Subterranean Secrets

by Catherine Wu and Katie Dunn

Answer:
INSTEPS

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Opening the puzzle, we see instructions that resemble a runaround. The title of the puzzle suggests that this runaround takes place in the tunnels of MIT. Following the instructions, we encounter seven riddles along the way wherever the person we are chasing writes something down.

Riddle FoundAnswer and Explanatory Notes
IT CANNOT BE STOPPED, CANNOT INCREASE,
MAY FOLLOW T, WITH NAUGHT WILL CEASE,
IT SEEKS THE STARS AND STARTS A SEEKER
AND OFT COMES FROM A SPEAKER.
IT PRECEDES A CLICK AND A SMILE,
ENDS THE YEARS IN CLOCKWORK STYLE.		Answer: COUNTDOWN
  • T-minus is used in some countdowns for rockets (star-seekers)
  • Hide-and-seek begins with counting down
  • Countdowns end in 0 (naught)
  • Some people count down when taking photos
  • A New Year’s Eve tradition involves counting down to the new year
THESE THINGS ALL THINGS RELATE:
CONSTANTS, CHANGERS, RATIOS, RATES;
CHEMICAL ONES GNAW IRON AND STEEL:
BALANCED ONES IN CLASS APPEAL;
SYSTEMS OF MANY TRACK OBJECTS
AND WITH ONE ONE CAN SOLVE FOR X.		Answer: EQUATIONS
  • Chemical equations describe oxidation, and can be balanced
  • Multiple equations may be called a system
  • Constants, variables (changers), ratios, rates, and solving for x are all associated with equations
LOOPING WITHOUT END,
AROUND A SINGLE BEND;
NEVER LIFTING, EVER TRACING
ON ONE LONE SIDE, THEIR OWN TAILS CHASING.		Answer: MÖBIUSSTRIPS
  • Möbius strips only have one side
  • Möbius strips are  made by twisting a paper once (a “single bend”)
NINETEEN MONTHS ON A 'FRISCO ISLE,
STAR FOR THE ROCK,
AND THINKER FOR LOCKE,
AND TASTING FOR THE OENOPHILE.		Answer: OCCUPATION
  • The 19-month occupation of Alcatraz can be found
  • Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a star; Locke is a thinker
A BRIDGE TO START OPERA, DANCE OR SUITE,
YET NO VOICES ARE HEARD WITH ITS BEAT.		Answer: OVERTURE
  • Definitionally, overtures are musical bridges in these works
TRUTH SUCH THINGS HAVE ANYTIME
BEYOND JUST LOCAL CAVITY:
LIKE ASTRONOMER'S TIME
OR CONSTANT OF GRAVITY.		Answer: UNIVERSAL
  • Astronomers use universal time
  • In physics, G is the universal constant of gravitation
WHAT HAS ROOTS 'GAINST BOSTON'S REDS,
IS TALLER THAN A HUNDRED FEET OR HEADS -
UP, UP, UP BALLS GO
TO CHEERS FROM THE BOROUGH.		Answer: YANKEESTADIUM
  • “Borough” clues New York
  • The Yankees are the rivals of the Red Sox
  • The stadium is over 100 feet tall

The riddles are given with enumerations, and are found in alphabetical order by the answer. As such, we need to find the right way to reorder them. Using flavor interspersed through the runaround – the shortness of the thief who vanishes, the setting of fish and dark caves beneath mountains, references to for hundreds of years, and phrases like “curse it” and “precious” – we can deduce this is a reference to The Hobbit, specifically the riddles exchanged between Bilbo and Gollum in the chapter “Riddles in the Dark”. We notice that the style of the riddles found is quite similar to the style of those in the riddle game (e.g. matching in rhyme scheme, number of lines, and occasionally phrases), so we should sort the riddles by order of appearance in the original text.

Original Riddle in The HobbitOriginal Riddle Answer in The HobbitRiddle From RunaroundRiddle Answer
What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up, up it goes
And yet, never grows		MOUNTAINWHAT HAS ROOTS 'GAINST BOSTON'S REDS,
IS TALLER THAN A HUNDRED FEET OR HEADS-
UP, UP, UP BALLS GO
TO CHEERS FROM THE BOROUGH.		YANKEESTADIUM
Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.		TEETHNINETEEN MONTHS ON A 'FRISCO ISLE,
STAR FOR THE ROCK,
AND THINKER FOR LOCKE,
AND TASTING FOR THE OENOPHILE.		OCCUPATION
Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
Toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.		WINDTRUTH SUCH THINGS HAVE ANYTIME
BEYOND JUST LOCAL CAVITY:
LIKE ASTRONOMER'S TIME
OR CONSTANT OF GRAVITY.		UNIVERSAL
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.		DARKIT CANNOT BE STOPPED, CANNOT INCREASE,
MAY FOLLOW T, WITH NAUGHT WILL CEASE,
IT SEEKS THE STARS AND STARTS A SEEKER
AND OFT COMES FROM A SPEAKER.
IT PRECEDES A CLICK AND A SMILE,
ENDS THE YEARS IN CLOCKWORK STYLE.		COUNTDOWN
A box without hinges, key or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.		EGGA BRIDGE TO START OPERA, DANCE OR SUITE,
YET NO VOICES ARE HEARD WITH ITS BEAT.		OVERTURE
Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking		FISHLOOPING WITHOUT END,
AROUND A SINGLE BEND;
NEVER LIFTING, EVER TRACING
ON ONE LONE SIDE, THEIR OWN TAILS CHASING.		MÖBIUSSTRIPS
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.		TIMETHESE THINGS ALL THINGS RELATE:
CONSTANTS, CHANGERS, RATIOS, RATES;
CHEMICAL ONES GNAW IRON AND STEEL:
BALANCED ONES IN CLASS APPEAL;
SYSTEMS OF MANY TRACK OBJECTS
AND WITH ONE ONE CAN SOLVE FOR X.		EQUATIONS

The last line of the runaround asks what we do initially, prompting us to look at the first letters which spell out YOU COME. Entering this into the interactive checker prompts us to request a pickup and HQ provides the following UV light:

We go back to the places with the riddles and, shining the blacklight, find a second set of riddles. Again, answers are presented in alphabetical order by answer for confirmation; however, they do not seem to fit the original enumeration on the paper.

Riddle found in UVAnswer and Explanatory Notes
BEACH OR LAKE OR COLD OR HOT;
UP OR CON; DOWN? PRO? IT’S NOT.		Answer: FRONT
  • Notice con- and pro- refer to prefixes
  • The word FRONT can follow all the words except “down” and “pro”
NORTHERN NEIGHBOR'S POINT IN V;
CRAZÈD CHASE SANS POINT TO SEE.		Answer: GOOSE
  • Canada is north of MIT
  • Geese fly in V formations
  • A wild goose chase has no point
FELT, IT TILTS, ASWAY, ALEE;
IT CAN ARISE FROM STONE OR TREE;
HEARD, IT CAN PERSUADE, OF NOTE;
FLYING HOME IT CAN CONNOTE.		Answer: PITCH
  • Pitch of a boat (which sways, and on which one can be alee)
  • Pitch (tar) can be derived from fossil fuels or wood
  • Elevator pitches persuade
  • Notes have pitches
  • Pitches in baseball go towards the home plate
HOUSE ON CHILD’S SHELF;
THE HUNTER’S FOE
WITH STINGING BLOW;
ORDER UNTO ITSELF.		Answer: SCORPION
  • The House of the Scorpion is a children’s book
  • The Hunter refers to Orion, who is pursued bys Scorpius
  • Scorpions sting
  • Scorpions form their own biological order
A PANEL, GREEN (YET BLACK—OBSERVE!);
A CENTER, STOMACHED WITH GREAT NERVE;
A SYSTEM, THAT WHICH WE CALL OUR OWN:
BY CERTAIN WORD THESE THREE ARE KNOWN.		Answer: SOLAR
  • A solar panel is “green” (clean energy), but appears black
  • The solar plexus is a bundle of nerves behind the stomach
  • The solar system contains Earth (others in the universe are planetary systems)
FROM ONE OF YOUTH, LEARN TWO BY SEVEN
IS FOURTEEN AND NOT ELEVEN;
THAT FOR WARRIORS OF YORE IS ROUND;
ANOTHER'S WATER'S HEIGHT IN GROUND.		Answer: TABLE
  • Multiplication tables are learned at a young age
  • The knights of the round table are referenced
  • The term “water table” is defined
WANTLESS WITHOUT IT, IT'S SAID–
FILLS LAND, REVERSE.
REFUSE AND SQUANDER AHEAD:
A LAND OF VERSE.		Answer: WASTE
  • The proverb “waste not want not”
  • After reversing, “landfills” are waste
  • Waste means refuse (n.) and squander (v.)
  • “The Wasteland” is a poem/”verse”

One piece of information we still have not used is the original answers to riddles from The Hobbit. We notice these make common two-word phrases when prepended.

Riddle AnswerPaired Hobbit Riddle Answer
(in book order)
TABLEMOUNTAIN
FRONTTEETH
SOLARWIND
PITCHDARK
GOOSEEGG
SCORPIONFISH
WASTETIME

Each two-word phrase has the same length as the answer to the corresponding pastiche-riddle from the first half.

Since the image of the UV light has a V nested within the U and the last question is “what have we got in our pockets”, we should look for what letters are in the unique “pocket” (U) of the first answer, keeping the answers in the original order. We then obtain our answer, INSTEPS.

TABLEMOUNTAIN
YANKEESTADIUM
FRONTTEETH
OCCUPATION
SOLARWIND
UNIVERSAL
PITCHDARK
COUNTDOWN
GOOSEEGG
OVERTURE
SCORPIONFISH
MÖBIUSSTRIPS
WASTETIME
EQUATIONS

Authors' Notes

I’ve always enjoyed this riddle game & writing pastiche poetry. Here are a couple others that never made the cut:

UNLIKE HATS BUT KIN TO CAPS,
TRUTH OR RHYTHM IT LAYS BELOW,
BUT UNDER NEITHER WALL NOR SLOW;
SURROUNDED BY COMMANDS, PERHAPS.		SPACE
IT SAYS HASHED, IT SAYS SALTED,
SAYS UNDECIDED: WHAT CAN BE HALTED.
IT INVOLVES TYPES, STEPS, INFORMATION,
AND MAY CAUSE STUDENTS FRUSTRATION
IT INVOLVES TREES, AND BUGS, NOT BIRDS:
THE SIXTH COURSE'S FINAL WORDS.		COMPUTERSCIENCE
A BUNDLE OF HIS CENTER;
FROM THE LARGEST CHANNEL, ENTER.
FOUR ROOMS, SIDE BY SIDE;
IT MAY STOP BUT NEVER SLIDE.		HEART