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Your online guide to the zaniness of the 2002 Herald Hunt!
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When: 11/3/2002
Where: Downtown Miami
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After a successful relaunch of the Hunt in 2001, with about 12,000 people in attendance, the Herald moved the Hunt back to one of it\'s most used locations: Downtown Miami.
\nThe weather cooperated for this Hunt, with a beautiful almost cloudless sky and a nice breeze of the bay flowing through the park. This downtown hunt was different from previous Hunts in that it was solely focused inside of Bayfront Park (except the Final Puzzle), and the amount of time given to visit the puzzle sites was shorter (3 hours). However, this proved enough time due to the small size of the park. Tom Shroder made the comment that they tried to make the puzzle sites slightly easier for everyone to get the answers so that they had a better chance with the final clue, but the final puzzle was going to be slightly more challenging than usual. The final puzzle lived up to that observation, requiring two additional clues (as the previous two Hunts in 1998 and 2002 had required). Tom and Dave still were not able to stump everyone forever, though! |
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The Initial Puzzles
NOTE: The puzzle answers are hidden! In order to see them, you must highlight them with your mouse to reverse the text!
1. If it takes five South Florida elections officials to screw in a light bulb, how many South Florida elections officials does it take to screen in TWO light bulbs?
X - Six
Y - Eight
A - Screw IN? Oh. Sorry. We thought you said screwUP.
Answer: A
2. What is the quickest way to travel the length of Miami-Dade County during rush hour?
X - On I-95
Y - On the Palmetto Expressway
B - On foot
Answer: B
3. BRITNEY SPEARS can be rearranged to spell:
E - Presbyterians
X - A singing breast
Y - Oy! A baby spit!
Answer: E
4. Jennifer is using public transportation to get to the airport from South Beach on a Monday. If she left at 6:45 a.m. carrying two suitcases and a backpack, took a bus to Government Center, then Metrorail, then another bus, what's the soonest she could arrive at her destination?
X - 8:45
Y - p.m.
Z - Thursday
H - All of the above
Answer: H
5. Twelve named tropical storms are forecast for a given hurricane season. Historically, one of three named storms becomes a hurricane, and one of three hurricanes threatens South Florida. What would be a really cool name for a hurricane?
X - John
Y - Mary
I - The Exterminator
Answer: I
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Main Puzzles (i.e. the puzzle sites)
NOTE: Puzzle answers and their descriptions are hidden! In order to see them, you must highlight them with your mouse to reverse the text!
Puzzle: Fishing for Mermaids
Location: Tower of Light
Description:
Hunters encountered a PA system playing Under the Sea. From the balcony surrounding the tower, hunters could see Hunt staffers dressed as mermaids scurrying about 15 feet below, while other staffers handed them fishing lines. If they lowered a fishing line, the mermaids attached a piece of paper to the hook. The paper had what seemed to be randomly arranged letters in a rectangular grid.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 14
How to get the answer:
Under the Sea was the clue. If you looked under each ''C'' in the letter grid and noted the letter below it, you came up with: ''HOWMANYSTARFISH.'' On the tower hung a backdrop depicting sea life, including 14 starfish.
Puzzle: Connect the Dots
Location: The path that stretches through Bayfront Park from Flagler to the fountain
Description:
Round, raised platforms lined the path that stretched through Bayfront Park from Flagler to the fountain. A sign nearby read: ''Connect the dots.'' Standing on the platforms were 15 young actors dressed as notable figures.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 27
How to get the answer:
Many hunters figured out that each circular platform was a ''dot'' -- and connected the dots by drawing lines between characters who had a distinct connection. For example, Mickey Mantle could be connected to Roger Maris, his fellow Yankees slugger. If the dots were charted, then connected, they clearly spelled out ''XXVII,'' the Roman numerals for 27, which was the answer.
Puzzle: Flags
Location: The entrance to the Hotel InterContinental
Description:
Five flagpoles flew five flags. Each flag was a white field with capital letters: STAFF; LER; PLUS; RANT; ELLATE.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 78
How to get the answer:
Hunters had to realize the lettering on the flags on either side of the ''PLUS'' would form words if you added the same first syllable to each: flagSTAFF flagLER PLUS flagRANT flagELLATE. Astute hunters had noticed, in the Hunt section of the Herald, a vocabulary quiz that challenged readers to define a series of phrases. Among the correct word answers were Flagstaff (worth 4 points), Flagler (6 points), flagrant (3 points) and flagellate (2 points). If you replaced the score for the words in the flags you got 46 PLUS 32, or 78, the answer to this puzzle.
Puzzle: Juggling colors
Location: Bayfront Amphitheater
Description:
John Nations, a juggler, entertained the crowd beneath a banner that read: ''The hue marks the clue.'' The words were in black, except for ''hue,'' which was bright red.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 1014
How to get the answer:
The clue was three red items being juggled: A Roman-type column, a bust and a red letter ''A.'' Hunters had to run those words together: columnbustA, or Columbus Day, Oct. 14, or 1014, the answer to this clue.
Puzzle: Eye exam
Location: Just north of the flagpoles puzzle by the Claude Pepper statue
Description:
Near the bay, hunters discovered a large eye chart in front of a statue of the late Claude Pepper. Hunt staffers handed out cardboard glasses with red lenses. On the earpiece was printed: ``What's the bottom line?''
But the bottom line on the eye chart was unreadable, even with the glasses.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 4378
How to get the answer:
Astute hunters noticed a second Pepper statue pictured on the map of downtown in the Hunt section in Bayside. If hunters went to that spot and looked in the same direction the statue on the map was looking, they saw an ad for CP Optometrists. Looking at the ad through the red lenses, secret clues popped into view from the ad's borders: Expenses = 8,176; Revenue = 12,554; Net Profit = 4,378. The ''bottom line,'' or net profit, is the answer to this puzzle: 4,378.
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The Clues
No clues available for this year.
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The Final Puzzle
NOTE: The final puzzle description is hidden! In order to see them, you must highlight them with your mouse to reverse the text!
The Final Puzzle:
The initial announcement:
If letters were days of the week, these would be Wednesdays.
The extra clue:
There are seven stars in the park. What constellation do they form?
The extra extra clue:
The constellation is the big dipper.
Final puzzle photos and materials...
Solving the Hunt:
Each of the number answers above corresponded to a rambling verbal clue on a page of real and decoy clues in the Hunt section.
Taken together, the clues were meaningless -- until hunters got a sixth clue from the amphitheater stage at 3 p.m.: ''If letters were days of the week, these would be Wednesdays.'' Insanely smart hunters realized that was the key to the code. If they treated each letter in the five earlier clues as a blank in a calendar, and assigned each a day of the week, beginning with Sunday, the letters that fell on a ''Wednesday'' spelled the following message: ``Chart the stars in the park. When you see, go there. What's in a name that's shiny and new? Now find it again. Make the call.''
The ''stars in the park'' referred to seven characters from the ''connect the dots'' puzzle, who had quietly taken up positions around Bayfront Park. If their positions were charted, it became clear they corresponded to the ''Big Dipper'' constellation. Some hunters spotted a ''big dipper'' on their map: a large woman bather about to dip into the Bayfront fountain. They had to ''go there'' and notice the name of the fountain, the Mildred and Claude Pepper Fountain, in raised letters. Two of the letters, recently replaced, were shinier than the rest: an ''E'' and a ``P.''
A few hunters noticed an E and a P together on the Hunt map and hurried to the Navigation Center Book Store.
There, they saw in the window a listing of phony business names with phone numbers. One of the businesses was E&P Enterprises. To win the Hunt merely required calling the corresponding phone number.
Who won (Congratulations!):
Photos & related materials for the winners...
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Articles/Ads
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Photos, articles, stories and other multimedia related to the hunt...
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