by Rebecca Vessenes
Answer: BIG CRUNCH
Problem: Valentine’s Day Town/​Arbor Day Town

The first image in the puzzle is an empty binary tree. Branches that extend up and to the left should be interpreted as positive, as indicated by the sign “Positively Satisfying Perches.” “Satisfying” also clues that we want to know whether words (and birds) satisfy the conditions at the nodes.

Next, seventeen words are given. Each word needs to be placed (based on its linguistic and typographical properties) on a node of the tree so that for each non-leaf node, any nodes in the positive direction satisfy the condition placed at that node, and any nodes in the negative direction do not. There is one valid way to sort the collection of words, as shown in the image below. For example, GOLD, OLIVE, and ASLANT are typographically BOLD, while CORAL, GRAY, and SMALL are not. There is a table below showing which words have which properties.

Below the words are pictures of thirteen fictional birds in alphabetical order by name. Each bird’s name can be placed on a leaf of the tree by starting at the root and moving in a positive or negative direction depending on whether the name (as written in the typeface of the question mark below each image) satisfies each condition. For example, FLIT is not underlined, it is beheadable and bold, and it is not aslant, so it ends up on the leaf marked GOLD. Each bird’s name/typeface also satisfies the word at the leaf where it is placed. The second image below shows where each bird name is placed.

The number of birds that perch on each leaf is an index into the word on that leaf, giving a letter as shown in the final table below. Reading these letters from left to right spells the answer, BIG CRUNCH.

Tree solution (“~” indicates a hollowed-out font, and the background color indicates the font color for all non-black fonts):

Solution with bird perches:

Word table (columns are properties):

ABECEDARIANASLANTAUTONYMBEHEADABLEBOLDCORALCOTTONGOLDGRAYHOLLOWED-OUTNOUNOLIVEPOLYSYLLABICSMALLUNDERLINEDUNHYPHENATEDUNIVOCALIC
ABECEDARIANYNNYNYNNNYNYNYYN
ASLANTNNYYNNYNNNNYNNYY
AUTONYMNNNYNYNNYYNYNNYN
BEHEADABLENYNNNNNNYNYYNNYN
BOLDNNNYNNNNNYYNNNYY
CORALNNNYNNNYNYNYYNYN
COTTONNNNNNNNYNYNYNNYY
GOLDNNNYYYNNNYNNNNYY
GRAYNYNYNNNYNYNNNNYY
HOLLOWED-OUTNNNNYNNNNNYYNNNN
NOUNNYYNNNYNNNNNNNYN
OLIVENYNYYNNYNNYYNNYN
POLYSYLLABICNNYNNNNYNNNNNNYN
SMALLNNNYNNNNYNYNNNYY
UNDERLINEDNNNNNYNNNYNNYNYN
UNHYPHENATEDNNYNNNYNNYNNYNNN
UNIVOCALICNYNNNNNYNNNNYNNY

For reference, we are using the following definitions:

  • Abecedarian: All the letters in the word are in alphabetical order.
  • Autonym: The word describes itself. Note that for clarity, none of the color words were their own color.
  • Beheadable: Removing the first letter yields another word.
  • Univocalic: The word uses only one of the letters “A,” “E,” “I,” “O,” “U,” per the Wikipedia definition. Including “Y” in the definition would produce the same solution.

Birds (green indicates font features used for sorting):

BirdFandomABECEDARIANAUTONYMBEHEADABLEPOLYSYLLABICUNIVOCALICASLANTBOLDSMALLHOLLOWED-OUTUNDERLINED
BeatMega ManNNYNNYYYNN
Big BirdSesame StreetNYNYYYNNYN
ChipLittle Engine that CouldNNYNYYYNNN
EggyPenguins of MadagascarYNNYYYNYNY
FlitPocahontasNNYNYNYNNN
GaleAngry BirdsNNYNNNNYNN
HedwigHarry PotterNNNYNNYNYN
IagoAladdinNNYYNNNNYN
OwlWinnie-the-PoohNYNNYYNNYN
ScuttleLittle MermaidNNYYNYYNNN
ShoeShoe ComicNNYNNYNNNN
TuxLinuxYNNNYNNNYY
WoodstockCharlie BrownNNNYYNNYNN
Word OrderPerchIndexBirds
1ABECEDARIAN2Eggy, Tux
2OLIVE3Beat, Chip, Scuttle
3GOLD1Flit
4CORAL1Gale
5GRAY2Iago, Shoe
6UNHYPHENATED1Big Bird
7NOUN1Owl
8COTTON1Woodstock
9HOLLOWED-OUT1Hedwig

Image Credits