Brain Freeze
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.
| Sequence | Terms |
|---|---|
| SQUARE PYRAMIDAL | 1, 5, 14, 30, 55, 91, 140 |
| ULAM | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 36 |
| LUCAS | 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76 |
| FORTUNATE | 3, 5, 7, 13, 23, 17, 19 |
| SQUARE | 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36 |
| SEMIPERFECT | 6, 12, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30, 36, 40, 42, 48, 54, 56, 60, 66, 72, 78, 80 |
| LUCKY | 1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, 25, 31 |
| TRIANGULAR | 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, 66, 78 |
| HAPPY | 1, 7, 10, 13, 19, 23, 28, 31, 32, 44, 49, 68, 70, 79, 82, 86, 91 |
| LAZY CATERER | 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, 46, 56, 67, 79, 92, 106, 121, 137, 154 |
| EVEN | 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 |
| SPHENIC | 30, 42, 66, 70, 78, 102, 105, 110, 114 |
| ABUNDANT | 12, 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 name | Song | Sequence | Terms | Lyrics | Extracted letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MENZEL | LETITGO | SQUARE PYRAMIDAL | 1, 5, 14, 30, 55, 91, 140 | The on seen like you slam I | G |
| WEST | COLDESTWINTER | ULAM | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 36 | On lonely nights, I to On I to love's thousand away made will | E |
| AURORA | WINTERBIRD | LUCAS | 2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76 | in Walking my sleep naked wake they am can me | T |
| SIA | SNOWMAN | FORTUNATE | 3, 5, 7, 13, 23, 17, 19 | snowman, in of if me, me, If | N |
| KHALID | WINTER | SQUARE | 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36 | I heart left left she the | E |
| LENNON, ONO | HAPPYXMASWARISOVER | SEMIPERFECT | 6, 12, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30, 36, 40, 42, 48, 54, 56, 60, 66, 72, 78, 80 | Julian what over a begun is I near ones old merry Year hope one this For you it) | X |
| SHEERAN | AFTERGLOW | LUCKY | 1, 3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 21, 25, 31 | (One, Stop amazing should the dances colours and The | T |
| QUEEN | AWINTERSTALE | TRIANGULAR | 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, 66, 78 | It's fall are are floating I draw the by dreaming? (Dreaming) truly | L |
| FOXES | WHITEWINTERHYMNAL | HAPPY | 1, 7, 10, 13, 19, 23, 28, 31, 32, 44, 49, 68, 70, 79, 82, 86, 91 | I following was I following following the, following the scarves their go Michael, Red in was swaddled | Y |
| SIMON, GARFUNKEL | AHAZYSHADEOFWINTER | LAZY CATERER | 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, 46, 56, 67, 79, 92, 106, 121, 137, 154 | Time, time, See of looked I But the Hear It's got you of to build springtime you manuscripts | R |
| GRANDE | WINTERTHINGS | EVEN | 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 | ain't cold not I'm Feeling it's under sun jacket get love hats | I |
| SWIFT | COLDASYOU | SPHENIC | 30, 42, 66, 70, 78, 102, 105, 110, 114 | feel you you And through loving wished you a | C |
| MIRANDA | AWINTERSBALL | ABUNDANT | 12, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 42, 48, 54, 56, 60 | and a Watch loudmouth right hires sight Hamilton write quill undeniable we | S |
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.
| Song | Next term | Next lyric | Extracted letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| LETITGO | 204 | GROUND | G |
| COLDESTWINTER | 38 | EVER | E |
| WINTERBIRD | 123 | ON | O |
| SNOWMAN | 23 | ME | M |
| WINTER | 49 | EL | E |
| HAPPYXMASWARISOVER | 84 | THE | T |
| AFTERGLOW | 33 | REFLECTED | R |
| AWINTERSTALE | 91 | IN | I |
| WHITEWINTERHYMNAL | 94 | COATS | C |
| AHAZYSHADEOFWINTER | 172 | SKY | S |
| WINTERTHINGS | 26 | NO | N |
| COLDASYOU | 130 | OH, | O |
| AWINTERSBALL | 66 | WITH | W |