Medal Ceremony (Silph Puzzle Hunt 2021)
| Medal Ceremony | |
|---|---|
| Silph Puzzle Hunt 2021 | |
| Round 1 | |
| Author(s) | Lydian |
| Answer | Click to revealRUNNERS |
| Statistics | |
| No. solves | 220 |
| No. total guesses | 367 |
| Links | |
| Puzzle | Link |
| Solution | Link |
| Checker | Link |
| Stats | Link |
Medal Ceremony is the final feeder puzzle of round 1 of the 2021 Silph Puzzle Hunt, presenting as a set of nineteen rebuses and a ring of thirteen numbered circles with connections between them.
Solve Path[edit | edit source]
To begin, solvers are meant to identify what the rebuses represent. There is no particular gimmick going on with the rebuses, though there are a few rules for the solver to realize here. All of the rebuses clue to an olympian. Realizing this fact can help solvers to fill in the remaining rebuses, and this fact can be notes fairly early in the solving of the rebuses, likely after just a few identifications. Below is a list of some of the rules used in the rebuses
- Mirrors are used to reverse a string
- Numbers are often converted to their roman numeral equivalent
- + means to concatenate
- - means to remove letters
- / represents the string or
- an arrow swaps the letter on top with the letter on bottom
After solving most or all of the rebuses to olympians, solvers may either notice an interesting fact that connects them, or turn their attention to the ring of circles presented below the rebuses. The ring has thirteen numbered circles, with connections between them. There are thirteen unique activities that the olympians extracted from the first step medaled in. In fact, each olympian medaled in exactly two of those thirteen sports.
Solvers are meant to associate the thirteen numbered circles to the thirteen activities the olympians medaled in. The connecting lines between the circles represent the olympians, each connecting to exactly two activities. Using logical deduction, solvers can place the thirteen activities into the circles. One possible break-in for this step is to notice the two activities that have exactly one connection, the three near 1 o'clock and the three near 7 o'clock. One of these threes connects to a circle with two connects, and another connects to a circle with three connections, allowing solvers to place the activities Skeleton and Equestrian in those two locations, respectively.
Indexing the number in each circle into the official activity name placed in each circle yields the solution.
Puzzle Elements[edit | edit source]
- Rebus - The first step of this puzzle tasks the solver with identifying various rebuses. None of them use particularly complex logic, and identifying the overarching theme solvers can hone in on what each clue represents with relative accuracy.
- Hint in Title - On top of the title of this puzzle being a bookend to Opening Ceremony thematically, it helps clue the theme of the puzzle (which both ties together all the rebuses and informs what is important about the results).
- Sports & Recreation (The Olympics) - That theme is, in fact, olympic athletes, particular those who have achieved medal placements in multiple sports. Granted, not all of them are "sports", as this does date back to the period of the modern olympics when "Art Competitions" were an event.
- Deduction Logic Puzzle (Needs Name) - Once the athletes and their sports have been identified, there's a small logic puzzle where solvers have to place the events into circles with connections between them, using those shared between multiple athletes as clues to their positions.
- Indexing - Once placed, all that's left to do is index into the events by the number on their grid node to get the final answer.
