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Your online guide to the zaniness of the 2019 Herald Hunt!
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When: 11/3/2019
Where: Bayfront Park, Downtown Miami
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| The 2019 Herald Hunt had a little bit of everything for everyone, easy puzzles, an easy endgame, sun and rain! And a rather quick endgame! |
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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. You see four millennials standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon, one of the most awe-inspiring natural vistas in the world. Their heads are bowed.
They are:
X. Taking a moment to thank the creator for the unfathomable beauty of the world.
Y. One of them has just dropped the keys to their Jacuzzi-equipped Airbnb over the 2,000-foot ledge.
Z. They are all checking to see how many "likes" they''ve gotten on their most recent Instagram post.
E. Either Y or Z, but definitely not X.
Answer: E
2. When a strain of mischievous, miniature alien beings began invading the rectums of humans, what did the head of the Centers for Disease Control say?
X. "This is a problem that can easily be rectumfied."
Y. "Don''t worry, it''s a strenuous climb for beings of such small stature and pretty soon they will be pooped out."
Z. "We have only arse elves to blame."
J. "Whoever wrote this Opening Question should be shot."
Answer: J
3. In this year''s Kentucky Derby, Maximum Security crossed the finish line first but was disqualified because he strayed from his racing lane and cut off two other horses. From this we can conclude:
Y. The sport of horse racing is, and has always been, a scrupulously honest endeavor that is the epitome of "fair and square."
Z. Maximum Security clearly had a few tee moony mint juleps.
P. NO OBSTRUCTION!
Answer: P
4. Experts estimate that there are 300,000 Burmese pythons in the Everglades, with an average length of 17 feet. If these pythons were placed end-to-end, which of the following statements would most likely be true?
Y. They would stretch from Miami to Tokyo.
Z. They would stretch from Miami to Mars.
Q. Whoever was placing them end-to-end would be dead.
Answer: Q
5. Statistically, the best time to find a legal on-street parking spot in Miami Beach is:
Y. 8 p.m. on a weekday
Z. 11 a.m. on a weekend
U. 1951
Answer: U
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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 Floating Billboard Puzzle
Location:
Description:
Hunters were sent to a location at the northern edge of the park along Biscayne Bay. A large sign warned Hunters to "Look Out!" Hunters who looked out at the bay noticed a floating billboard cruising back and forth.
The message on the billboard looked like this:
_ _ _
| \/ | |_| \/ |_|
¯
(See link to "Billboard Image" below to see this more clearly.)
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 3330
How to get the answer:
On the Hunt Map, near the location where the Hunters were sent to, artist Otis Sweat had drawn a cartoon submarine in the bay. The markings on the submarine looked like this:
_| /\ | | /\ |
(See link to "Extra image you needed (spoiler)" below to see this more clearly.)
Hunters had to figure out that the boat was on top of the water and the submarine would be below it. If they lined up the image of the sub markings with the barge markings this is the image that resulted:
_ _ _
| \/ | |_| \/ |_|
¯| /\ | | /\ |
¯
(See links to "Final Images 1 and 2 (spoilers)" below to see this more clearly.)
The image was a math formula: 5 X 47 X 9. The solution to this puzzle was 5x74x9 = 3,330.
CLUE 3330: Have you heard? The word is out.
Puzzle: The Rotary Puzzle
Location:
Description:
Inside a roped-off area in the park was an odd arrangement: ten black circles arranged in an circle, with a crescent shape at one end.
Volunteers handed out a flier that read:
JOIN THE
ROTARY CLUB
The Rotary Club
is a calling.
Heed the call
by solving this
simple problem
using contemporary
equipment:
3 + 53762 + 44
Walking around the area where Rotary Club members with various names on their shirts: Alex, Brad, Jordan, Pat, Dylan, among others. Brad was the only member standing still the entire time, specifically on one of the circles.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 2723
How to get the answer:
Hunters needed to figure out that the problem they were trying to solve wasn't a math sum: It was a phone number and that "contemporary equipment" referred to their mobile phones. The trick was to realize that, on a smartphone keypad, the "0" key is also the "+" key. By replacing each "+" with "0," Hunters got a 10-digit phone number: 305-376-2044. Calling that number reached a message: "The solution is standing in front of GHI."
Hunters next had to realize that the 10 black circles and the crescent shape represented the dial of an old-fashioned rotary phone. The letters GHI on a rotary phone are associated with the fourth finger hole. Standing next to that hole on the giant dial was a "Rotary Club" member whose nametag identified him as BRAD. If you translated BRAD to numbers using a rotary phone dial, you got 2723, the solution to this puzzle.
CLUE 2723: The pass is thrown.
Puzzle: Game Of Thrones Puzzle
Location:
Description:
On the main Hunt stage, a knight, a sailor, a train conductor and a pirate competed in musical chairs around three "thrones," aka toilets. As the music played, an emcee did a play-by-play, pronouncing the character names oddly: KUH-night, DOC-tour, Con-DUCKTOUR, and PI-rate. The winning contestant each time turned out to be the pirate.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 295
How to get the answer:
In the special Hunt section, we placed an obviously comical ad for Rental Kingdom, managed by an outfit called Iron Bank Lenders. The "Iron Bank" name alerted Hunters to the fact that the ad was connected to the Game of Thrones puzzle. There was also a suspicious typo in the headline: "Available toi let by the hour." The rental items were all absurd -- US Senators, toilet plungers, orange toupees, etc. each with an hourly rate next to them.
The last contestant was the pirate, or as the announcer said it, PIE-rate. One of the items in the ad was pizza (as in "Pizza Pie"), which rented for $2.95 an hour, making the solution to this puzzle its hourly rental rate: $2.95, or 295 on the Clue Pages.
CLUE 295: The first part is hrld.
Puzzle: Frisbee Game
Location:
Description:
In another Hunt area, volunteers handed out hundreds of Frisbees and encouraged a mass participation game of Frisbee toss.
Along with the Frisbees Hunters received a handout with a doggerel poem:
Ode to a
Game of Frisbee
To solve this thing, just have a catch
With folks you want to beat.
Team up with foes, and you will snatch
Sweet victory from defeat.
Not every "fris" is the same, you see
Though all share shape and fly like birds.
Studied close, from A to Z
Diff'rent discs have diff'rent words.
Don't be shy, no time to waste!
No hiding in some grotto,
The task at hand requires haste -
Let this be your motto:
'Show me yours, I'll show you mine!'
The words, in all, do number nine.
By the by, you'll need to see every one -
Even eight won't get it done.
Knit them up in sentence prose
And you'll nail this puzzle on the nose!
(Please return all Frisbees to Hunt staff
before you leave this site. We will redistribute them
as souvenirs from the stage at the end of the Hunt.)
If Hunters did as the poem suggested -- cooperated with their competitors to see and record the nine different words found printed on the Frisbees, they came away with this vocab list:
The
Frisbees
To
Imagine
Right
A
One
Of
Three
In practice at the Hunt, rather than play, most people put the nine different Frisbees on the ground and worked out the solution from there.
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 1000
How to get the answer:
The only possible grammatical sentence that makes sense of those words, as well as match a valid clue, is: "Imagine three Frisbees to the right of a one.", meaning treat the Frisbees as zeros (0s). So 1 followed by 000. The solution to this puzzle was 1000.
CLUE 1000: Find the man in the apparel we''ve described. Hand him a slip of paper with your name, cell number and pass-word.
Puzzle: Marching Band
Location:
Description:
In a large open area of the park, Hunters watched a marching band form into an X while playing the classic rock earworm, "Smoke on the Water."
Related puzzle photos and materials...
Puzzle Answer: 91
How to get the answer:
A fake ad for books in the Hunt Issue featured one book cover with an image of a plume of dark smoke rising above the water. That ad had a web address beneath it. If Hunters had tried to go to the website before the Hunt, it was just a website for the book. But after the Hunt started, the website was changed.
When Hunters called up that web page they saw a satellite image of the area of the park where the band had assembled. In the blank areas on either side of where the band had formed the X, there were numbers -- 7 to the left and 13 to the right. With the X formed by the band, it reads 7 X 13.
The solution to this puzzle was 91.
CLUE 91: Read it like (upside down ''this'')
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The Clues
8. When you're alone and life is making you lonely you can always go... DOWNtown.
12. First Letters Always.
13. Part 1 is every thing.
16. If "pi" is a ratio, what is "pie?"
19. .backwards it Read
25. Pour the mixture in a medium saucepan and stir until dawn.
27. Whatever color you think you see is wrong.
34. Find the personage we mentioned at the beginning and hand them that item marked with a cell number and the "key" word.
37. Andy has never won one of these.
39. CHAPTER ONE: It was a typical day until the telepathic salamanders from Venus attacked.
52. The even tweets seem a little odd, no?
61. They're not exactly the same font.
63. The owl says "hoot." What does the ocelot say?
67. When you see the Walrus, place it in the left pocket.
70. The Dave Clark number plus the number of Tops.
72. Double the pleasure, double the fun. Divide the effort by 2.
76. What happens if the Electoral College drops out?
79. To be an internet influencer you don't even have to be fluent.
85. It's your ami, not my ami.
91. Read it like
(word 'this' but upside-down)
99. I'm taking a hard pass on "that."
104. It's on the menu. The least expensive item, times four.
112. If we were going to make a fart joke, we would have done it by now.
126. My favorite part is right down the middle.
137. ALL CAPS ALL THE TiME.
182. It's a dog eight dog whirled.
211. You will know the pass when you say IT.
213. Mum's the word.
244. Look for the cat in the cat suit and give her the recommended cat food.
295. The first part is hrld.
343. Be alert Nowhere is now here.
359. Planet X is self X planetary.
410. Something is odd in the syntax. You can't see it, but you can C it.
476. The first part is "with you."
495. We all want to know the word, and the word is "love."
509. Give me an F! Give me a U! Stop right there.
689. Drum a dairy? One hump or two?
715. Moose and Squirrel had this enemy in common, but that wasn't bad enough.
788. Warren plus Biden minus Sanders divided by Buttigieg.
795. The secret word is secret. That's why we can't tell you it.
811. Plato is spinning in his grave.
850. First part your hair.
895. There was a man who needed to see another man about a horse. He found his way by the light of two candles, which was interesting because it was the middle of the day. Just remember, neigh does not bring hay.
987. Don't bee like that.
999. Becoming a writer is an excellent way to express yourself and make a million dollars. Hahahahahahahahaha.
1000. Find the man in the apparel we've described. Hand him a slip of paper with your name, cell number and pass-word.
1117. Double secret probation is only half as bad.
1195. I wonder when Alice will land, and where.
1222. Have a cup of tea, take a nice hot bath, read a good book, take my advice and call me when you get how all this becomes a number.
1290. What if the world forgot the Beatles ever existed and only you remembered?
1395. My girlfriend spent three hours trying to answer the Opening Questions. I kept telling her they were just a joke and that they'd tell us where all the puzzles were anyway, but she was like, "No! It's a test of our intelligence." And I was like, "Babe, you've already lost."
2539. It's a date!
2723. The pass is thrown.
3112. The pope is his driver!
3176. Slip out the back Jack, make a new plan Stan.
3330. Have you heard? The word is out.
5918. Words to live by: Whatever Dave does, do the opposite.
8001. You might notice an urgent need to move your vowels.
8167. The first part: Hnt.
8313. My word is "law."
8888. It's nowhere near the pastrami on rye. It's just above the sub. You might want to go back and look again.
10007. When you hear the tone, make the moan.
39526. Take the end of the beginning and place it before the beginning of the middle. Turn around.
567326. The preacher man peaches. The baker man brakes. The sailor man sales. What does the police man do?
727537. This number is absurdly high.
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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 3 p.m. Tom read out the Final Clue, which was this:
"If you solved all five puzzles, you have what you need to solve the Hunt, except for the holiest number."
Final puzzle photos and materials...
Solving the Hunt:
Hunters who solved all five of the above puzzles came away with five numbers which they matched with five clues on the Clue Pages. The five real clues were:
91. Read it like (''this'' upside down)
295. The first part is hrld.
1000. Find the man in the apparel we’ve described. Hand him a slip of paper with your name, cell number and pass-word.
2723. The pass is thrown.
3330. The word is out.
Now they needed the holiest number. Except Tom wasn’t talking about the "holiest" number. What he really meant was the HOLE-iest number.
That referred to clue number 8888, which had two holes in each 8, for a total of eight holes, more than any other number on the list. Clue Number 8888 read:
"It’s nowhere near the pastrami on rye. It’s just above the sub. You might want to go back and look again."
Hunters needed to remember that they had solved the floating barge puzzle by imagining it "right above the sub." Now they were telling everyone to go back to the bay shore and take another look at the barge. The sign on the barge had changed. Now it looked like a digital watch version of the number 48.
The first clue (Clue 91) instructs them to read it upside down. That would make it 8h a set of coordinates on the Hunt map.
Hunters then had to go to "8h" on the map, leading them to a spot bordering Biscayne Boulevard. There Hunt Volunteers handed out a flier:
"The
second
part is:
us/endit"
Here Hunters had to use clue 295: "The first part: hrld." Combining this with "us/endit" gave them a web address that brought them to a photo of the Biscayne Boulevard skyline they could see from where they were.
They had to notice that the logo of the YVE hotel at the top of the building had been altered. The letters YVE had been erased, and the letters NAV had been added to the left of that space while the letters ST had been added to the right. Combining the real to the fake in the logo, they got NAVYVEST.
On the Hunt map there was a man in a navy vest at B17 in the Hunt Map.
When the super-smart Hunters raced there, they could make use of the last three clues:
Number 2723, "The pass is thrown" and
Number 3330, "The WORD is out," gave the password: thrown out.
When they did as Clue 1000 directed -- Find the man in the apparel we’ve described. Hand him a slip of paper with your name, cell and pass-word – they solved the Herald Hunt.
Who won (Congratulations!):
1st Place Team: 35 YEARS OF TRYING
2nd Place Team: It''s Pronounced "NGUYEN"
3rd Place Team: The Held Family
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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