There are twelve flower-shaped puzzles with bigrams on their petals. Solvers need to realize that each flower represents the name of a rose cultivar, with one bigram missing. (To make the puzzle more accessible, nearly every cultivar name is also a common phrase.)
| Rose Number | Rose Cultivar | Missing Bigram |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DIAMOND JUBILEE | DI |
| 2 | BLACK MAGIC | AG |
| 3 | PRIMADONNA | ON |
| 4 | CHRYSLER IMPERIAL | AL |
| 5 | SCENTIMENTAL | SC |
| 6 | OLD BLUSH | LU |
| 7 | EASY DOES IT | EA |
| 8 | DYNAMIC DUO | NA |
| 9 | TIP TOP | PT |
| 10 | AMERICAN BEAUTY | AN |
| 11 | SWAN LAKE | SW |
| 12 | PINK WONDER | ER |
The missing bigrams, taken in the presented order, spell the message DIAGONALS CLUE AN APT ANSWER.
The eighteen alpha-wheel puzzles each clue a word that can precede “wheel” in a two-word phrase (some more common than others). Solvers can follow three diagonals down this list of words (note that each diagonal goes as far as it can). As an added help, the colors of the “wheel” images divide the words into three groups.
White:ULTIMATE
UNDERSHOT
CATHERINE
BALANCE
CHEESE
ROULETTE
BICYCLE
INTERMEDIATE
Red:
HAMSTER
COLOR
WONDER
STEERING
EPICYCLOIDAL
Green:
THIRD
GRINDING
PRAYER
ELECTRODYNAMIC
CRANK
The three diagonals spell UNTASTED HONEY TRACK, which clues the Kathy Mattea album Untasted Honey and its song EIGHTEEN WHEELS AND A DOZEN ROSES.