What could possibly go in these blanks? (Cryptex Hunt 2022)

What could possibly go in these blanks?
Cryptex Hunt 2022
Author(s)	Chris & Tammy Dorn
Links
Puzzle	Link

What could possibly go in these blanks? is a word puzzle and the sixth puzzle of the 2022 Cryptex Hunt.

Solve Paths

As the introduction text asks, the goal for this puzzle is to fill in the provided blanks. In a few cases, there are multiple words that could be formed (the _URT__ and FI__D blanks in particular), but others only have one common option (such as AZALEA for _Z_LEA and SQUIRREL for _QUIRR__). Even if solvers aren't entirely sure of some of their choices, they may find that the most common options (according to OneLook) only require five unique letters to fill the blanks.

• APPLE
• TURTLE
• FIELD
• EARTH
• SQUIRREL
• AZALEA
• WORLD

The five letters added (AELST) could be randomly anagrammed into the final answer, but there are several options to go through. Instead, solvers can reorder these letters by the number of times they're added, as each one is added a unique number of times from 1 to 5. This order forms the final answer.

Part 1 Final Answer: Click to revealSTEAL.

After the first half, there are two pieces of textual information that haven't been used. These are the big "BONJOUR!" text at the top, and the easily-missed cryptexhunt url in the bottom right. Notably, the url appears to end on an abnormality in the background pattern: instead of the usual flower pattern, there is a fleur-de-lis right after the forward slash. These same patterns can be found below certain letters or spaces in the rest of the image. These marked letters spell "PEER", prompting solvers to visit https://cryptexhunt.com/peer. However, they will quickly discover that while they had the right idea, they're at the wrong location.

Focusing on the French now, solvers who know a little of the language may realize that some of the words have direct translations in French, and that these words are of the same length as their English counterparts. In fact, all of the words have this quality:

• APPLE --> POMME
• TURTLE --> TORTUE
• FIELD --> CHAMP
• EARTH --> TERRE
• SQUIRREL --> ECUREUIL
• AZALEA --> AZALEE
• WORLD --> MONDE

Repeating the process used to get "PEER" with these French words replacing the English ones, solvers can reach the actual final step of this puzzle by going to https://cryptexhunt.com/main. Here, the puzzle asks solvers to find the "MAIN" word among a field of letters and images. Re-using the French mechanic, solvers should realize that "main" is the French word for "hand". Looking at the letters over hands, and ordering based on the number of fingers being held up, gets them the final answer.

Part 2 Final Answer: Click to revealTRAPS.