Much Assembly Required (EC Puzzle Hunt)

Much Assembly Required
EC Puzzle Hunt
Seasons (Spring)
Author(s)	SeptaCube
Answer	Click to revealPSEUDONYMS
Statistics
No. solves	87
No. total guesses	209
Links
Puzzle	Link
Solution	Link
Checker	Link
Stats	Link

Much Assembly Required is a logic puzzle from the EC Puzzle Hunt in the Seasons (Spring) round. The puzzle is presented as two lists of strings, one labeled across and one labeled down. Despite its title, the puzzle is not a Some Assembly Required.

Solve Path

 

This is a diagramless criss-cross in which all the words appear to be gibberish. While this may look daunting at first, a break-in can be made by assuming the grid is rotationally symmetrical: since SAOYRRWC is the only 8-letter across answer, it must go in the center. From there, the grid can be slowly expanded into an odd, zig-zagging shape by considering which intersections are possible. When finished, the eight four-letter question mark answers can be seen to form the cluephrase "MAKE GRID INTO CUBE NETS SAME FACE MEET" reading along the shape from top right to bottom left. Indeed, making the grid is the easy part.
Once the grid is uniquely divided into 27 cube nets (which also have rotational symmetry), they need to be assembled into a 3x3x3 cube, with letters on adjoining faces matching. This be done either digitally or physically, but the result is the same. Once the cube is complete, there is a way to orient it so that the outward-facing letters on four faces yield the cluephrase "MARK TWAIN, DR SEUSS AND MARY WESTMACOTT (TEN)" when read counterclockwise, top to bottom; these are all PSEUDONYMS.

Puzzle Elements

 

Fill-In - Like a typical fill-in, the list of clues to place in a grid is (mostly) given to you, with no need to solve for any crossword clues.

Diagramless Crossword - However, the grid is not provided and solvers will need to construct the grid themselves.

Dissection - Upon building the grid, solvers get an intermediate cluephrase to cut up the grid into cube nets.

3-D Puzzle - Solvers end up getting 27 cubes, which leads to the final realization - you have to reassemble these cubes into a larger 3x3x3 cube.