Solution to Doing Some Gardening — MIT Mystery Hunt 2021

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Answer: CHIROPRACTOR

by Azalea Weisblat

This is a Rows Garden puzzle with a twist. The first immediate clue that something is off is that there is one fewer row than there ought to be. If we count the "Around" clues and the "More Around" clues, we find that there are ten and fourteen respectively. There are ten white blooms and fourteen each of gray and pink blooms, so not all the blooms can be clued.

Once we make some progress on filling in the words, we may notice that some of the rows seem too short. Moving things around, we eventually must realize that if we place exactly one letter in each pink bloom, the spacing works out. This also lines up nicely with the number of clues we have of each color, and explains the missing top row.

I^RI H^RE U^BL C^AN

^HA^LF^ST^AR^PL^AY^ST^ES^SE^RA^E

^OI^S ^OV^E ^TO^N

E^ST G^GO G^AT

A^MP^UT^AT^ED^NA^BI^SC^OA^KA^RI

^RE^L ^TA^B ^EN^E ^GH^S

S^TE M^DE I^HA L^EY

^CA^RG^OH^OL^DC^AS^HS^TR^AP^PE^D

^UN^S ^RO^S ^SE^R

R^OU D^SK E^PE

^RE^S ^ET^A ^RC^S

S P I

N E R E

A L I

G N E R

Reading the letters in the red blooms, we get SPINE REALIGNER. Combined with the 12 blanks at the bottom of the puzzle, this clues the answer, CHIROPRACTOR.

Clue Answers

Across

Letter	Clue	Answer
A	With “Army”, former revolutionary organization	IRISH REPUBLICAN
B	A particularly bad rating, maybe / Doesn't work / Rations in District 12	HALF STAR / PLAYS / TESSERAE
C	Sometimes it is white / Harmonic	NOISE / OVERTONE
D	Something saved / One CPU building block	NEST EGG / OR GATE
E	Cut off / Purveyor of noted crossword cookies / Logic puzzle variety	AMPUTATED / NABISCO / AKARI
F	Like something tagged “me irl” / Stable sounds	RELATABLE / NEIGHS
G	Prepare, as dumplings / Sandwich source / Model Baldwin	STEAM / DELI / HAILEY
H	Place to stow away / In dire financial straits	CARGO HOLD / CASH STRAPPED
I	Rock band since 1985 / Make a mistake	GUNS N ROSES / ERR
J	Hagrid, for example	GROUNDSKEEPER
K	Button on a router / Geometric shapes	RESET / ARCS

Around

Clue	Answer
Like some clues	ACROSS
More sufficient	AMPLER
Hit the ball	BATTED
Imposes unwelcomely	FOISTS
Neon striped, perhaps	GARISH
Words said before a valediction, perhaps	LOVE YA
Important part of a compiler	PARSER
When the line “Who's there?” is spoken	SCENE I
Historic military title	SHOGUN
Something thrown in an idiom	STONES

More Around

Clue	Answer
Like Gandalf	ARCANE
Symbols used in some cute emoticons	CARETS
They're made from flour, eggs, milk, water, salt and butter.	CREPES
Explode	GO BANG
Author Lee	HARPER
They can be found in drum kits	HI HATS
Author Jhumpa	LAHIRI
Like a cast	MOLDED
Outdated alternative to cardstock	OAK TAG
Getter-upper	ROUSER
With “by”, didn't put in any effort	SKATED
There's a really big one in New York Harbor	STATUE
Rent, in a way	SUBLET
Made a shrill sound	YELPED