The King
This is the metapuzzle for the Natural History round.
This is a puzzle about words starting with T-, as in T-Rex, which is clued by the title of the puzzle. Each answer clues a word starting with T-, and also has two Ts in it. By aligning the first T of the T-words with the first T in the answer and extracting the letter at the position of the second T, you can obtain a letter from each answer. To order, the puzzles in this round have titles beginning with A-H, so ordering alphabetically by puzzle title gives the final answer - the curators WINGED IT - presumably, they put it out of the way in some obscure wing of the museum!
| Puzzle Title | Answer | T-Word | Explanation | Extracted Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Twisted Theory | KO-D SIX MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP | T-HAWK | T-Hawk is a wrestler who participates in (and has won) the KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championship. | W |
| Bundles | DENSITY FUNCTION | T-DISTRIBUTION | The T-distribution is a probability density function. | I |
| Catenaverbozoa | BEEF TARTARE | T-BONE | T-Bone is a cut of steak, which beef tartare is also made of. | N |
| Direct Translation | BARBADIAN SPEECH PATTERN | T-GLOTTALIZATION | T-Glottalization is a feature of Barbadian English, as well as other English dialects. | G |
| Exhibit of Fans | ABSTRACT MEMES | T-POSE | T-Posing is/was a notable abstract or absurdist meme. | E |
| Formula Deluxe | CAR OF DISTINCTION | T-BIRD | The Ford Thunderbird, or T-Bird, was marketed as “A Personal Car of Distinction.” | D |
| G|R|E|A|T W|H|A|L|E S|O|N|G | I'M N LUV (WIT A STRIPPER) | T-PAIN | I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper) is a T-Pain song. | I |
| Hall of Archaeology | CUSTOM FIT POLO | T-SHIRT | A polo shirt is a kind of T-shirt. | T |
Authors' Notes
We spent a lot of time looking for good answers which fit both our extraction method and metameta constraints, while also being real phrases. The fact that I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper) is misspelled the way it is turned out to be crucial to the extraction of the puzzle, which is very funny to me. Words we wanted to use but couldn’t get to work include T-CELL, T-WAVE and T-SPIN.