Witches' Hut (MIT Mystery Hunt 2020)
| Witches' Hut | |
|---|---|
| MIT Mystery Hunt 2020 | |
| Wizard's Hollow | |
| Author(s) | Nina Hinrichs and Yar Woo; poem by Chris Harris and Shelly Manber |
| Answer | Click to revealNEWTRITIOUS GRUB |
| Statistics | |
| No. solves | 34 |
| No. total guesses | 146 |
| Links | |
| Puzzle | Link |
| Solution | Link |
Witches' Hut is the metapuzzle of the Wizard's Hollow round of the 2020 MIT Mystery Hunt.
Answer List[edit | edit source]
- Arts and Witchcrafts --> ANSWERSKEINS
- Charming --> ANSWERMONARCH
- Checkerboard --> ANSWERLEGAL BALANCE
- Drawing Board --> ANSWERROUGH CALCULATION
- Espresso Stand --> ANSWERHANGOVER REMEDY
- Fortune Cookies --> ANSWERAMENDMENTS
- Fortune Teller --> ANSWERLOCALITY
- Magic 8-Ball --> ANSWERCORNUCOPIA
- Magic Railway --> ANSWERGRACE UNDER FIRE
- Monty Minotaur's Magical Menagerie --> ANSWERLAUGHINGSTOCK
- Pirate Ship --> ANSWERCHARACTER FLAW
- Player Piano --> ANSWERALABAMA
- Sand Witches --> ANSWERTHORNY ISSUE
- The Wizard's Escape --> ANSWERRESCUE DEVICE
- Wizard Woods --> ANSWERBUREAU
Puzzle Elements[edit | edit source]
Metapuzzle (Shelled Meta) - The puzzle is presented with a poem as the shell.
Flavortext - Business at the Witches’ Hut is brisk, but what do they need more of?
Knowledge Required (Literature, Shakespeare) - The first two lines of the poem are copied straight from Act IV, Scene 1 of Macbeth; these lines preface the famous passage beginning "eye of newt and toe of frog". The witches appear to be adding the answers to their brew, hinting that...
Meta By Association - ...the feeders to this puzzle are able to be expressed similarly, as a metaphorical "body part" of some other noun:
- ALABAMA = HEART OF DIXIE
- AMENDMENTS = BILL OF RIGHTS
- BUREAU = CHEST OF DRAWERS
- CHARACTER FLAW = FEET OF CLAY
- CORNUCOPIA = HORN OF PLENTY
- GRACE UNDER FIRE = NERVES OF STEEL
- HANGOVER REMEDY = HAIR OF THE DOG (that bit you)
- LAUGHINGSTOCK = BUTT OF THE JOKE
- LEGAL BALANCE = SCALES OF JUSTICE
- LOCALITY = NECK OF THE WOODS
- MONARCH = HEAD OF STATE
- RESCUE DEVICE = JAWS OF LIFE
- ROUGH CALCULATION = BACK OF THE ENVELOPE
- SKEINS = BALLS OF YARN
- THORNY ISSUE = BONE OF CONTENTION
Reordering (Alphabetical) - The meta also has a note to keep the answers in alphabetical order. The poem has flat-like blanks, symbolized with bolded letters A-O; the letters are associated to answers using alphabetical order.
Indexing - The poem also conveniently includes numbers for indexing with the letters—of course, into the X of Y phrases. Reading the letters in poem order produces the answer.
Asked and Answered - As with most metapuzzles, the solution to this metapuzzle answers a question in a punny way—in this case, what the witches need more of.
