Puzzle of the Day (Galactic Puzzle Hunt 2017)
| Puzzle of the Day | |
|---|---|
| Galactic Puzzle Hunt 2017 | |
| Day 1 | |
| Author(s) | Brian Chen |
| Answer | Click to revealFLAT EXPANSE |
| Statistics | |
| No. solves | 278 |
| No. total guesses | 551 |
| Links | |
| Puzzle | Link |
| Solution | Link |
| Checker | Link |
Puzzle of the Day is a word puzzle from the first day of Galactic Puzzle Hunt 2017, consisting of a list of crossword clues punctuated by a period between the first and second clues and three periods at the end.
Solve Path[edit | edit source]
Given that they are the only obviously puzzle-related component, solvers will likely start with the crossword clues.
Solvers should look for which clues are particularly solvable. Clues like "Vegetable that gives Popeye superhuman strength" and "C9H13NO3" can be found by a quick Google search. Others like "Tasteless" and "Fox-like" have many possible answers. For the sake of the solve path, assume all clues are solved before continuing on.
Winner or advocate (4|2) - CHAMPION
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Criticize small details (3|2) - NITPICK
The Illuminati, for example (4|4) - CONSPIRACY
Trachea (4|2) - WINDPIPE
C9H13NO3 (1|8) - EPINEPHRINE
Altruistic (10|1) - PHILANTHROPIC
Namesake of a triangular fractal (4|4) - SIERPINSKI
U.S. state whose name may be used to count out roughly one second (9|0) - MISSISSIPPI
Rice cooked in seasoned broth (0|3) - PILAF
Fox-like (3|2) - VULPINE
Vegetable that gives Popeye superhuman strength (1|4) - SPINACH
Chilean dictator (0|6) - PINOCHET
Animal with sharp quills (5|2) - PORCUPINE
Modern camera smartphones have about 10–15 of these (4|4) - MEGAPIXELS
Genus of the Taung child (8|6) - AUSTRALOPITHECUS
Newell Brands permanent marker (4|1) - SHARPIE
Brave, as an explorer (5|1) - INTREPID
Tasteless (4|1) - INSIPID
French revolutionary figure (5|4) - ROBESPIERRE
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Even after solving for some of the clues, solvers may notice answers share the substring "PI", which the enumerations list the location of in the word, being the number of letters before and after "PI". In fact, this is clued by the puzzle's title: the puzzle was released on March 14th, colliquially known as Pi Day due to the date's written form resembling the common approximation of the mathematical constant Pi: 3.14. Solvers can use this to figure out the rest of the clues.
After solving every clue, solvers are clued in by the references to Pi to index each answer by the constant's digits. The dot between the first and second clues hints at the location of the decimal point. Indexing gives the puzzle's final answer.
CHAMPION (3) - A
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NITPICK (1) - N
CONSPIRACY (4) - S
WINDPIPE (1) - W
EPINEPHRINE (5) - E
PHILANTHROPIC (9) - R
SIERPINSKI (2) - I
MISSISSIPPI (6) - S
PILAF (5) - F
VULPINE (3) - L
SPINACH (5) - A
PINOCHET (8) - T
PORCUPINE (9) - E
MEGAPIXELS (7) - X
AUSTRALOPITHECUS (9) - P
SHARPIE (3) - A
INTREPID (2) - N
INSIPID (3) - S
ROBESPIERRE (8) - E
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Puzzle Elements[edit | edit source]
Crossword Clues - The puzzle is completely composed of this type of clue with the exception of some subtle stylistic additions.
Enumeration - Enumerations are composed of two numbers signifying the placement of a certain element within the answers.
Indexing - The answers must be indexed by the digits of pi.
