MIT Mystery Hunt 2020/Concierge Services

Concierge Services is an interactive puzzle from the round of the 2020 MIT Mystery Hunt. As 2020 was the first year without a callback system, this puzzle was a way of paying homage to the old system, and was thus the only puzzle in the hunt that did not automatically return the result of a guess.

Puzzle Elements
Flavortext - ''Submit your answer and wait for us to call you back at your registered team phone number. While waiting, we hope you enjoy the award-winning musical playlist we made just for you!''

Interaction - After solvers submitted an answer, they would receive a phone call informing them that their answer was incorrect (unless they submitted the correct answer) and then asking a banter-like question. After a while, the caller would hang up. This component is emulated on the post-hunt website.

Hint in Flavortext - The "award-winning musical playlist" hints towards the winners of the Tony Award for Best Musical.

Identification (Theater) - Each question can be answered with the name of one of these winners. Upon being provided with a winner that also answered a question (be it through the submission box or directly through the phone), the operator would respond with another banter-y sentence before asking another question. The questions asked this way are always in sequence (unlike the questions asked after an incorrect answer, which are chosen randomly).

Pun With Numbers - The banter sentence that follows each answer phonetically contains a number. For example, after the solvers answer AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', the operator will respond "OK. We'll find out who did this eventually".

Indexing - That number will be used to index into the associated musical; in the cyclical ordering used for correct answers, these letters spell out the answer. Submitting this answer will still cause a callback, but the operator will mark the puzzle as solved and proceed to engage in an actual conversation about the hunt.