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Brain Freeze

by Arpit Ranasaria and Vinjai Vale

Answer:
GEOMETRIC SNOW

This puzzle has two main parts: sequences of alphabetized letters followed by blanks, and a pool of alphabetized words below that. Using the fact that the letters at the top are in alphabetical order, we can deduce they need to be rearranged into words. After unscrambling, we find that these are all names referring to integer sequences. We collect the first n terms of each of these sequences, where n is the number of blanks given.

SequenceTerms
SQUARE PYRAMIDAL1, 5, 14, 30, 55, 91, 140
ULAM1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 36
LUCAS2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76
FORTUNATE3, 5, 7, 13, 23, 17, 19
SQUARE1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36
SEMIPERFECT6, 12, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30, 36, 40, 42, 48, 54, 56, 60, 66, 72, 78, 80
LUCKY1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, 25, 31
TRIANGULAR1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, 66, 78
HAPPY1, 7, 10, 13, 19, 23, 28, 31, 32, 44, 49, 68, 70, 79, 82, 86, 91
LAZY CATERER1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, 46, 56, 67, 79, 92, 106, 121, 137, 154
EVEN2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24
SPHENIC30, 42, 66, 70, 78, 102, 105, 110, 114
ABUNDANT12, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 42, 48, 54, 56, 60

The second half of the puzzle contains song artist last names hidden throughout the words. The full list of artists is: Aurora, Foxes, Garfunkel, Grande, Khalid, Lennon, Menzel, Miranda, Ono, Sheeran, Queen, Sia, Simon, Swift, West. If we combine the duos together (Simon & Garfunkel, Lennon & Ono), we are left with 13 unique artists, which correspond to the 13 sequences from the first part.

Additionally, the flavortext contains the word genius, which is also the name of a popular lyrics website. We can infer that we should find a song by each of the artists that contains lyrics present in the rest of the word pool. The puzzle title and the general theming of some lyrics additionally clue that the songs should be (roughly) winter themed.

We can take each one of the sequences above and index into one of the songs: for each number n in the sequence, we take the nth word of the song. (Different websites may have inconsistencies in the lyrics; we should use Genius as clued in the flavortext.) This will yield a subset of the lyrics in the word pool, including exactly one bolded blue word. For example, indexing the square pyramidal numbers into Let it Go by Idina Menzel gives the lyrics “The on seen like you slam I.” The length of the sequence matches the length of the title, so after finding all the songs, we can find the letter in the titles corresponding to the location of the bolded letter within the sequence as shown in the table to get the phrase GET NEXT LYRICS.

Artist last nameSongSequenceTermsLyricsExtracted letter
MENZELLETITGOSQUARE PYRAMIDAL1, 5, 14, 30, 55, 91, 140The on seen like you slam IG
WESTCOLDESTWINTERULAM1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 36On lonely nights, I to On I to love's thousand away made willE
AURORAWINTERBIRDLUCAS2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76in Walking my sleep naked wake they am can meT
SIASNOWMANFORTUNATE3, 5, 7, 13, 23, 17, 19snowman, in of if me, me, IfN
KHALIDWINTERSQUARE1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36I heart left left she theE
LENNON, ONOHAPPYXMASWARISOVERSEMIPERFECT6, 12, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30, 36, 40, 42, 48, 54, 56, 60, 66, 72, 78, 80Julian what over a begun is I near ones old merry Year hope one this For you it)X
SHEERANAFTERGLOWLUCKY1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, 25, 31(One, Stop amazing should the dances colours and TheT
QUEENAWINTERSTALETRIANGULAR1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, 66, 78It's fall are are floating I draw the by dreaming? (Dreaming) trulyL
FOXESWHITEWINTERHYMNALHAPPY1, 7, 10, 13, 19, 23, 28, 31, 32, 44, 49, 68, 70, 79, 82, 86, 91I following was I following following the, following the scarves their go Michael, Red in was swaddledY
SIMON, GARFUNKELAHAZYSHADEOFWINTERLAZY CATERER1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, 46, 56, 67, 79, 92, 106, 121, 137, 154Time, time, See of looked I But the Hear It's got you of to build springtime you manuscriptsR
GRANDEWINTERTHINGSEVEN2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24ain't cold not I'm Feeling it's under sun jacket get love hatsI
SWIFTCOLDASYOUSPHENIC30, 42, 66, 70, 78, 102, 105, 110, 114feel you you And through loving wished you aC
MIRANDAAWINTERSBALLABUNDANT12, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 42, 48, 54, 56, 60and a Watch loudmouth right hires sight Hamilton write quill undeniable weS

Following the cluephrase, if we get the “next lyrics” in each song within the context of the puzzle, which would be the lyric corresponding to the next term in each sequence, and read down the first letters, we get our final answer: GEOMETRIC SNOW.

SongNext termNext lyricExtracted letter
LETITGO204GROUNDG
COLDESTWINTER38EVERE
WINTERBIRD123ONO
SNOWMAN23MEM
WINTER49ELE
HAPPYXMASWARISOVER84THET
AFTERGLOW33REFLECTEDR
AWINTERSTALE91INI
WHITEWINTERHYMNAL94COATSC
AHAZYSHADEOFWINTER172SKYS
WINTERTHINGS26NON
COLDASYOU130OH,O
AWINTERSBALL66WITHW