Lost to Time

We are presented with a bunch of old artifacts. There are several clues littered throughout these artifacts that will help us place these documents in time: the first artifact is ostensibly from a year beginning “19”; the fourth artifact is a screencap of a Netscape browser, which most people stopped using in the early 2000s; the video only references Disney movies from before 2000, and the horrible JPEG quality of most of the images in the puzzle.

Assuming that all artifacts are from the same time, we can place the year as 1995. The Netscape browser was released in 1994, and the newspaper places January 20 on a Friday. In the 1990s, this only occurred in 1995.

The fact that these artifacts were found in the factory’s basement should hint us towards the 1995 Mystery Hunt. One confirmation of this theory is the presentation of the crossword artifact titled "27: Hall" - it is formatted in almost the exact same way that all the other puzzles in the 1995 hunt are presented. Conveniently, Puzzle 27 is missing from the archives.

We eventually realize that all the artifacts in this puzzle are supposed to be parts of the 1995 Mystery Hunt that are referenced but unavailable in the archives. There are 8 such references, corresponding to Puzzles 0, 1, 2, 10, 12, 27, 31 and 32.

Solving the subpuzzles

Now that we have the source of these puzzles, what can we do next? The original solutions are not available, but devjoe's site hosts reconstructed solutions to the 1995 hunt (to the best of the archivists' abilities). Each subpuzzle has two solutions: the solution for the 1995 hunt, and the solution for 2023. For some but not all of the subpuzzles, knowledge of the 1995 hunt and/or the associated solution to the puzzle it’s referencing is required to get the 2023 solution.

Puzzle 0

This is the Newspaper artifact.

The 1995 solutions tell us that the word missing in the top right hand corner is SUITE. This helps us narrow down the word search space. This subpuzzle is not impossible without this knowledge, but it is very hard to confirm partial work without it.

After obtaining all the words, we use 5-bit binary (1 if the letter appears in the larger word, 0 if it doesn’t) to extract a letter from each of the words, in the order given by the set of words on the left.

The answer to this sub-puzzle is OVERCOAT.

Puzzle 1

This is the picture of nametags.

We are presented with a set of 8 images. In each image, we see a “category” label, as well as some number of “index” labels. There are enumerations on the index labels, but without any other information it is impossible to know how to proceed.

The 1995 hunt tells us that solvers were presented with samples from 12 bowls of cereal, as well as labels for each sample. Additionally, we know the 12 labels extract to the cluephrase FLAME OR DEMIT. Armed with these facts, we realize that the category labels are describing the shape, color and homogeneity of the cereals. The enumerations, free letters and classifications combine to help us uniquely identify the cereals being clued:

In the following table, the first two columns are obtained directly from the picture of the labels. To obtain the 1995 extract, we index into the name of the cereal. To obtain the 2023 extract, we have to look at the image of the label itself and extract the red letter.

Note that labels 7 and 11 are swapped. This is an erratum that is noted in the 1995 hunt’s flavor text, so we must repeat this in our solve.

The answer to this sub-puzzle is REPRODUCE.

Puzzle 2

A quick run through the video will reveal that it contains 3 separate puzzles, a fact that is alluded to in the flavor text of puzzles 2, 12 and 31 from the 1995 hunt.

The first third of the video shows 16 Disney characters, although 8 of them are flashed for only a few frames. After examining the puzzle page in the 1995 hunt, we realize that the 8 characters are the same ones that are used to fill the grid provided. Each of the other 8 characters come from the same movie as the character directly preceding it. Additionally, each flashed image also contains 1 or 2 symbols, possibly accompanied by some numbers.

The first symbol is the same one used in the 1995 puzzle page, and the second one tells us to use the index from the 1995 puzzle and offset it by some number(s) in some direction to index into the new character.

After doing so for all 8 characters, reorder by the original characters provided in the solution (top-down 1st column then 2nd column of diagram in 1995 puzzle) to obtain the answer to this subpuzzle, AWESOME ANIME.

Puzzle 10

This is the screenshot of the website in the Netscape window.

This puzzle was solved by neither the solving team nor the archivists, but based on the 1995 meta solution, we know the 1995 answer should be a location in the US. The 1995 answer is GREENSBORO, NC.

The 2023 answer can be found in the green channel of the image. (This is clued by GREENSBORO, and also by the 1995 hunt flavor text, where Mr. Green is the character that uses the computer.) In each 4x4 block of the image, the last 6 bits of the green color channel are 000000 or 111111, encoding 1 bit. Converting the bitstream using ASCII gives

We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you u
Never gnna let you down
Nevr gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna ell a lie and hurt you
We've known each othe for so long
Your heart's been aching, but you're too sh to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ak me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna et you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell  lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna ake you cry
Never gonna ay goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

As added confirmation, the image is edited from the album cover of "Never Gonna Give You Up", in case we have somehow never heard this song. Taking missing letters from the lyrics gives the subpuzzle answer POETRY SLAMS.

Puzzle 12

This is the second puzzle on the video. We hear someone saying words that don’t sound like anything English. The 1995 solution tells us that the items being said might be state capitals uttered backwards, with SAINT PAUL left out. This is exactly what the content of the video is.

The 2023 puzzle can be solved by noting that there are several pauses in the video, as well as the fact that some state capitals are mentioned twice. We are told to ignore this for the 1995 puzzle, but for 2023 we can interpret a double mention as a dash and a single mention as a dot for morse code.

Doing so spells out the clue phrase LIKE SOME DATA PLANS NINE, which solves to UNLIMITED.

Puzzle 27

We are presented with the only full puzzle missing from the archives. While this puzzle looks approachable from the start, it is actually very hard to solve without 1995 assistance. Starting from the top right, we can make some progress towards the middle and top left parts of the grid. Once we get the 1995 link, we will be able to fill in 10 Across and 39 Across (together they combine to spell JOEL in A1Z26, which is the 1995 answer to puzzle 27). Additionally, the erratum for this puzzle (located on page 4/67 of the original PDF) notes that 40 Across is 7283, which will help us kickstart the bottom right of the grid.

After solving the entire grid, we note that there is a handwritten symbol next to the grid, as well as a cryptic highlighting of the words “important property” in the 33 Down clue. The important property turns out to be the digit sum (for the answer 890). Using the symbol, we realize that for each of the central black squares, the digit sums of the answers radiating outwards from the square is a constant. Converting these constants into letters we get the word MOTEL.

Puzzle 31

This is the 3rd part of the video, and is the metapuzzle for these subpuzzles. It appears in the middle of the puzzle similarly to how the 1995 meta (puzzle 13) was in the middle of the 1995 puzzle packet. See the Meta section below.

Puzzle 32

This is the cut out pieces of paper. When arranged back together, we get this.

The combined version should be overlaid onto the Puzzle 32 from the 1995 hunt archive to edit the given instructions. This should be done carefully - some segments append to the end of instructions, while others cover up text in the existing instruction.

Applying the instructions in order gives the original 1995 answer of IT'S A HOAX. The last step of the conundrum is to take the letters between M and R, dropping everything else. In the discarded letters, the word ATTENDING can be seen, and this is the answer to this subpuzzle.

Meta

In the third section of the video, we see 8 separate images, each prefixed with a letter, as well as a ninth image, which looks like some sort of acrostic. There is erratum for this puzzle on page 4/67 of the original PDF, saying the puzzle is screwed up and when we get the correct sequence we should call HQ. We also know from the solutions that the 1995 answer for this puzzle should be HOOKER, OK.

We can obtain this 1995 answer easily by anagramming the prefixed letters in each of the first 8 images. This is the sequence that is "screwed up" in the 1995 erratum (it is in alphabetical order in the video). For the 2023 answer, the correct sequence HOOKER, OK will give us an ordering, up to ambiguity among the K’s and O’s.

The ninth image should remind us of Puzzle 13 in 1995, which was also a double acrostic. The first mechanic used in that puzzle was to look at the first word from the flavor texts of some puzzles and anagram them to obtain the words referenced in the acrostic. In the video, we notice that 3 of the puzzles have that exact same property (RECLAIMS anagrams to CLAIMERS, SCAN ALERT anagrams to ANCESTRAL, and ON COURTS anagrams to CROUTONS). In particular, Puzzles 2, 12 and 32 are A, B and C respectively. (These are three puzzles that were used in the first step of the 1995 meta, Puzzle 13.) The flavor text of Puzzle 31 ("Suite mother of perl!") suggests that there is some homophone trickery, which would explain why the A, bee and sea emojis are used here.

We can then use the 2023 answers from these puzzles to fill in the double acrostic. Going back to the video, we get:

Rearranging in the HOOKER, OK order obtains the intermediate clue phrase SEND AN EMAIL TO NEWGEMINI AT MIT EDU.

The 1995 meta started with a cluephrase telling solvers to get more instructions from GEMINI@MIT.EDU. Now we must contact NEWGEMINI@MIT.EDU. Upon doing so, we receive 4 sets of runaround instructions, each prefixed with a number.

Puzzle 0: "Find the office of the MLK visiting scholar on the fourth floor of 14N. Look at the office on its right. Take the string before the at sign, above the 617."
Puzzle 1: "Look at the poster to the left of 8-202. Take the first part of the last hyphenated word of the subtitle."
Puzzle 10: "Exit Hayden Library and turn left down the hall. On the last in the series of HASS displays, take the sixth word of the first paragraph to the left of the artwork by Ekua Holmes."
Puzzle 27: "Find the wall display on the first floor between buildings 1 and 3 that is a 2x6 grid of colored photos. In the second image of the top row, take the second part of the hyphenated mixture."

The instruction prefixed by the number 0 would send us to 14N-428, the office of CARL HOLT.

The instruction prefixed by the number 1 would send us to a poster left of 8-202, whose title ends in PERPETUAL-materials.

The instruction prefixed by the number 10 would some displays send us to building 14, and the word from said display is PROGRAMMING.

The instruction prefixed by the number 27 points to part of a MechE display about modeling a cornstarch-WATER mixture.

The numbers correspond to the remaining 1995 puzzle numbers that were not used in obtaining the clue phrase. Each answer shares exactly 2 letters (in unique positions) with a word/phrase above:

OVERCOAT
CARLHOLT

REPRODUCE
PERPETUAL

POETRYSLAMS
PROGRAMMING

MOTEL
WATER

Taking these in order gives the final answer to the 2023 puzzle: PETER OUT.