This is a puzzle in verse, with a number of blanks to be filled in to match the meter of the poem.
When all of the blanks are filled in with the phrases from the bottom of the puzzle, these form a series of questions, each of which has a two-word answer:
| Blank | Phrase to Be Entered | Answer to Question Formed |
|---|---|---|
| Where’s home to _____ but not to Peru? (7 7) | BELIZE | Central America |
| On campus, what ______ stop’s nearest to you? (7 6) | RED LINE | Kendall Square |
| What's the name of the place ______ does dwell? (5 5) | JOSEPH BIDEN | White House |
| What is it _______ does so very well? (5 8) | JADE CAREY | Floor Exercise |
| Where do _____ both work? (7 5) | ALITO AND KAGAN | Supreme Court |
| Who played ____ , a lovable jerk? (4 4) | FRED SANFORD | Redd Foxx |
| What must you be on to _____ free? (5 4) | SEE A BAND | Guest List |
| What’s the _____ that anything ever can be? (8 4) | COLDEST | Absolute Zero |
| Who asked, in a tune, “______________ Tonight?” (5 7) | ARE YOU LONESOME | Elvis Presley |
| Who played ______ , who wasn’t contrite? (5 8) | RICHARD NIXON | Frank Langella |
| What _____ is shaped like a bell? (6 12) | STATISTICAL GRAPH | Normal Distribution |
| What phrase is quite ______ as well? (6 8) | WHOLESOME BUT NAUGHTY | Double Entendre |
| Who built _____ in his last movie role? (4 5) | XANADU | Gene Kelly |
| Which thumb-tip-sized _______ could fill up a bowl? (6 8) | NIGHTSHADES | Cherry Tomatoes |
| Who played _______ on Miami Vice? (7 8) | CALABRESE | Saundra Santiago |
| And what is a ______ some folks say is nice? (5-4) | NUMBER | Sixty-Nine |
| Who loved ______ (such sweet tragedy)? (4 6) | CLEOPATRA | Marc Antony |
| What’s ______’s whole philosophy? (6 6) | TIMON AND PUMBAA | Hakuna Matata |
| Who developed the first ______ shotgun? (4 8) | AUTOMATIC | John Browning |
| What servant to ______ likes to make fun? (5 10) | OBERON | Robin Goodfellow |
| Where can you find _____ and three words that rhyme? (5 8) | THETA | Greek Alphabet |
As suggested by the rest of the poem, solvers should think “initially” about these two word phrases, and consider whether each bigram can be:
- an abbreviation for a US state (“Where are they from?”, “Ada studied the places throughout her homeland”)
- a chemical element (“What are things made of?”, “Or examined the nature of things near at hand”)
- both (“Sometimes she learned one thing; sometimes she learned two.”)
- or neither (“Some times she learned nothing: well what can you do?”)
| Answer | Bigram | US State | Chemical Element | Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central America | CA | X (California) | X (Calcium) | 2 |
| Kendall Square | KS | X (Kansas) | 1 | |
| White House | WH | 0 | ||
| Floor Exercise | FE | X (Iron) | 1 | |
| Supreme Court | SC | X (South Carolina) | X (Scandium) | 2 |
| Redd Foxx | RF | X (Rutherfordium) | 1 | |
| Guest List | GL | 0 | ||
| Absolute Zero | AZ | X (Arizona) | 1 | |
| Elvis Presley | EP | 0 | ||
| Frank Langella | FL | X (Florida) | X (Flerovium) | 2 |
| Normal Distribution | ND | X (North Dakota) | X (Neodymium) | 2 |
| Double Entendre | DE | X (Delaware) | 1 | |
| Gene Kelly | GK | 0 | ||
| Cherry Tomatoes | CT | X (Connecticut) | 1 | |
| Saundra Santiago | SS | 0 | ||
| Sixty-Nine | SN | X (Tin) | 1 | |
| Marc Antony | MA | X (Massachusetts) | 1 | |
| Hakuna Matata | HM | 0 | ||
| John Browning | JB | 0 | ||
| Robin Goodfellow | RG | X (Roentgenium) | 1 | |
| Greek Alphabet | GA | X (Georgia) | X (Gallium) | 2 |
Also pulling from the poem, solvers should consider these counts in groups of threes (“just three at the time”, “She looked at, in turn, e'ry”) to interpret these as ternary values and get the final answer: UPCYCLE.
210 121 010 221 010 110 012 U P C Y C L E