Solution to Charisma
The puzzle has 49 images arranged in a grid. By identifying some of these images, we realize that these are all screenshots from music videos of queens related to RuPaul's Drag Race. (This is also clued by the title, "Charisma", referencing the four qualities it's said the judges look for: charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.)
Through a combination of asking people familiar with the show, reverse image searching, scrolling through a list of drag music videos, and in one case, searching the lyrics visible in the screenshot, we can identify these are from the following eight music videos:
- Adore Delano – 27 Club
- Alaska Thunderfuck – This Is My Hair
- Courtney Act – Mean Gays
- Gia Gunn – La China Mas Latina
- Plastique Tiara – Irresistible
- RuPaul – Back To My Roots
- Tammie Brown – Walking Children in Nature
- Trixie Mattel – Mama Don't Make Me Put on the Dress Again
And here are the screenshots, labeled with the drag queen singing the music video, and its (approximate) timestamp:
The fact that RuPaul is one of the queens disconfirms several possible next steps, like identifying their seasons or what they did on the show. Instead, the next step is to realize that the number of screenshots each video has is the same as the number of letters in the drag queen's first name. This inspires us to put the letters of their names in the grid, in the order that the screenshots appear in the video. This gives us the following grid:
R | I | E | C | S | T | G |
T | X | T | I | E | N | O |
O | A | S | A | I | E | K |
P | M | A | D | A | E | U |
T | I | A | R | A | U | U |
L | E | A | M | P | Q | U |
R | I | Y | L | A | L | R |
Seeing that this is a grid of letters, we are now inspired to do a word search. The numbers underneath the grid clue the lengths of the hidden words, which are all related to RuPaul's Drag Race:
Length | Word | Location |
---|---|---|
3 | SIS | Row 3, Col 3, up right |
3 | TEA | Row 1, Col 6, down left |
3 | TOP | Row 2, Col 1, down |
4 | MAMA | Row 4, Col 2, down right |
4 | MAXI | Row 4, Col 2, up |
5 | TIARA | Row 5, Col 1, right |
5 | QUEEN | Row 6, Col 6, up |
5 | YAAAS | Row 7, Col 3, up |
6 | OKUUUR | Row 2, Col 7, down |
7 | READING | Row 7, Col 1, up right |
Removing these letters from the grid reveals the clue phrase RECTAL PILL. This clues the answer SUPPOSITORY.
R | I | E | C | S | T | G |
T | X | T | I | E | N | O |
O | A | S | A | I | E | K |
P | M | A | D | A | E | U |
T | I | A | R | A | U | U |
L | E | A | M | P | Q | U |
R | I | Y | L | A | L | R |