MIT Mystery Hunt 2020/The Holy Cup of the Raven-God: Difference between revisions

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|title = <!-- Puzzle title, defaults to subpage name, but be sure to include in case of slashes or weird formatting -->
|title = <!-- Puzzle title, defaults to subpage name, but be sure to include in case of slashes or weird formatting -->
|hunt = <!-- Hunt name, defaults to page parent. Do not link with [[]]; it'll automatically do so -->
|hunt = <!-- Hunt name, defaults to page parent. Do not link with [[]]; it'll automatically do so -->
|round = <!-- will also automatically link - assumes subpage of hunt page -->
|round = Balloon Vendor
|image = <!-- Should start with File: -->
|image = <!-- Should start with File: -->
|image_width = <!-- include "px", defaults to 200px -->
|image_width = <!-- include "px", defaults to 200px -->
|image_caption =
|image_caption =
|author =
|author = Benjamin L de Bivort
|solves =
|solves = 48
|guesses = <!-- total (correct and incorrect) -->
|guesses = 187
|link = <!-- puzzle link, these should all be plain URLs -->
|link = https://puzzles.mit.edu/2020/puzzle/ravengod/
|solution_link =
|solution_link = https://puzzles.mit.edu/2020/puzzle/ravengod/solution/
|checker_link =
|checker_link =
|stats_link =
|stats_link =
|answer = TORCH
}}
}}
'''The Holy Cup of the Raven-God''' is a [INSERT PUZZLE TYPE] puzzle from the {{l|Balloon Vendor}} round of the [[MIT Mystery Hunt (2020)|2020 MIT Mystery Hunt]]. It [INSERT BRIEF DESCRIPTION]
'''The Holy Cup of the Raven-God''' is a puzzle from the {{l|Balloon Vendor}} round of the [[MIT Mystery Hunt 2020|2020 MIT Mystery Hunt]].


==Solve Path==
[INSERT SOLVE PATH]

[INSERT PICTURE]
==Puzzle Elements==
==Puzzle Elements==


[[Text-Heavy]] - The puzzle is stated in the flavortext to be a poem, although it is rather more like prose in construction. Each paragraph consists of one long non-sensical line, then states below it a number of familial relations.
* [INSERT ELEMENTS]

[[Flavortext]] - ''While wandering the park, you encounter the balloon seller, in the guise of an old, cloaked, man. He fixes you with one eye and utters this poem.''

{{spoiler|label=Spoiler-y Elements}}
[[Knowledge Required]] ([[Poetry]]) - The first line in each paragraph is a sentence containing nested kennings (a kind of Norse wordplay that obliquely refers to nouns by a phrase using two others). The referents of a kenning can be found by searching a website such as that of the [https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=kennings Skaldic Project].

[[Identification]] ([[History]]) - Simplifying the kenning all the way down results in a phrase that identifies a specific historical Viking. The familial relations below the sentence can then be identified. As an example, take the first kenning, reducing down to "The serpent-tongue who dueled, in the last of its kind, with the raven and found death in it". A Wikipedia search yields [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnlaugr_ormstunga Gunnlaugr ormstunga], where "ormstunga" is the "serpent-tongue"; he dueled [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hrafn Hrafn] (Raven) Önundarson in the last ''hólmganga'' (duel) allowed in Iceland. Referencing [https://sagadb.org/gunnlaugs_saga_ormstungu.en his saga] yields THORGERD as his mother's mother, HELGA as his true love, and HERMUND as his brother.

Knowledge Required ([[Mythology]]) - Associated with each relation is a phrase making reference to Norse mythology. Each resolves down to a number...

[[Indexing]] - ...that can then index into the names of each relation.

[[Final Clue Phrase]] - The phrase obtained this way is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius#Etymology_and_cultural_significance THE DOG STAR] IS LOKI'S BLANK, a clue for the final answer.
{{spoiler-end}}

Latest revision as of 10:20, 9 June 2022

The Holy Cup of the Raven-God
MIT Mystery Hunt 2020
Balloon Vendor
Author(s)Benjamin L de Bivort
AnswerClick to revealTORCH
Statistics
No. solves48
No. total guesses187
Links
PuzzleLink
SolutionLink

The Holy Cup of the Raven-God is a puzzle from the Balloon Vendor round of the 2020 MIT Mystery Hunt.

Puzzle Elements[edit | edit source]

Text-Heavy - The puzzle is stated in the flavortext to be a poem, although it is rather more like prose in construction. Each paragraph consists of one long non-sensical line, then states below it a number of familial relations.

Flavortext - While wandering the park, you encounter the balloon seller, in the guise of an old, cloaked, man. He fixes you with one eye and utters this poem.

 

Knowledge Required (Poetry) - The first line in each paragraph is a sentence containing nested kennings (a kind of Norse wordplay that obliquely refers to nouns by a phrase using two others). The referents of a kenning can be found by searching a website such as that of the Skaldic Project.

Identification (History) - Simplifying the kenning all the way down results in a phrase that identifies a specific historical Viking. The familial relations below the sentence can then be identified. As an example, take the first kenning, reducing down to "The serpent-tongue who dueled, in the last of its kind, with the raven and found death in it". A Wikipedia search yields Gunnlaugr ormstunga, where "ormstunga" is the "serpent-tongue"; he dueled Hrafn (Raven) Önundarson in the last hólmganga (duel) allowed in Iceland. Referencing his saga yields THORGERD as his mother's mother, HELGA as his true love, and HERMUND as his brother.

Knowledge Required (Mythology) - Associated with each relation is a phrase making reference to Norse mythology. Each resolves down to a number...

Indexing - ...that can then index into the names of each relation.

Final Clue Phrase - The phrase obtained this way is THE DOG STAR IS LOKI'S BLANK, a clue for the final answer.