented a phone number. We did think it might be a phone number with the area code 202, so we googled it, but nothing came up! We weren't able to solve this clue. As it turns out, it was a phone number that you had to call. I have NO idea why we didn't think to call the number. Upon calling the number, there was a recording that to you to count the number of cats. There were 13 cats and that was the answer to this puzzle.
Comic Strip PuzzleAll these numbers corresponded to answers on the clue page. The clues corresponding to the numbers would help solve the final clue given at 3:00PM.
The final puzzle COMPLETELYYYYY stumped us! At 3:00 PM on the stage in Freedom Plaza, one of the sponsors had an ear, a nut and a star on placards. Then, he juggled the three placards. The juggling was done to indicated the juggling of the alphabets in the 3 words. If one did that, the alphabets spelt out "Restaurant". In the post hunt map, there was a 'restaurant". We had to head there, where volunteers handed us a menu and some advice. They recommended the sea food. The prices along all the menu items that were seafood gave a string of 7 digits. Again, a phone number with the area code 202. Upon calling it, the recorded voice told the caller that they didn't solce the clue out right and that it was C-food that was recommended. All items with the alphabet "C" had to used to solve the rest of it. Which can be viewed here.
Menu - Front
Menu - Inside/BackThe hunt was SO much fun. Definitely something we all want to do again. We solved 3 puzzles and were SOOOO close to solving the other 2. I think if it hadn't rained and made us a little lethargic and disinterested we would have solved those 2 as well. However, the last final puzzle given to us at 3PM definitely left us stumped. Realising this, instead of running around in the rain, we decided to go to Gorden Biersch and indulge in the goodness of garlic fries!
THE TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
