2 commentsPuzzle Hunt
This weekend, I participated in a puzzle hunt at google. It started at 8AM Saturday and ended at 5PM Sunday. We had a team of 12, most of whom hadn’t done this before.
I had a great time.. our team did OK (middle/lower end of the pack), which is good for people who haven’t played before. The quality of the puzzles was excellent: there were layers upon layers of puzzles, a variety of tasks, and witty hints and answers.
Here’s the first puzzle from the hunt (it’s printed on the back of the event tshirt):
OPENING ROOT INITIAL GENESIS INCEPTION NATIVITY
REBOOT DOPPELGANGER REAPPEAR LOOK-ALIKE FISSION SHANGHAIINGS DITTO REECHO
INDICT FOURTEEN PSALM SUBTLE JEOPARDY PRACTICALLY DOSSIER WEDNESDAY ISLAND
FIE GAVE ROTUND REAL TAX PROTOZOA ASPIRIN
ANESTHESIA THEOLOGY PROMETHEUS PHOTOSYNTHETIC SYNTHEHOL PRITHEE THERAPEUTIC AUTHENTICATE
BISON SUSANNA PREPARED LASHES CAMINO COLI
IGOR YOUTUBE ELBOW AUTEUR JEEPERS WILD
GRAVY IRED PINKO AMBLER PLUME NUMBER TRUST
ERE RACECAR CIVIC DID LEVEL PEP SOROS
HAIRSTYLE GESTURE TUVALU MCDERMOTT HIJINKS SYNOPSIS
VARIES NEATEN EVOLUTIONARY WORDPLAY BONY AWFUL INDICATE QUALITY LAVISH
The answer to this puzzle is a single word.
Hint if you’re having trouble getting started: Each word set is going to reduce to another word, and all of those words will then reduce to the answer. The first couple sets are easier than most because the meanings of the words are hints at what to do with them.
Hint if you’re having trouble finishing: You don’t need to know all of the parts to get the output word… you can probably figure it out with half of them. It’s easier with all of them, of course.
Remember to surround spoilers with <font color=”white”> and </font> if you comment.
2 comments
Here are answers for the puzzle:
OPENING ROOT INITIAL GENESIS INCEPTION NATIVITY
word: ORIGIN
(first letter of each word, each word including the answer means origin)
letter: O
REBOOT DOPPELGANGER REAPPEAR LOOK-ALIKE FISSION SHANGHAIINGS DITTO REECHO
word: OPPOSITE
(pick letters from words which occur twice consecutively in the word)
letter: P
INDICT FOURTEEN PSALM SUBTLE JEOPARDY PRACTICALLY DOSSIER WEDNESDAY ISLAND
word: CUPBOARDS
(pick the letter which is silent in pronounciation)
letter: P
FIE GAVE ROTUND REAL TAX PROTOZOA ASPIRIN
word: FLAMING
(add a letter at the end to form a word)
letter: O
ANESTHESIA THEOLOGY PROMETHEUS PHOTOSYNTHETIC SYNTHEHOL PRITHEE THERAPEUTIC AUTHENTICATE
word: SOUTHERN
(pick the first letter following THE)
letter: R
BISON SUSANNA PREPARED LASHES CAMINO COLI
word: MOBILE
(add a prefix to the word and pick the sound of the letter it has)
letter: T
IGOR YOUTUBE ELBOW AUTEUR JEEPERS WILD
word: EULOGY
(pick sound of the first few letters in the pronounciation of the word)
letter: U
GRAVY IRED PINKO AMBLER PLUME NUMBER TRUST
word: VIOLENT
(drop a letter to get a color)
letter: N
ERE RACECAR CIVIC DID LEVEL PEP SOROS
word: REVIVER
(all palindromes, pick middle letter)
letter: I
HAIRSTYLE GESTURE TUVALU MCDERMOTT HIJINKS SYNOPSIS
word: STUDIO
(pick the middle letter from 3 consecutive letters in the word in alphabetic order)
letter: T
VARIES NEATEN EVOLUTIONARY WORDPLAY BONY AWFUL INDICATE QUALITY LAVISH
word: OURSELVES
(add a letter to the start of the word to make a meaningful word)
letter: Y
Final word: OPPORTUNITY
That’s correct- great job!
Leave a Comment