Ox (Bull)
by Todd Etter
Answers: BROW, EXTRACTOR, STORY
This puzzle consists of 16 mini puzzles, each of which only uses Os and Xs in various ways.
Paintings
Each drawing is a famous painting.
- AmeriCan Gothic
- ChristIna’s World
- The STarry Night
- Girl With a PeArl Earring
- WhisTler’s Mother
- The Treachery of Images
- The Old Guitarist
- The CreatioN of Adam
The red letters spell CITATION.
Constellations
Take the name of the constellation and index into it by the order number of the Greek letter of the highlighted star.
Cygnus gamma 3 G Orion beta 2 R Canis Major iota 9 O Ursa Major alpha 1 U Scorpius epsilon 5 P
Answer is GROUP.
Planets
Index into the indicated planets (ordering by the small Xs at the bottom):
nePtune pLuto urAnus jupIter veNus
Answer is PLAIN.
Binary Multiplication
The top shows four multiplication problems and how to convert them to 8-bit binary. Do that with the bottom three equations to get
22 = OOOXOXXO 96 = OXXOOOOO 85 = OXOXOXOX
The picture of the head with the eyes crossed out is a hint to read the resulting string as Braille (with Os as the dots), yielding the answer PORT.
Font point size
The top displays 26 Xs in point size from 1 to 26.
Looking at the second string, you can convert the point size to alphanumeric letters to get the answer ROUND WINDOW.
Chemical elements
Depicted are the electron configurations for the elements Beryllium and Argon, whose symbols make the word BEAR.
45 men with variously sized heads
There are 45 “men” in a row, which suggests US Presidents. The three presidents with larger heads are ADAMS, COOLIDGE, and TRUMAN, which spells ACT.Groups of people
These are famous groups of people. Take the highlighted character and index by the indicated letter.
The Simpsons Homer H Wives of Henry XIII anne bolEyn E The Fellowship of the Ring fRodo R Fantastic Four mister fantaStic S Snow White and Seven Dwarfs basHful H The Hunger Games pEeta E The Brady Bunch cindY Y Game of Thrones Stark Family SanSa S
Answer is HERSHEYS.
Board Games
Take the indicated letter of the highlighted piece of the particular board game depicted.
Chess Rook Monopoly water wOrks Battleship Battleship Trivial Pursuit rOll again Scrabble Triple letter score
Answer is ROBOT.
“O” songs
Take the name of the song clip and index by the number of “Oh”s in the clip.Single Ladies 4 G Bad Romance 5 O Use Somebody 9 O Viva La Vida 9 D Spaceman 8 N Livin on a Prayer 2 I My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark 6 G Hey There Delilah 15 H Some Nights 9 T
Answer is GOODNIGHT.
Slitherlinks
Solve the six slitherlink puzzles. The loops for each puzzle spell out letters to get the answer CHANGE.Sports scoreboards
Each set is a scoreboard from a particular sport. The red character indicates a letter on that scoreboard.
TENNIS SETS T BASEBALL R (runs) R AUTO RACING LAP A FOOTBALL DOWN D DARTS (specifically Cricket Darts) CRICKET I ICE HOCKEY PENALTY T BASKETBALL POINTS I GOLF HOLE O HORSE RACING WIN NAnswer is TRADITION.
Connect the Dots
The groups of 26 letters on the left spell out words using the large Xs. These words all suggest a word which relates to one of the words on the right side. Connect the dots and index into the left words by the number of Xs crossed.
vaCation OOO bullOck OX degRees O treasuRe X dOsequis XX glaSses OO utensIls OXO moOnshine XXX cogNac XO
Answer is CORROSION.
Disneyworld
This is a map of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Order by the Os and take the indicated letters.
space mounTain T big thundEr mountain railroad E pirates of the caribbeaN N haunteD mansion D jungle cruIse I tomorrowlaNd speedway N dumbo the flyinG elephant G
Answer is TENDING.
Keyboards
These are keyboard diagrams with the X and O in their appropriate positions. The red letters spell out FIRST.
Country flags
These are depictions of stars on various country flags. Take the indicated letters.
Brazil B KosOvo O TuvalU U TuRkmenistan R UzBekistan B ComorOs O PaNama N
Answer is BOURBON.
Metapuzzles
The final section is three metapuzzles.
O
Four of the answers have the indicated O patterns.
ROBOT
BOURBON
CORROSION
ROUNDWINDOW
The middle letters spell BROW.
X
Seven of the answers can have “EX” added to the front to make a new, unrelated word.
exACT | T |
exPORT | R |
exPLAIN | A |
exCHANGE | C |
exTENDING | T |
exCITATION | O |
exTRADITION | R |
Repeat the gimmick with the indicated letters to get EXTRACTOR.
XOXO
The name of this meta is a hint for hugs and kisses. Five of the answers are types of hugs or kisses.
FIRST
GOODNIGHT
GROUP
BEAR
HERSHEYS
Answer is STORY.