Crocodile (MIT Mystery Hunt 2020)
| Crocodile | |
|---|---|
| MIT Mystery Hunt 2020 | |
| Safari Adventure | |
| Author(s) | Justin Graham |
| Answer | Click to revealDRUMS, PROTECTOR |
| Statistics | |
| No. solves | 1414 full solves, 28 correct submissions |
| No. total guesses | 48 |
| Links | |
| Puzzle | Link |
| Solution | Link |
The Penny Petting Zoo has two exhibits, separated by a crocodile moat. (Don’t ask why they put crocodiles in the Petting Zoo - just be very careful what you pet!)
Crocodile is an image-heavy puzzle from the Safari Adventure round of the 2020 MIT Mystery Hunt.
Puzzle Elements[edit | edit source]
Image Identification - Crocodile contains a large number of images—all of animals in a cage of some kind.
Identification (Biology, Taxonomy) - Each of these animals can be identified by scientific name (though the cages serve to throw off reverse image searching tools as best as they can).
Identification (Famous People) - Each of the animals have a shared characteristic: their scientific name (the two-word Latin phrase) is eponymic. Namely (as clued by the flavortext) the first set has animals named after celebrities...
Identification (Arts and Media) - ...and the second set animals named after famous fictional constructs.
Pairing Up - There's an equal number of each, and each of the "celebrity animals" has a relation next to it that can match one of the "fanciful animals". These can be paired.
Indexing - There's a number to each side of the relations; index it into the scientific name of the animal it corresponds to. Both sets of images start in no particular order; thus each set uses its own order to sort its letters.
Final Clue Phrase - Two final cluephrases, one for each side: RINGO INSTRUMENT and NERD'S POCKET WEAR. Each clues its own answer.
Multiple Answers (Sequential*) - Like most Safari Adventures puzzles, this one has multiple answers. The answer from the celebrity animals is relatively easier to find, being a simple indexing job; knowing the index for the "fanciful relations" requires knowing which celebrity each one links to.
