MetaTerminal he/him Posted January 6, 2020 Posted January 6, 2020 (edited) Hi, everyone, I’m back! Part 1 - The Big News A lot of you have known for a while, but I will be putting together a team of Sharders to compete in the MIT Mystery Hunt this month. If you like puzzles, logic, math, or having fun solving things with other people, then we are accepting people at any skill level/age. If you’ve never solved a puzzle before, we’d be happy to have you. 17 people have signed up already and most of them will be around for the whole competition, so you’ll be in good company. The Mystery Hunt is a competition that takes place from the 17th to the 19th of January. Teams compete to solve puzzles of any kind (logic, typical formats like crosswords or dropquotes, or other formats like lists of clues, photographs, gifs, patterns, Bob Dylan lyrics formatted as scientific papers, license plate numbers, etc) across the two days. We’re not expecting to be competitive or win (any team under 20 people is considered ‘small’) but if you want to have a good time and this seems interesting then we’d be happy to take you onboard. It’s completely fine if you need to miss any of the individual days because you’re busy or because of religious observance. Just as long as you can make some of the event and want to be a part of it. For some idea of what these puzzles are like, I’ve run Sanderson-themed hunts in the past here, here and here, and talked about our past competitions in this thread. The MIT Hunt is the grand-daddy of puzzlehunts, though, so expect much more (and many more) ambitious puzzles. We’ll also have an on-site team in Boston (at MIT), so if you’re in the area you’re free to meet up! If you’re planning to do this it will be convenient for me to know early. Part 2 - Smaller (But More Relevant) News As practice for the Hunt, I have put together a Sanderson Puzzlehunt! Since this is intended as a practice run for the Hunt, you will complete it as one team using the Discord server we used for official competitions in the past. If you want to sign up this is a good way to see how the team operates and what kind of stuff happens in a (smaller) Hunt, or to see if this kind of thing interests you. Because we need to start and finish it fairly soon, signups are now open in this thread and we will start tomorrow (7th of January) at 6pm EST. I may push it back a little if things aren’t ready to go, but not by much. Signups will remain open after the round begins. The theme of the round will be revealed when the first wave of puzzles go live. You can sign up to either competition below. @Calderis @Jaywalk @Rushu42 @Sorana @xinoehp512 Edited January 7, 2020 by MetaTerminal 2
+Ed Venture Posted January 7, 2020 Posted January 7, 2020 *considers* I want to see if this is something that would be fun to try out. If no one minds, I’d like to join the Sanderson Puzzle Hunt with...a promise to attempt to be active. Sorry if I can’t do any better, but IRL has been really busy lately and I don’t want to miss out on this.
MetaTerminal he/him Posted January 7, 2020 Author Posted January 7, 2020 13 hours ago, Butt Ad Venture said: *considers* I want to see if this is something that would be fun to try out. If no one minds, I’d like to join the Sanderson Puzzle Hunt with...a promise to attempt to be active. Sorry if I can’t do any better, but IRL has been really busy lately and I don’t want to miss out on this. Great! I’ll PM you the Discord details. The puzzles will now go up one hour earlier, at 5pm EST. This is just due to a commitment on my end. 1
MetaTerminal he/him Posted January 7, 2020 Author Posted January 7, 2020 (edited) Detritus Round - Wave 1 Spoiler You arrive at a barren land, rocks jutting into the air. In the sky, fighters scream through the sky. "This is... unexpected," says the white-haired man. "I haven't been here before." This is the first wave of puzzles. More will be unlocked when they're ready to go. This round contains no spoilers for Starsight. (Since I haven't read it yet. If there are spoilers I would be very very surprised.) Signups are also still open, since there are a few people I haven't heard back from and due to short notice. (@Calderis @Jaywalk @Rushu42 @Sorana @xinoehp512 etc) Puzzles are in random order. Detritus Meta Spoiler There are actually two metas this round. The first, the Alta Meta, uses some but not all of the answers in the Detritus round. The second, the Igneous Meta, uses some but not all of the answers in the Detritus round. All answers are used by a meta. Igneous Meta Down here in Igneous, we prepare vats of algae to feed our population! We also refer to each vat preparation process using a keyword or phrase, with the various mechanisms of the process encoded into the word. Nutrition: various ingredients are considered 'nutritious' and 'non-nutritious' (including repeats). Temperature: based on the value on the board. Purity: compared to the baseline preparation process (and associated keyword). Recently, a number of new processes have been created in an effort to feed a growing population. However, this plan did not work, and we have no new algae vats to use our tried-and-true processes on to feed everybody. Thankfully, one of our scientists was able to work out a brand new process to feed the people and solve the hunger problem. They recently disappeared, taking much of their information with them. Can you work out what this new process was? View baseline, entered processes and proposed solution here. The second meta will be released at a later date. Puzzle 1: Pilot Test Spoiler View question sheet. View answer sheet. Puzzle 2: The Song of My People Spoiler How many real figures are you descended from, anyway? My father, he had many names, though here he was a cop; I saw him carry bridges for a murderer, then a fop. (10)*** My mother married him, of course, inseperable throughout; Worked tables once, and then she wrote (an offer came about). (2) Her father was (though here I shall pretend he was the mom) A lanky chap, long-limbed, bit bald, five feet, he saved a son. (5) The spouse was not a scout, but he could pass as one misspelled; A patient understanding man who great position held. (8) His spouse's father (here the wife), designer for some roads; Not roads, of course, an equivalent, but his intellect still shows. (5) He had a second older child - acting as a liege - Clairvoyant, somewhat, allied to a leader of a siege. (5) My father's side, one's 'mother' (storms, this story's all mixed up) An old pipe smoker wrote long tales of magic and good luck. (8) My father's younger brother by five, a founder of a site; Cube-named and married famously (the wedding was a fight). (5) (Wife on the left, last or single names except where noted.) ***Title used. Puzzle 3: A Very Long List of Instructions Spoiler Pilots have devised a fun game to play in the caverns when they're off-duty. Follow these instructions precisely to play the game! Gather: four spears and one garden tool (which can be used as a spear), 200 kilograms of solid gold, a slip of answer paper with ten empty spaces on it, a live rat, a live slug, a live bat, and a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae. Take them to a section of cavern shaped so that there are eight rooms, each room acting as the vertice on a cube, with the edges of rooms acting as connections between rooms. The slug, bat and rat should behave by the following principles. If they do not, get new ones. Human beings can stand in their place, but you may want to apologize to the person playing the rat first. Using objects that are not living is strictly prohibited. The Puzzle Police are watching, and they're very annoyed today. The Rat: Always moves to the highest-numbered adjacent room that is not occupied by you, until it reaches room 8; then it moves into the lowest-numbered adjacent room that is not occupied by you. When it reaches room 1, the rat starts moving to room 8 again. Some things are able to stick onto the rat. The rat thus carries these objects with it. The rat is nicknamed after a Discord mascot. That's not important to the puzzle, I just thought I would mention it. The Slug: The slug moves to the lowest number adjacent room that is not occupied by any creature. (If all adjacent rooms are occupied, it moves to the highest-number adjacent room.) When you're in the same room as the slug, you can move into the room diagonally opposite you (e.g. from 1 to 7). Because, I don't know, magic or something. Someone who has read Starsight can make something up. The rat and bat cannot use the slug. The slug can't use the slug either. That would be silly. The Bat: The bat moves in a cycle of rooms; 1, 2, 6, 7, 3, 4, 8, 7, 3, 4, 1, regardless of the movement of all other creatures. The bat, when it comes across an object lying in a room, will steal this object and carry it around until it reaches the lake (see below). The bat cannot steal from anything the rat has, and cannot take from the lake. General Rules: Every creature (except you) moves every turn except where stated otherwise. Creatures make a decision as to which room to move into on the next turn based on what rooms are occupied in this turn. Each instruction takes one turn, except where stated otherwise: if an instruction takes more than one turn the number of turns is listed at the end. Every creature behaves consistently when you encounter it each time, except where explicitly noted. And there's usually a reason for that anyway. The top level of rooms are numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 clockwise (1 is the northwest corner); the bottom level are numbered 5, 6, 7, and 8 clockwise, with 5 directly below 1. Send the slug into room 4, the bat into room 2, the rat into room 5, and the bird into... hey, where did the bird go? Ah, I'm sure it was only good for a quick cameo. Wander down into room 5, and throw two (real) spears into room 8. You should hear the wet thunk as one of the spears collides with the rat, sticking into it... (Told you you should apologize.) Move into room 6, pick the largest puddle (or make one, if the room is dry) and call it the lake. When the bat comes across the lake, it drops all objects it is carrying into it. Nothing can be retrieved from the lake. Not even if you can swim. Pretend there are piranhas or something. Throw a spear into the lake, and wait a turn. Then move up one room, and write the room the rat is in (as a letter) in the nth space, where n is the current position of the slug. (2) Now that you've arrived in room 7, wrestle the spear away from the bat. Write the position of the rat in the space enumerated by the number of spears (garden tools count as spears) you are carrying. Move west. Write a letter with the number-length of two (with the position of the rat as the ten and your position as the one) in the space enumerated by the number of spears in the lake. (It should be noted that if you're writing more than one letter in one space, you're doing it wrong. Each letter is written in a unique space.) Move north. Take out your garden tool... Hang on. Where'd it go? Blimey. Okay, pretend you have an imaginary rake until we work out what's happening. And an extra imaginary spear, to make up for the imaginary rake, until we work out what's happening there, too. Never say I'm not generous. Climb to the top floor, and clap. The clap echoes throughout the entire cavern, causing creatures in even rooms to not move between this turn and the next turn. Wait one turn. (2) Move to rooms 2, 3 and 7. The slug should move to... a room that isn't 6? How strange. I suppose we'll have to roll with it. (3) Move north. Pick up between one and three spears from the lake and write the number of the room the rat was in last turn (as a letter) in the space enumerated by the number of spears you are holding. Throw a spear up into room 2. Be careful not to let it fall back onto you, which is the leading cause of Instruction-related Fatalities. Wow, that last step is really something, isn't it? Now, stab the rat... Not again. You've lost all your spears. Okay, let's pretend you still have all the ones you had before step 13 (including the previously-imaginary ones). No extras this time. Imaginary spears and garden tools aren't cheap, you know. Now stab the rat with a pretend spear. Leave your imaginary garden tool by (but not in) the lake. Write the letter of the highest-numbered room the slug visited at the position of the number of spears that you are not holding (because of all the imaginary ones, let's just say it's 5 minus the number you are holding) plus one. Move south. Hey, the slug's here! The slug's here. Hmm. Let's just ignore that for now. Use the slug's magic to travel. (You note as you leave that the slug moves into 3, as you expect. Good.) (2) Go east. Time to spring a rat trap. Move to room 1, and raise your weapon above the rat... Hum. No weapons. Alright, rat, you win for now. Everybody who's enjoying this puzzle, clap your hands! The clap echoes through the caverns and causes a random creature to stop between this turn and the next. Wait. (2) Move to the bottom level, and remark that all creatures except for you are on the top level. Then move to room east, and write the letter i in the position of the current number of the room containing the creature who most recently used the slug. (2) Retrieve your imaginary garden tool from the lake. The real one, too, while you're at it. And there you have it! In 30 simple steps, you are able to play a game that captured the minds of many. You didn't need the gold, by the way, that was just me being clever. Hope you didn't buy any. Now that you've slain the rat, it's time to go looking for where all your spears went... Puzzle 4: Three Laws Spoiler This is part 1 of a two-part puzzle. I'm a trader by nature, but as you can see I'm only interested in the exceptionally rare. I have a listing of my wares, like all self-respecting public figures (you'll want the earliest version possible) but you'll have to know where to look! Trade 1 Request: Would you be interested in real estate? I have a resting place that is in prime position to take more property in coastal or flat areas! Response: Of course! I shall trade you for a nature-loving creature who can create 2 areas of land when he is active. Trade 2 Request: I have an important (though amoral) decree that can prioritize an ability through sorcery. Response: I'd quite like that! I'll give you the instant, blood-sucking equivalent. Trade 3 Request: I have more real estate. This has the ability to create 1 unit of unaligned magical power and find more abilities. Response: I'll trade you for a lush, elemental creature that can create minions on areas of real estate. Trade 4 Request: Even more! This one is similar to the first offer, except it's more... swampy. And stuff is sinking in it. Response: Alright. I'll trade you an equivalent bit of land that is more mountainous and moldering. Trade 5 Request: And here, some moral sorcery: the ability to destroy large swathes of land. Response: I'll give you an enchantment of the same alignment. This can remove creatures from a battlefield temporarily. Trade 6 Request: I have a bit of cunning sorcery: you can hurt every person against you in battle if they are not mounted on a horse. Response: Wonderful! I'll give you a set of past abilities from a block of the same name. Trade 7 Request: Even more real estate. This is a windy, keening place, and prime to take over some wooded and flat areas. Response: Fine, but this is the last real estate that I'll take. I'll give you some sorcery to use deceased creatures as if they were alive. 3 2 7 2 6 1 2 4 2 5 2 6 1 2 Part 2 My, you seem to be quite good at haggling, aren't you? Well, I have one final trade for you. I'm looking for a card. It was first released in a set that shall remain nameless, and rereleased in a recent anniversary celebration set without changes. And, of course, it's Sanderson-themed. I'd happily trade it for an 'old' red Jason Chan card due to their close similarity. What card am I looking for? Puzzle 5: Discussion Board Spoiler This is part 1 of a 4-part puzzle. It should be noted that one set of messages by one author are missing. I’ve decided to release it today regardless, and notify you when they are added, DDF pilots love to chat among themselves about all the places they’ve been on the discussion boards. View this puzzle on an external site. Puzzle 6: An Entirely Different Kind of Flying, Altogether Spoiler Recently, riding in spacecraft have proved ineffective in beating the Krell. The DDF have thus devised a new riding method that passes all their tests where their old pilots are failing! View this puzzle in a sheet. You may also submit new ‘callsigns’ to run the gauntlet of tests. Scheduled releases: 2 more puzzles tomorrow. Good luck! Edited January 10, 2020 by MetaTerminal 1
Jaywalk he/him Posted January 7, 2020 Posted January 7, 2020 Hey, @MetaTerminal! I really wish I could join the MIT comp, but I have a heavy load of schoolwork that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down in the near future. Sorry about that! 1
Rushu42 she/her Posted January 8, 2020 Posted January 8, 2020 I'm still on for the MIT hunt, but I can't do the SPH with you guys due to scheduling. I'll probably look at the puzzles at another time, though.
+Sorana she/her Posted January 8, 2020 Posted January 8, 2020 I'm sorry, I can't do this... I have to admit, that I feel stressed, even by the fact that I'm a day late here, and I know that I will miss most of the puzzle releases and I fear that I will too pressed by this. I will take a look at the puzzles on my own, though, they seem very, very interesting again.
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