Solution to Over 9,000: an Abbreviated Yet Awesome Tour Of Your First Equally Excellent Puzzle Mechanic
This is a puzzle about repeatedly indexing using the same numbers as indices into a variety of material.
The first thing we must do is solve the clues given in the puzzle:
| Clue | Answer (despaced) | Index |
|---|---|---|
| Quote by Mark Twain about something anticipated transpiring in an unforeseen way. | A THING LONG EXPECTED TAKES THE FORM OF THE UNEXPECTED WHEN AT LAST IT COMES. | 42 |
| Generally, the x-axis in a scientific chart shows one of these (such as time) | INDEPENDENT VARIABLE | 18 |
| With “PART I NON-CONTRADICTION CHAPTER I THE THEME”, complete name of the team that won the 2013 MIT Mystery Hunt | “WHO IS JOHN GALT?” THE LIGHT WAS EBBING, AND EDDIE WILLERS COULD NOT DISTINGUISH THE BUM'S FACE. THE BUM HAD SAID IT SIMPLY, WITHOUT EXPRESSION. BUT FROM THE SUNSET FAR AT THE END OF THE STREET, YELLOW GLINTS CAUGHT... | 48 |
| With “the”, 1776 document detailing many grievances with Britain | DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE | 25 |
| Title of a variety cryptic from the 2019 MIT Mystery Hunt | TALES FROM THE CRYPT | 5 |
Indexing into the answers, we get CLUES. As the title suggests, we repeat. Indexing the numbers into their corresponding clues (including digits) gives TITLE. Indexing these same numbers into the title of the puzzle, we get FAQA9 (we might try to ignore numbers, but that yields the nonsense string TYLOA). The ninth entry in the hunt FAQ is:
Q: Is this FAQ a puzzle?
A: It's not an Icelandic crossword about Bjork. It's not a teacup pomeranian owned by the Duchess of York. You could consecrate it on a Friday as a ritual offering to the stork. Quantum physicists have postulated that it can manifest a new flavor of quark. As many times as you try to solve it, you'll probably still look like a dork. But don't come chasing us with a pitchfork. We promise you don't need code of Morse or pens of pork. The Swedish Chef sends Scandinavian salutations... bork bork bork!
We try indexing into this FAQ question, which is worded in a very contrived way, and we get TCURO. However, we note that this FAQ entry is very long, so instead of indexing by letter we index by word. This yields NEW YORK TIMES FRIDAY CROSSWORD. Indexing into the Friday crossword (by taking the letters in the cells marked with those numbers), we get the answer, FUEGO:
| Clue | Answer (despaced) | Index | Into answers | Into clues | Into title | Into FAQ A9 | Into NYT Friday Crossword |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quote by Mark Twain about something anticipated transpiring in an unforeseen way. | A THING LONG EXPECTED TAKES THE FORM OF THE UNEXPECTED WHEN AT LAST IT COMES. | 42 | C | T | F | NEW | F |
| Generally, the x-axis in a scientific chart (such as time) | INDEPENDENT VARIABLE | 18 | L | I | A | YORK | U |
| With “PART I NON-CONTRADICTION CHAPTER I THE THEME”, complete name of the team that won the 2013 MIT Mystery Hunt | “WHO IS JOHN GALT?” THE LIGHT WAS EBBING, AND EDDIE WILLERS COULD NOT DISTINGUISH THE BUM'S FACE. THE BUM HAD SAID IT SIMPLY, WITHOUT EXPRESSION. BUT FROM THE SUNSET FAR AT THE END OF THE STREET, YELLOW GLINTS CAUGHT... | 48 | U | T | Q | TIMES | E |
| With “the”, 1776 document detailing many grievances with Britain | DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE | 25 | E | L | A | FRIDAY | G |
| Title of a variety cryptic from the 2019 MIT Mystery Hunt | TALES FROM THE CRYPT | 5 | S | E | 9 | CROSSWORD | O |