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Your online guide to the zaniness of the 2011 Herald Hunt!
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When: 11/13/2011
Where: The New Marlins Stadium
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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. Who was President of the United States the last time the Dolphins won the Super Bowl?
E. Abraham Lincoln
F. Don Shula
O. Richard Nixon
X. The United States had not yet been founded.
Answer: O
2. Which of the following is the easiest way to get a parking spot in Miami Beach?
L. Travel backward in time to 1938.
L. Travel to an alternate univese where there is parking in Miami Beach.
L. Purchase a car that is already parked in Miami Beach.
[These are ALL the right answer.]
Answer: L
3. Which of the following exotic life forms have invaded South Florida?
A. Gigantic snails from Africa.
C. Gigantic snakes from the Amazon.
L. Gigantic lizards from Africa.
N. Gigantic passengers from cruise ships.
Q. All of those exotic life forms have invaded South Florida.
Answer: Q
4. The New York Yankees have a total team payroll of over $200 million. This is nearly $100 million more than the payrolls of the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals, and well over $100 million more than the payrolls of the Texas Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers. Yet all of those teams advanced farther in the playoffs than the Yankees, who were knocked out in the first round when Alex Rodriguez, who personally makes $32 million per year, struck out. We don't have a question here.
S. The answer to this one is S.
Answer: S
5. Complete this song lyric: "There she was just a walking down the street, singing..."
C. "Da do ron ron ron, da do ron ron."
S. "Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do."
T. "Doobie doobie do."
U. "I did it in my way."
Answer: S
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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: The Bra
Location: Map Coordinates 2 O
Description:
Hunters arrived on an access road between two parking garages to find an odd (to say the least) spectacle: A gigantic, 35-foot, 12-pound brassiere strung between two lifts. Each lift had a colored banner - orange on the left, and blue on the right.
Facts about Bra-zilla (NOTE: These are not part of the puzzle and are informational only. They are not needed for the solution.)
1) Size: 14’ tall x 35’ wide (size Q cup!)
2) Weight: 12 pounds
3) Fabric used: 31 yards
4) Thread used: 1800’
5) Pins inserted: 5,357 (my index finger now rivals that of ET)
6) Distance across cups: 9’
7) Depth of cups: 3’
9) Man hours required: 107
10) Patterns were made using deconstructed real bra, and enlarged to a scale of 1" equals 1’.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 1030
How to get the answer:
In isolation, the bra and colored banners meant nothing. Hunters had to connect that spectacle with three simple rectangles printed on a page of the Hunt section. The rectangle to the left had a green bar on the left side, a yellow bar to the right, and the letters LI in the middle. The rectangle to the right had a red bar on the left and a purple bar on the right and the letters RY in the middle. The middle rectangle had an orange bar on the left, a blue bar on the right, and a question mark in the middle. Hunters had to recognize that the orange and blue bars were what the orange and blue banners were referring to, and that the mystery of what goes between the orange and the blue was solved by the giant bra. Adding a BRA to the middle of LI and RY gave Hunters the word LIBRARY. Another page in the Hunt section appeared to be a collection of ads for bars offering live music. One of these bars was called The Library, which says "Show starts at 10:30."
The solution is 1030.
Puzzle: Rebus
Location: Map Coordinates 10 L
Description:
On one level of one of the new Marlins parking garages, Hunt volunteers shuffled around with two sets of large form board signs, presenting them to the Hunters standing on the ground below. One one level, there were four signs. These were the signs:
HINDU
OK!
(Image of Bee)
07
Every 20 seconds or so they shuffled into a new alignment, and held that alignment for 20 seconds. Hunters saw combinations including:
HINDU OK! (Image of Bee) 07
07 (Image of Bee) OK! HINDU
OK! (Image of Bee) HINDU 07, and so on.
Sometimes the 07 was flipped upside down, too.
LO OK! (Image of Bee) HINDU
The other set of three signs was on the parking garage level below the rebus, and it was another rebus: A submarine. A train track. A tree.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 96
How to get the answer:
Smart Hunters realized that, at times, the top rebus translated to "Look behind you.". When that happened, if Hunters turned to look directly behind them, the number 99 flashed for a second from a balcony on the new Marlins Stadium. 99, however, was not listed as a possible solution on the clue page.
Which meant Hunters had to decode the set of three signs on the parking garage level below the rebus... which was another rebus: A submarine. A train track. A tree.
Sub Track Tree - or in Hunt logic, subtract 3. The answer was 99 minus three, or 96.
Puzzle: The Poem
Location: Map Coordinates 5 Q
Description:
Before the Hunt began, Hunters were urged to collect four special Hunt baseball cards titled "Hunt Lineup Cards." The cards were of no use until Hunters arrived at a site where an actor was reciting the classic baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" By Ernest Lawrence Thayer:
The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that -
We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat;
For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.
Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt.
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped -
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said.
From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted some one on the stand;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said "Strike two!"
"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.
The sneer has fled from Casey's lip, the teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 24736
How to get the answer:
Alert Hunters soon realized that the four players on the baseball cards - Cooney, Barrows, Flynn and Blake - were all mentioned in the poem as batters preceding Casey in the line-up. If Hunters merely looked at the four jersey numbers for those players, no possible solution was formed.
What Hunters needed to do was line up the cards in a row (like the cards said, this was the Hunt "Lineup") in the order the names appeared in the poem. Once the cards lined up, the letters T, W and O appeared out of the backgrounds.
The "TWO" preceding the lined up jersey numbers was the solution to this puzzle: 24736.
Puzzle: The Sing-along
Location: Map Coordinates 7 S
Description:
A performer led Hunters in a sing-along of Take Me Out to the Ballgame as Hunt volunteers passed out sheet music before each performance. Despite some accidental variations during the Hunt, the performer was singing the same exact words from the sheet music. The name of the song’s composer, as presented on the sheet music at least, was another hint: Price S Wright.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 28
How to get the answer:
The music looked authentic, but in fact the notation had been altered so that one of the lines was preceded by the # sign, which signifies a sharp in music, but also means "number." The lyrics in that line of notation were: "Just buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack." After the # sign, that line was divided into seven measures. Each measure contained a certain number of notes: five in the first space; two in the second; three in the third; seven in the fourth; five in the fifth; one in the sixth; and seven in the seventh.
Hunters had to realize that the number of notes in each measure represented a digit in a phone number (the # sign was a clue). If they called that number in the 305 area code, 523-7517, they got a recorded message listing items on a snack menu, along with their prices. The peanuts were listed as $16 and the Cracker Jack was listed as $12. Since the lyrics say: "Just buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack," the solution was to add the price of the peanuts and the price of Cracker Jack.
The solution was 28.
Puzzle: The Video
Location: Map Coordinates 9 S
Description:
A Hunt emcee appeared on a huge video screen on the northeast side of the stadium. He was broadcasting live from an undisclosed location. Infuriatingly, he kept telling Hunters that to get the solution all they had to do was come see him, but he never said WHERE he was. As he talked about how much sports meant to him, he repeated a key passage: "I love baseball, but what really hits the spot is tennis. Tennis is definitely where I’m at!" The emcee also talked about how coordinated you had to be, and how tennis was a sport that could be "reduced to numbers."
These were hints that Hunters needed to realize that tennis was the key to his location.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 39
How to get the answer:
In order to find his location, you reduced tennis to a number, making it into a map coordinate: 10-S.
If Hunters went to the spot marked by 10-S on the Hunt Map, they found themselves in a room with the emcee still broadcasting, and this sign on the wall: "UBTRACTED FROM 49."
The solution is 10 -S ubtracted from 49 - or 39.
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The Clues
24736. The debut of The X Factor was either a big hit, or a massive flop, depending on where you live. On the East Coast, the show was virtually ignored, earning only a 1 share, while the West Coast numbers were a superlative 7 share.
1030. Here’s the combination to the Hunt safe (begin by turning to the right): 30, 8, 16.
96. Baby Huey ate all the cookies in the cookie jar, and every single piece of chocolate. By the time he got to the cupcakes, he was already feeling sick, so he only ate five. There were nine remaining.
39. The students in the anatomy class were asked to estimate the weight, in grams, of various human organs. Adrian had forgotten to study the metric system, so he had to make wild guesses. His answers were: Brain, 981; Heart, 822; Appendix, 124.
28. Follow I-95 North for 17 miles, then take the exit at Hollywood Blvd. and go east until you reach the intersection of Bowman Blvd., then go north 1 mile.
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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:
At 3pm, Hunters were instructed to consider the clues they had collected in order, starting with the highest clue number and working their way down to the lowest clue number. Then they were given the final clue: a southpaw baseball pitcher came out and froze in mid-pitch. Hunters were told in the Hunt instructions that this would somehow be the key to decoding the five clues.
Final puzzle photos and materials...
Solving the Hunt:
Those correct clues were:
28 - Follow I-95 North for 17 miles, then take the exit at Hollywood Blvd. and go east until you reach the intersection of Bowman Blvd., then go north 1 mile.
39 - The students in the anatomy class were asked to estimate the weight, in grams, of various human organs. Adrian had forgotten to study the metric system, so he had to make wild guesses. His answers were: Brain, 981; Heart, 822; Appendix, 124.
96 - Baby Huey ate all the cookies in the cookie jar, and every single piece of chocolate. By the time he got to the cupcakes, he was already feeling sick, so he only ate five. There were nine remaining.
1030 - Here’s the combination to the Hunt safe (begin by turning to the right): 30, 8, 16.
24736 - The debut of The X Factor was either a big hit, or a massive flop, depending on where you live. On the East Coast, the show was virtually ignored, earning only a 1 share, while the West Coast numbers were a superlative 7 share.
The key was to recognize that the baseball player who appeared on stage at 3 p.m. was throwing with his left hand, a lefty. With this in mind, the smartest Hunters looked again at the five clues: each one contained an item associated with the idea of "left."
In Clue 24736: The West Coast, often called, the "Left Coast," is also always to the left side of US maps. The number for this was 7.
In Clue 1030: When turning a combination, you start right as indicated, then go back left, then right again. The "left" number is 8.
In Clue 96: The only possible left in this clue is referenced by the word "remaining" which, in this context, is a synonym for the word "left." There are nine cupcakes remaining.
In Clue 39: The heart is famously oriented on the left side of the chest, while the appendix is in the lower right abdomen and the brain is in the center. The significant number here is the weight of the "left" organ, 822.
In Clue 28: If you go north, then turn east, then north again, the only LEFT turn is the second turn, the one from east to north. The number associated with that left turn is 1 mile.
Together, that gave the Hunters who were still in the hunt seven digits:
7898221
This was a 305 phone number.
Hunters who called the number got a robotic-sounding recording that appeared to say: "Look before you to find the clues." This was meaningless, unless it was imaginatively spelled and punctuated, in which case it became: "Look B-4, U2. Find the clues."
At coordinates B-4 on the map was the image of a cow. At U-2 on the map, there was the image of a boy. Together that was cow-boy. There also happened to be a cowboy on the map. Hunters who went to that location were given a handout that said:
"Text the word that brought you here to" - and here followed a seemingly meaningless figure consisting of connected line segments with a directional arrow at one end.
The segmented line was actually a phone number, in coded form. To crack the code Hunters needed to imagine the line segments placed over the keypad of a touch phone, so that each segment began in one square of the phone pad and ended in another. In the end, they had a seven digit 305-area-code phone number.
The Hunt team that was first to text "cowboy" to that number won the 2011 Herald Hunt.
Who won (Congratulations!):
First Place:
Jeffrey & Cheryl Kobal and Adam Horowitz
Second Place:
Third Place:
Maria Kneipple, Sandra Calzadilla, Tiffany Flores
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...
CLICK HERE TO BROWSE PHOTOS FOR 2011!
- Photo - Dave and Tom coordinate before the Hunt begins
- Photo - One of the many Hunt teams, already displaying the Hunt mindset
- Photo - Suzy Cruz (center) with other Hunt volunteers
- Photo - The new Marlins Stadium
- Photo - Another view of the new Marlins Stadium
- Photo - The new Miami Marlins logo as Hunters drove in and parked
- Photo - The Hunt crowd before the Hunt begins
- Photo - Food Truck Frenzy!
- Photo - The view of the opening clue crowd from the Rebus puzzle volunteers
- Photo - Dave gives the opening clue of the Hunt
- Photo - The massive crowd ready to get solve the Hunt
- Photo - The bra in all it's huge glory!
- Photo - Part of the Bra puzzle in the Hunt section
- Photo - Part of the Bra puzzle in the Hunt section
- Photo - The mixed up Rebus puzzle
- Photo - A Hunter stares up at the Rebus puzzle
- Photo - Another variation on the Rebus puzzle
- Photo - If you looked where you were supposed to…you saw this.
- Photo - The Rebus volunteers!
- Photo - The crowd outside the Poem puzzle
- Photo - The Poet - Looking at the crowd from outside the stadium
- Photo - The reader of the Poem
- Photo - The reader of the Poem
- Photo - Hunt volunteers for the handouts needed for the Poet puzzle
- Photo - The Poet - Barrows card
- Photo - The Poet - Flynn card
- Photo - The Poet - Cooney card
- Photo - The Poet - Blake card
- Photo - The Poet - The cards in the proper order
- Photo - Sing-along handout - the Sheet Music
- Photo - Andrew Borts, endurance singer
- Photo - Another view of the Sing-along puzzle
- Photo - A view of the Sing-along puzzle from the parking garage
- Photo - An incorrect solution to Sing-along is posted on the Hunt Stage
- Photo - The Video puzzle (panorama)
- Photo - The Video puzzle as seen from the 5th floor of the parking garage
- Photo - A Hunter looks down at the Video puzzle from the parking garage
- Photo - If you found the Video puzzle emcee, you saw this.
- Photo - Andy and Dave meet up during the Hunt
- Photo - Judi Smith and Suzy Cruz on the Hunt stage
- Photo - Hunters go over their solutions while eating and waiting for the final clue
- Photo - Dave prepares to announce the 3pm clue
- Photo - Tom backs up Dave during the 3pm clue
- Photo - The final clue
- Photo - The crowd around the Hunt stage during the final puzzle
- Photo - Tom and Dave and the Hunt crowd during the final Clue
- Photo - End game handout - If you were in the right spot
- Photo - Dave explains the Hunt to the crowd
- Photo - The first place team
- Photo - The second place team
- Photo - The First Place Team comes to the stage
- Photo - Second Place Team comes to the stage
- Photo - Third Place Team comes to the stage
- Photo - Dave and Suzy
- Photo - Tom, Dave and Andy at the 2011 Post Hunt
- Photo - Elaine, Ysabel, Andy, Dave, Silvia and Tom decompress after the Hunt
- Photo - The 2011 Herald Hunt Map
- Photo - Third Place Team at the Poem Puzzle (Left to Right): Maria Kneipple, Sandra Calzadilla, Tiffany Flores
- Photo - The 2011 Herald Hunt Section Cover Page
- Photo - The Kohler Porta Potty Experience at the 2011 Herald Hunt
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - Opening Clue
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - Before Poem Puzzle
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - Poem Puzzle
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - Sing-along Puzzle
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - Video Puzzle
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - The Final (3pm) Clue
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - 3:50pm Hint for Poem and Sing-along Puzzles
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - Dave's 4pm Announcement
- URL - The 2011 Herald Hunt - Crowd from Hunt Stage
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