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MITMH2022
Public Access

Solution to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Investigation

Answer: ADDLE
by joon pahk
Art by Justin Ladia

RowsLightMediumDark
RESTATING KEYSER CAROMSSOILED
SMOKEY THE BEAR EDGAR BEAT AT TEMPEH FOLGER
CARED SEMPER FIDELIS RAGING DERIDE SILVER
MILLIONTH GLOAT OVER MILTON CATION DRIVER
NOT ONCE VARGAS LLOSA HAVEN'T GAOLER BELIZE
REVITALIZE LOST ARTS ATOLLS ASTROS STARTS
DRIZZLE BEALE STREET NOZZLE TUPPER PRINZE
PUT ONE ON IT'S A LIVING AL EAST CHINOS EATS IT
PERRINS CHEATS DEATH TEEING DEVILS NAMATH
TRAPEZE ARTIST OH MAN TRACED MAI TAI RAPPER
DECIMALS NAMED NAMES LEARNS MANGLE POSITS
P/E RATIO SINGLE QUOTE HAND TO EMOTES EQUIPS
PARSNIPS TRANSPIRES MATINS CLINIC
CLIMATIC REGION EVER REGINA MARCIE
CINEMATIC SERVER NOTICE

As hinted in the flavortext, some of the blooms can lose their "heads" (first letters) to give 5-letter answers that still fit their clues. From top to bottom in the grid, they are:

Covered with grease, say(S)OILED
Rings(A)TOLLS
Freight transporter, sometimes(D)RIVER
They're shunned by the pious(D)EVILS
Acquires through effort(L)EARNS
Supplies a fitting line(E)QUIPS

The beheaded letters spell out SADDLE; applying the beheading one more time gives ADDLE, a word that matches the flavortext (vis-à-vis the effect of the poppies on you), so that is the answer to the puzzle.

Author's Note

It's nice to get an opportunity to use skills from your day job to make a hunt puzzle. of course, you might consider it cheating since my day job is … making Rows Garden puzzles (of which this is an example). This variety crossword type was invented by Patrick Berry in the mid-2000s, and it's now a staple of both the crossword landscape and the Mystery Hunt. Although I've now constructed well over 300 "regular" Rows Gardens that don't have any meta extraction, the very first one I ever made did, the Rose Kennedy puzzle for BAPHL 7 back in 2013. A year later, I tried making another one, and then another, and the year after that, I quit teaching and made Rows Gardens my job. Sometimes making a puzzle can change your life!

Spoilers for Once Upon a Time in the Quest: The three most unusual features of the grid are its nonstandard size/shape, and the entries for Row B1 (SMOKEY THE BEAR, when officially he is and always has been SMOKEY BEAR) and Row N1 (CLIMATIC REGION, a phrase that probably falls short of dictionary nature). These were all the result of the extra constraint forced on the grid by the extra hidden answer. I tried pretty hard to make it all work in a standard (21x12) grid, with only frustration to show for it. But as soon as I gave the grid some room to breathe by changing the dimensions, it came together beautifully.