Piercing the Veil

Comment #1
L.
Server

Added to L.’s queue

Comment #2
A.
Author

The puzzle presents as a bingo card with 24 clues of various sorts (video, audio, physical, cryptic...). (The center square is naturally just labeled BINGO.)

I haven’t quite figured out extraction yet, but I’m sure I can come up with something cool.

Comment #3
L.
Editor

Seems cool, although I’d have to know how the extraction works to really comment. Have you had any ideas? Maybe they play some kind of Bingo game?

Comment #4
A.
Author

I spent some time yesterday thinking about it. Ideally I’d like there to be some inter-square constraint, so that some clues can be somewhat underspecified, and only resolve fully when they understand what’s going on with the grid. Will ponder.

Comment #5
T.
Server

Added to T.’s queue

Comment #6
A.
Author

Okay, I think I have something. I borrowed an answer to construct a prototype. I was able to work in that inter-square constraint rather naturally, but I won’t say more in case one of you wants to try it. Sadly there’s no “bingo number” connection whatsoever, nor is there any relevance to rows, columns, or diagonals. So the title and presentation are just flavor, but c’est la vie.

Comment #7
A.
Server

A new draft has been uploaded.

Comment #9
L.
Editor

Sure, I’ll give it a whirl.

Comment #10
L.
Editor

I’m having fun so far! I think I have the easy identifications (the movie IDs in columns 2 and 4; the Trek characters via TinEye; and the top left image is obviously trivial if you’ve ever looked at a map of the Caribbean). The classical music is Holst, right? And the audio clip in column 4 is obvious. (Just one, monsieur!) Starting on the cryptic clues now.

Comment #11
L.
Editor

I think I have all three cryptic clues, but I’m not so happy with them.

First row: Are you sure of the dictionary definition?
Bottom row, first column: Surface reading of “headless mouth” is a little contradictory, don’t you think? Maybe you can clue replacing that letter in one step, rather than chopping off one letter and then gluing on a new one. It took me a while to realize you were using the word straight-up for its letters; I thought it was a clue for MAW or something.
Bottom row, middle column: I think the fact that “melancholy” is the dictionary half is too obvious.

Comment #12
A.
Author

Uh, replace “white” with “red” in that first one. Look, I don’t actually drink wine... Re. the third one, I take your point. (Wikipedia even redirects the answer to “melancholia”.)

If we like this puzzle I can ask Y. to review all three. As you might remember from another puzzle, I’m a total newb at this.

I’ll email you descriptions of the contents of the three packages.

Comment #13
T.
Editor

I don’t have time to solve it now; could you upload a solution?

Comment #14
T.
Editor

You could clue the top left corner using the actor.

Comment #15
A.
Server

A new solution has been uploaded.

Comment #16
A.
Author

Yeah, but I already have two identify-this-head clues (aforementioned Star Trek characters). Plus, how would you make clear we mean the first name only?

Comment #17
L.
Editor

Figured out the image right under BINGO: you photoshopped out the sound effect. I knew that big white spot was suspect... And after becoming very intimate with a piece of string, I’ve worked out the video in the first column.

Comment #18
A.
Author

> I knew that big white spot was suspect...

Guess it can no longer be accused of inhibiting puzzle progress. ;-)

Comment #19
L.
Editor

Slightly stuck on the cryptarithm. I have (supporting work omitted!):

S is 3 or 4
W is 5 or 6
P is 2
Fuddle is exponentiation
Spazz is addition or subtraction
And I need to extract P Fuddle (W Spazz S).
But now what?

Comment #20
A.
Author

From W Vroo (X Snee S) = X, you can conclude that W and S share a prime factor, and because (S Glikk W) Flunn P is positive, at least one of S and W is odd. Also note that from the last line you know your final answer is at most two hexadecimal digits.

Comment #21
L.
Editor

Oh, duh.

Comment #22
L.
Editor

Worked on this during a free period, and I’ve got most of them now. I had to consult the chemistry teacher, but I did finally work out the square to the left of the C&H panel. Still missing:

Top row, center: Google Image Search identified these as icons from World of Warcraft, but I don’t know anything about that.
Just below that: The audio is easy (visions of a beagle with a guitar...), but the video is really hard to locate.
Just left of BINGO: Google Image Search identified these as being Magic cards, but I don’t know anything about that.
Bottom right corner: Straight Googling identified this as being Pokemon flavored, but I don’t... yeah.

Going to try to extract with what I have.

Comment #23
A.
Author

I am an incurable nerd, apparently. :-) (Although I don’t know anything about Pokemon either; I had to do all the research for that from scratch.) And good luck with extraction; it’s the step I’m most concerned about.

Comment #24
L.
Editor

I got it. (Since it’s a Watson answer, I obviously knew it already, and in any case that extraction is pretty unambiguous once you see it.) I don’t know if I would have gotten it without your comment #6; knowing that I was looking for some pattern among the squares, but not in rows or columns, really cut down on the noise. Although I guess there is something that all the words have in common that helps, and it’s pretty clear that their meanings aren’t relevant, given how diverse they are. I like it!

Comment #25
A.
Author

Awesome, thanks! I’m going to grab the answer for real. Let’s edit any clues you guys don’t like and get it into fact checking.

Sorry for the spoilage about the extraction.

Comment #26
A.
Server

Assigned answer

Comment #27
T.
Editor

Question about “Package A”: won’t that get expensive? And is that even a word?

Also, can we find a less obvious (and maybe less gruesome) clip for the movie in row 5? That’s the scene that everyone knows about.

Comment #28
A.
Author

Re. Package A: I have some keyboards that fell off a truck. (Literally; my friend has a student job in the Harvard receiving department, and occasionally takes home damaged goods.) And it’s an adjective... sort of...

Re. movie scene: ya, you betcha. How about a nice clip of Frances?

Also, I asked Y. to look at the cryptic clues, and he dramatically improved all three. I particularly love “rose petal?” as a dictionary definition, and he was able to do exactly as L. suggested with the letter swap. He overhauled that awkward “infrared Arizona” construction. And yes, we got rid of “melancholy”.

Comment #29
A.
Server

A new draft has been uploaded.

Comment #30
T.
Editor

How do we know that the three objects in row 3 column 1 clue the singular, not the plural? Also, at this resolution I can’t really tell what kind of book the middle one is.

Comment #31
A.
Author

Good point. I’ll put “or” between them and fix the middle one. Is the one on the right clear?

Comment #32
A.
Server

A new draft has been uploaded.

Comment #33
A.
Author

Switched the middle one to guy-with-sphere.

Comment #34
T.
Editor

Definitely; those blue helmets are iconic.

While we’re looking at this square, if you want to increase your physical object count, you could clue the left one with a piece of gum. But I guess you don’t want to mix media like that.

Comment #35
A.
Author

Yeah, plus the King was always my favorite character in The Little Mermaid. Gotta have the shoutout. (Kidding.)

Any other concerns before we push it to fact checking? L.?

Comment #36
T.
Editor

What’s the word from the rebus mean, anyway? (I kind of wish it were more than just one plus and one minus, but I guess the puzzle is complicated enough overall.)

Comment #37
L.
Editor

A kind of trombone.

Comment #38
A.
Author

It’s a kind of trombone.

Comment #39
O.
Puzzle Manager

I think it’s some sort of brass instrument.

(Just popping in to check on how this one is coming... looks good, guys!)

Comment #40
T.
Editor

Do you people have nothing better to do than hit reload on your puzzle pages all day?

Anyway, this looks good to me.

Comment #41
L.
Editor

About your “edible object”: are people going to get hung up on the exact flavor they get?

About the fabric sample: how are they supposed to tell which name to use? There might be multiple kinds of stretchy fabric, and one way or another there are several brand names for this one.

Comment #42
A.
Author

I can give multiple flavors; given that they need to get a single word out of everything else it should be pretty clear that they just want the overall brand name. Plus this way they have more to share, and I can branch out from the boring old strawberry and chocolate to things like the ever-popular Men’s. (Yup, it comes in “Men’s” flavor.)

On the other item, do you think it’s enough to write “US brand name” on it? That simultaneously suggests that it’s a brand-name fabric and tells them which one.

Comment #43
L.
Editor

Per Wikipedia, “North American” would be more precise. But yeah, that ought to work.

I think this is ready for fact checking.

Comment #44
A.
Server

A new solution has been uploaded.

Comment #45
A.
Server

Puzzle status changed from Development to Fact Check.

Comment #46
A.
Author

Updated solution to reflect new plan for physical objects, put in a request for fact checking.

Comment #47
S.
Fact Checker

Getting started on the fact check... the extraction looks like it could be tricky, but it looks fun.

How are you supposed to tell what group that is just by knowing it has mass 29 (rounded, I guess)?

Comment #48
L.
Editor

That’s where I got stuck. But actually it’s not as easy as you might think to add up to 29. Plus, if you analyze reaction (2), you see that it has to be an alkyl group, or else Chewbacca and Artoo would have had different NMR spectra.

Comment #49
S.
Fact Checker

I can take L.’s word on the NMR spectrum, right?

I think there’s a problem with your Poke-clue: you can’t find the last digit of the Pokedex number, and I think the part you can find could be any multiple of 7.

Are the packages labeled A, B, and C for any reason?

Comment #50
A.
Author

Crap. I changed some of the flavor at the last minute and I think I lost a paragraph. You are supposed to know that it’s Normal type and appears in that MH2K puzzle. Is it at least clear that it’s National Pokedex?

The packages just needed arbitrary labels; I put them in order from top to bottom as a nothing-up-our-sleeve order, since they’re all in different rows.

Comment #51
A.
Server

A new draft has been uploaded.

Comment #52
S.
Fact Checker

Yes, and the new paragraph fixes the problem.

Last question... the clip in row 3, is that actually from the movie?

Comment #53
L.
Editor

Based on the music playing I think it’s actually from the trailer.

Comment #54
A.
Author

Uh, yeah. I didn’t really want to buy some random movie just to get a clip for this puzzle. Especially because I’m allergic to Brad Pitt. It’s clear anyway, right?

Comment #55
L.
Editor

Sure. I got it just from “largest fleet”.

Comment #56
S.
Fact Checker

Okay. Fact check complete!

Comment #57
A.
Author

Awesome. Thanks, S.!

I’ve given M. the packages for testing.

Comment #58
A.
Server

Puzzle status changed from Pre-Test Fact Check to Testing.

Comment #59
G.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

tomorrow morning

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

30 minutes

Describe what you tried.

Chewing through clues; have about a third now. The letter square in the top row is probably a hint about extraction, although we can’t figure out why I/J are stuck together and not some other pair of letters.

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Some of the clues seem way, way more involved than others. Sometimes I just have to ID a movie; sometimes I need a doctorate in organic chemistry (which, fortunately, my roommate has). Is there any rhyme or reason here?

Comment #60
A.
Author

> The letter square in the top row is probably a hint about extraction

Uh-oh. I just picked that name because it’s cute and puzzlish. Whoops...

> Is there any rhyme or reason here?

Some of these words were just more fun to clue than others, really. (And I asked a friend for help with the chemistry clue, which is probably why it got so elaborate.) I hope they don’t mind too much.

Comment #61
M.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

still going, in fact

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

an hour

Describe what you tried.

Finally figured out the thing under the cryptarithm. B. thought it was “BAG + ASS”, but even if that made any sense, you can’t subtract the third bit.

Greg identified the Klingon guy in the fourth column. He couldn’t remember which movie it was, but Google to the rescue: “star trek” “eye patch” and there he is.

Uh, my mom ate the contents of package C. I think we had it identified clearly though.

Finally, testsolving quote of the day: C. pops in and asks what we’re stuck on. We point him to our spreadsheet. He says, “DK, mage, priest, rogue, lock, warrior... oh, it’s cluing a race! Oops, gotta go!” And we *still* don’t know what the answer is. Race to where?!

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Isn’t that word (the BAG ASS, as we now call it) a little obscure to be cluing like this?

Comment #62
G.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

later today

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

25 minutes

Describe what you tried.

After incredible effort, finally found the video with the song overlay. It’s this. Then someone mentioned the actual title of the song playing, and we got it.

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Obscure, but hey, we found it, right?

Comment #63
B.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

soon

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

half an hour

Describe what you tried.

Got the audio clip right above the Pokemon. We had it down to one of seven, but nobody could remember which was which. So we listened to them all in order, and found it on the fourth one. BRUTE FORCE BRUTE FORCE!!

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Still having fun so far.

Comment #64
M.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

tomorrow

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

an hour

Describe what you tried.

We have almost all of the clues (still looking for a Pokemon expert, and have not yet resorted to Google Image Search for the ridged alien guy in the middle row), and are trying to extract. The letter square is obviously a hint. C. wants to do some kind of jumping thing, where you start on BINGO (hence N), then take the first letter of BINGO to jump to the cryptic clue at B, from there to the comic panel, etc. But this doesn’t seem to trace out or spell anything.

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Clues seem fine; hopefully extraction will be fine too.

Comment #65
L.
Editor

That sounds like a really awesome extraction!

Comment #66
A.
Author

Facepalm.

Comment #67
T.
Editor

Can you replace the letter-square image with a picture of the lunar crater? Maybe giving context and a little arrow.

Comment #68
A.
Author

Ah, I like the crater! Certainly better than another “name this head”. I’ll also replace “BINGO” with a full black square, to better cue that it has no relevance to the puzzle.

M. says they could use a hint. Does this sound like a good revision?

Comment #69
T.
Editor

Ship it, I’d say.

Comment #70
B.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

soonish

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

5 minutes

Describe what you tried.

Finally broke down and used Image Search. I was close: I had thought it was from Enterprise, but I looked up the engineer instead of the doctor. Should have been more persistent!

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

We’re still playing hopscotch and getting nowhere, which is getting pretty annoying.

Comment #71
A.
Author

Okay, shipping. Replacing full-of-flavor-but-also-herrings letter square with crater, blacking out center square.

Comment #72
A.
Server

A new draft has been uploaded.

Comment #73
M.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

after dinner

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

an hour

Describe what you tried.

The new version stopped us from using the letter square, so now we’re focusing on the words themselves. C. wants to look at the contents of each row and column; I started looking for something they could have in common, but they’re pretty random, so we think it’s the letters that matter.

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Comment #74
M.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

maybe

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

three hours

Describe what you tried.

C. noticed something that pretty conclusively proves the “it’s the letters that matter” theory, but we still have no answer.

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

This is getting kind of frustrating. =(

Comment #75
A.
Author

Spoke to T. and L. on chat about how to help them; decided (blech) on light flavortext.

Comment #76
A.
Server

A new draft has been uploaded.

Comment #77
C.
Testsolver

Correct answer attempt

Comment #78
M.
Testsolver

Correct answer attempt

Comment #79
A.
Author

Thank goodness.

Comment #80
M.
Server

Puzzle status changed from Testing to Revision.

Comment #81
C.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

no

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

10 minutes

Describe what you tried.

The new flavortext is really helpful; “neighbors” was the key thing I was missing. After that it fell over.

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

I think we might have gotten it without the flavortext, actually; I was just being dumb and not realizing the missing center square made row or column based approaches inelegant. I like the clues, too!

Comment #82
M.
Testing Admin

Ah, C., such optimism. The flavortext is definitely necessary. But I think with all of these changes it’s finally a reasonable puzzle. =)

Comment #83
A.
Author

So, retest as is?

Comment #84
M.
Testing Admin

Well, you misspelled “morphophonology”. (What does that even have to do with Pokemon?) But yeah. I’ll get you a shipping address for the next group.

Comment #85
A.
Author

I needed a one word double dactyl that rhymes with “ecology”; it has no actual bearing on the clue. Anyway, I’ll fix it, and also update the solution to go with that clue change.

Comment #86
A.
Server

A new draft has been uploaded.

Comment #87
A.
Server

A new solution has been uploaded.

Comment #88
M.
Server

Puzzle status changed from Revision to Testing.

Comment #89
N.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

tonight

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

45 minutes

Describe what you tried.

Got slightly sick at the audio clip in the second row, in particular the two words after the muted one. I couldn’t eat Girl Scout cookies for a month after watching that scene.

Other clues are coming along.

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Having fun so far!

Comment #90
N.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

yes

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

still working

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

1.5 hours

Describe what you tried.

Trying to make heads or tails of this bag of keyboard keys. 123456ABCDFGHNSVXZ doesn’t look like anything to me...

Meanwhile, Z. logs in and sees we’re stuck on the Odd Man Out puzzle. He looks at our “odd men out”. He tilts his head and looks at us funny. “Armillary Sphere, Countersquall, Knight of the Reliquary, Volcanic Fallout. Makes sense to me.” Zero prompting or anything. I’m glad we have such a variety of talent on this team!

(To be fair, we were looking for another “odd man out”, not just “these together clue the same word”.)

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Just reaching the point where getting more clues is boring, and running out of clues. So it seems about right.

Comment #91
F.
Testsolver

Correct answer attempt

Comment #92
F.
Testsolver

Do you intend to return to this puzzle?

no

If so, when do you plan to return to it?

How long did you spend on this puzzle (since your last feedback, if any)?

2 hours

Describe what you tried.

Got the rest of the clues, then N. stared at it for a while and figured it out.

What did you like/dislike about this puzzle? How hard do you think it is? Is there anything you think should be changed?

Seems to work fine! N. says the flavortext was really helpful.

Comment #93
M.
Server

Puzzle status changed from Testing to Post-Production.

Comment #94
M.
Testing Admin

Hooray!

Comment #95
A.
Author

Excellent.

Comment #96
W.
Web Producer

I’m having some trouble getting the page you linked from the top right square to look good; you wrote most of it in text but used pictures for those squiggles. Can we make it a PDF?

Do you have a less grainy version of the video in the second row? (What the heck is that, anyway?)

Comment #97
A.
Author

They’re actually letters from On Beyond Zebra!, but anyway, yeah, I can make a PDF.

Sadly the video was shot with my phone camera (no, I still haven’t bought an iphone). I can borrow a camera at the Puzzle Panic tomorrow and reshoot it.

It’s a video of me tying a slipknot, without the string. Nobody said the Mystery Hunt was easy.

Comment #98
S.
Fact Checker

Remind me to tell you tomorrow about the quality hour I spent with my left shoelace fact checking that one.

Comment #99
A.
Server

A new draft has been uploaded.

Comment #100
W.
Web Producer

Cool, everything checks out.

Comment #101
W.
Server

Puzzle status changed from Post-Production to Final.

Comment #102
H.
Sysadmin

Sorry guys; all of your uploads on this puzzle got lost in the hard drive crash. You’ll have to re-upload from your local copies.

Summary:	Bingo card made of variety clues

Authors:	A.
Editors:	L., T.
Testing Admin:	M.

Puzzle Status:	Final

Latest draft:	(none)
Latest solution:	(none)