Top GL'er Vegas - LordKinbote

[MNOWAX]

The first Quickfire is a simple, yet very complex quickfire, you will have only two weeks to complete the making of this puzzle. You must make a puzzle using 25 words or less. It may not involve pictures, animations, or other items, just words.

PUZZLE BOXES

Assemble them and see what is inside!

APER
ARIA
ARSE
ASPS
DRAW
EELS
GALL
HOER
LARD
LIAR
POOR
REPO
RHEA
SERE
SLOE
WORD
_________________
The Man The Myth The Legend
MNOWAX

[Zag]

I got this one. It's really quite good!

[LordKinbote]

[Zag]

Well, you did cue us up to say that, now, didn't you? Anyway, if I got it, then it's probably too easy.

[LordKinbote]

[jbvntx]

I had written an opinion but it occurs to me I probably shouldn't comment too much on the puzzle itself while the judging is going on, as I'm one of the contestants. Maybe we should make that an "etiquette" rule?

Anyway, I liked it, and for my "good deed" I'll post the answer ...


They're just four word squares. The twist is then the diagonals give you four new words to make a final word square, whose diagonal is another word yet.

GALL
ARIA
LIAR
LARD

DRAW
REPO
APER
WORD

ASPS
SLOE
POOR
SERE

RHEA
HOER
EELS
ARSE

The diagonals give you the final four words...

GRAD
ROLE
ALOE
DEED

Whose diagonal is "Good" and last word is "Deed".

_________________
jbv

[LordKinbote]

Actually, I *wish* I had come up with your answer.

The fact that DEED is also in the word square is a coincidence. I intended on the answer to be just GOOD so that the solver would know when he was done. After I submitted the puzzle, I slapped myself, realizing that GOLD would be a better answer to what was "inside" the "puzzle box" and probably wouldn't have been a huge change (actually, that's not true...I learned through making this puzzle that word squares are way harder to construct than I gave them credit for, especially with an added constraint, and even the smallest change can require you to change everything.)

I think a perfect puzzle would have utilized both diagonals, but words that travel from the bottom left to top right have to be of the form ABBA, and such a puzzle would probably be impossible, or at least would be so fixed as to not have an interesting answer.

Thanks for the good review...I hope I'm my own toughest critic!

[groza528]

Elimination Challenge 1: What's on TV?
During this challenge players were asked to create a puzzle inspired by a favorite television program. The genre of the program was not important, but contestants were instructed to demonstrate through their puzzles why the program was worth watching.

When we awoke after the plane crash, we realized that we had landed on some sort of island in the middle of the ocean. With few supplies and little idea of where we were, six of us agreed to spread out and search what would become our home. We were told to head into the jungle as far as we could and report all that we could see from our vantage point. Little did we know of the mysteries – and the horrors – that would await us.

[LordKinbote]

Oh, phew, I was about to let you guys know you posted the wrong image, but it was fixed before I could finish the post. Very good.

So, yeah, if anyone started solving in the first 2 minutes or so, refresh to get the new image.

[groza528]

Yeah, sorry about the scare there Kinbote

[LordKinbote]

Do I have to start hinting?

Edit: Okay, small hint...the top grid is the one you should be focusing on at first.

[LordKinbote]

Another small hint: Figuring out the puzzle type is the biggest hurdle at the beginning. Realize one of the common names for the puzzle type is thematic to the show (as is its specific construction).

[ralphmerridew]

Part 1

Part 2

[mathgrant]

I got as far as ralphmerridew did, but didn't feel it was fair to post because I knew in advance that the puzzle was a Nurikabe. If I've been given hints that you guys haven't been given, then I need to simply let you guys work it out yourselves so the judges can properly assess the difficulty, right?

Based on a hint that Kinbote has e-mailed me, I now know the final answer, too. Not spoiling that yet, either.
_________________
My logic puzzle blog

[jbvntx]

I'd like to see the images getting posted. I've gone through the signup process, but can't see the glpic pictures until a site administrator acts on the request. anyone???
thanks.
_________________
jbv

[groza528]

You shouldn't need glpics access to see the images; I think ralphmerridew may have grabbed the wrong link when he posted.

[ralphmerridew]

Links fixed.

[jbvntx]

That worked. I can see them now. Could you fix the links in your posts in the thread for my puzzle submission also?
_________________
jbv

[LordKinbote]

Hints (ordered from gentle to bop on the head)!

Hint 1: The top grid is what you might consider an "island" puzzle.
Hint 2: The top grid is a Nurikabe, or "Islands in the Stream" puzzle
Hint 3: Six people...hey, didn't the word grid mention something about a number series?
Hint 4: The six "Lost" numbers can be found exactly once in the center of the grid...maybe they are the six people the flavortext was talking about.
Hint 5: Travel as far as you can, then see where you end up. There's something about these locations that can't be a coincidence.
Hint 6: They're all the beginning of a word in the other grid.

Full Solution
This is a Lost inspired puzzle, if the flavortext and the grid chock full of Lost-related words didn't clue you off.

The top grid is a type of puzzle called Nurikabe, which is also known as Islands in the Stream. Hopefully, the unique rules that determine where givens are in relation to one another, as well as the reference in the flavortext to being on "an island in the middle of the ocean" will get solvers started. The solution to the Nurikabe is linked below.

In the center of the Nurikabe are the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42, which are numbers that are referenced often throughout the series and hold quite a bit of significance in the show. To make the importance of these numbers clear, I made sure not to repeat them elsewhere in the grid. The flavortext mentions that six people were told to travel into the jungle, go as far as they could go, and then look at what they can see from their vantage point. To find the hidden message, you must:

1. Travel from the given numbers to the furthest point on the islands that they form. For example, the furthest point on the island with 23 is D2, and the furthest point on the 42 island is A17.

2. The cells that you end up in correspond to the cells in the other grid filled with Lost words. Each cell happens to be the start of one of those words...the rest are superfluous. If you read these words in the order 4,8,15,16,23,42, you get the message ISLAND SERIES WITH WINNER RICHARD HATCH. This clue tells you what the 6 people found: a SURVIVOR.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/LordKinbote/Round2PuzzleSolution.png

[MNOWAX]

Quickfire #2: Hang by a Thread

Quickfire for the next round is another classic from the last round

You must pick a Topic in the Grey Labyrinth to base a puzzle off of. VSP is banned from being picked, as are the GL's front page puzzles. Additionally, a topic can not be picked that has been made after the start of this quickfire.

You may not use visual aides for your puzzle. it must be in all text, and the words may not be used to create a visual puzzle.

You have one week to complete this puzzle

Oh and one last thing. If you win this challenge, you can not be eliminated in the next elimination challenge.



What are you...reading?

Currently, only classic books in the public domain. What? I'm cheap!
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“Coming up to the final scenes, I realized I had lost track of who was in love with who, and whether the love was real or due to enchantment. I guess I have the head of an ass.” (14-15)

“Hey, when you’re on a trip this long, you better get your PASSPORT OUT! Hahahaha, heh, umm…yeah, I’m sure there was a pun in there somewhere.” (18-19)



“Amazing tale. No wonder it’s one of the best-selling books of all time. And it’s merely the life story of a horse…an autobiography no less!” (1-2)



“If you ignore the double ax murder near the beginning, this one kinda drags. Yes, we get it, you feel very, very guilty. You’ll have lots of time to think about that in the gulag.” (2-3)



“No one told me when I picked this one up from the library that it wasn’t an autobiography. I expected to read about the Statue of Liberty disappearing, but I get some British kid’s sob story? Whatever.” (7-8)



“Oh my, British people do like their tales of woe. I joked to my wife that I should lock her in the attic so that I could date whoever I liked. She was not amused. Anyway, I hope my family is one day half as talented as this family of writers.” (6-7)



“For once, I think I actually prefer the musical to the book. Not even Susan Boyle can ruin it for me.” (9-10)



"Love, revenge, forgiveness, hope, duels, and poisonings, this novel has it all…but damn it, all I could think about while reading it was French toast sandwiches. Mmmm, French toast sandwiches." (6-7)



“Everyone laughed when EA said that they hoped people would pick up the book after playing their video game earlier this year, but sure enough, I’m holding a copy of the entire trilogy in my hand as we speak…in English, of course.” (10-11)



“There’s a good chance we’ll be going on a day trip to Tarrytown, NY next week, so it seemed like the perfect chance to finally give this one a go…it’s short enough for a car ride. We hope we can do a cemetery tour while we’re there!” (16-17)



“The ‘father of American literature’ tries his hand at historical English fiction? The two boys’ switcheroo makes for a good yarn, but I see an Americanism or two creep in every once in a while.” (7-8)



“Easily, I’d give this one an A. Just had to get that off my chest.” (8-9)



“Read this one late last night, which was a mistake. The Master of the Macabre does it again. I’m never getting the image of the milky white eye out of my head. Tha-thump! Tha-thump! Tha-thump!” (8-9)



“Sure, those sisters can write, but they do like their Byronic heroes, don’t they? I can still picture Catherine’s ghost asking to be let into the house. Creepy!" (9-10)
_________________
The Man The Myth The Legend
MNOWAX

[PuzzleScot]

I'm confused - what exactly is this 'Top Gl'er - xxxx' stuff in VSP?

Is anyone allowed to answer, or is this come kind of publicly viewable private contest? rsvp...

BTW, the 'PASSPORT OUT' one is clearly 'Around the world in 80 days', by 'Jules Verne'

[LordKinbote]

[MNOWAX]

_________________
The Man The Myth The Legend
MNOWAX

[Zag]

The first one sounds like Midsummer Night's Dream.

And the third one is Black Beauty.

[PuzzleScot]

Ah ok, so it's fair game?

Susan Boyle one -> "I dreamed a dream" from "les mis(erables)"

Tarrytown -> "Sleepy Hollow"

[ralphmerridew]

"Get that off my chest" == The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Milky-white eye == The Tell-tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe?
Catherine's Ghost == Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte / Ellis Bell.
Statue of Liberty == The Life and Adventures of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.
Wife in attic == Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte / Currer Bell.
switcheroo == The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.
ax murder == Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
EA == Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein.

Titles appear to be clued in alphabetical order.

[Oscar]

Not sure if there's any rule to order the letter pairs but I think we're looking for:
NONCOPYRIGHTABLE

Which would mean that one of Crime and Punishment or Lord of the Rings is wrong. (I'd vote for the latter but then I don't like Tolkien)

[PuzzleScot]

You mean 'UNCOPYRIGHTABLE' , since it is the longest word in the english language that does not reapeat a letter ?

[Oscar]

I mean uncopyrightable because of that and the fact that noncopyrightable would require 15 clues!

[LordKinbote]

UNCOPYRIGHTABLE is correct and Lord of the Rings was indeed wrong.

And there is a clue hidden somewhere to tell you how to do order. Since, as PuzzleScot pointed out, there are no repeat letters, there is no ambiguity in ordering.

[ChickenMarengo]

French Toast Sandwiches is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
EA trilogy is The Divine Comedy by Dante

[PuzzleScot]

minor corrections: Tarrytown = The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
and SuBo is Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

edit:

Strip the spaces from the titles, and using the given numbers with the text, we can locate the following letter pairs from each. join each to the next by the common letter to spell out the answer:

TheCountofMonteCristo [un] Dumas, Alexandre
ThePrinceandthePauper [nc] Twain, Mark
TheDivineComedy [Co] Alighieri, Dante
DavidCopperfield [op] Dickens, Charles
TheLegendofSleepyHollow [py] Irving, Washington
JaneEyre [yr] Bronte, Charlotte / Currer Bell.
CrimeandPunishment [ri] Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Aroundtheworldineightydays [ig] Verne, Jules
WutheringHeights [gH] Bronte, Emily / Ellis Bell.
AMidsummerNight'sDream. [ht] Shakespeare, William
TheTelltaleHeart [ta] Poe, Edgar Allan
lesmiserables [ab] Hugo, Victor
BlackBeauty. [Bl] Sewell, Anna
TheScarletLetter [le] Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Solved

[Oscar]

And just to knock the final nails firmly home:

the initial letters of the clues spell 'chain of letters'. Once you have all of them only one chain is possible, from the unique 'U' to 'E'

[LordKinbote]

Glad to see no clue was too vague. Thanks for solving!