May 2017 Puzzled Pint: Pintopia Press

Tap on any hint box to view it. Updated 05-02.

Location

  1. According to step 1, Pete doesn't live in column 4.
  2. Step 2 must be the Okafars' or Ruzickas' house, since they are the only uniquely colored house east of a black house.
  3. In combination with step 1, we now know that Pete is a Tropp, Bentley, or Chatterjee.
  4. Step 3 is Tays. Since that house is green, and since we know that he never visits two of the same color in a row, we now know step 2 must be Okafors.
  5. Step 4 is Irwins. Step 5 is Ruzickas. Step 6 is Edwards.
  6. Since we know Pete's house is blue or orange, and there are no orange houses available for this last step, that means Pete's house -- and this house -- are both blue.
  7. So we now know: Pete's last name is Tropp, the 2nd stop was the Wattanasins, and the 7th stop is the Demirs.
  8. Take the first letters of the eight houses Pete visits, including his own, to get TWO TIRED.

News article

  1. You're looking for 6 stolen gems.
  2. The gems are split up.
  3. The gems you're looking for are the birthstones for each of the six months shown in the middle. Note that some of these months have multiple birthstones, depending on where you look it up.
  4. You're looking for:
    GARNET
    AQUAMARINE
    DIAMOND
    EMERALD
    MOONSTONE
    RUBY
  5. The first half of each gem name is in the left column, the second half is in the right column.
  6. The gem parts are also parts of hyphenated words (the only hyphenated words in the article.)
  7. Draw lines connecting the two parts of each gem.
  8. Look where the lines cross. Read underneath
  9. The words under the line crosses read SHIFT HEADLINE INITIALS BACK TWO
  10. The headline initials are LGYGN. Shift them back two to get…
  11. JEWEL

Business news

  1. Each headline refers to two stock symbols, one explicitly given, one not.
  2. The rest of the headline is a clue for a word.
  3. Words clued in each headline, in order:
    MASK
    FUDGE
    DOMES
    NECKLACE
    HOEDOWN
    HARNESS
    MASTIFF
    MOSS
    ALCOHOL
    SAFE
    MOPED
    TABBY
    EVIL
    GERM
    NURSE
  4. Each pair of stock tickers completes the full word, minus a letter.
  5. Mergers mean the missing letter comes between the two symbols. Acquisitions mean the acquired company goes inside the named company, along with missing letter.
  6. The missing letters, in order, spell SUM CENTS OF PAIRS
  7. By adding the cents of the stock prices of each pair of companies, you get a number between 1 and 26.
  8. The cent totals convert to alpha characters: SOLUTION IS BUCKY. The solution is BUCKY

Weather

  1. The %s should be use with the weather conditions.
  2. Take just the listed percentage of each condition, starting at the front.
  3. The %s yield the following strings:
    COUNT
    RIE
    SL
    AST
    LET
    TER
    S
    Which spells COUNTRIES LAST LETTERS
  4. The last letters of the seven countries that the seven cities are located in spell…
  5. CLEMENT

Sports

  1. Connect 4 is indexing: use the 4 extracted letters to spell a 4-letter word.
  2. Before & After requires you to think about the word semantically…
  3. … Think of a word that comes after the first word, and before the second.
  4. Leapfrog is a game of going back and forth between the two words…
  5. Look at the first letter of the first word, the second of the second, third of the first, and fourth of the second.
  6. Match Game means find the letters that are shared between the two words
  7. SUMP
    IRON
    MISO
    BOWL
    GENE
    HALL
    BASS
    ROLL
  8. POOL
    DRUM
    PUMP
    SOUP
  9. PROM
    POMP
  10. POM POM

Word Games

  1. Do the Jumble first. It's straightforward jumble.
  2. CRUSH
    JOKERS
    PRAWNS
    TRASHY
    HOUSE
  3. The final Jumble phrase starts with a C.
  4. The jumble phrase is "CROSS" YOUR HEARTS.
  5. The crossword is normal, except the five missing clues correspond to the five Jumble words. Each of those Jumble words can serve as a missing crossword clue.
  6. The answers to the five crossword clues that are missing are:
    SMASH
    CLOWNS
    SHRIMP
    GARISH
    ABODE
  7. Note that the Jumble words and the crossword words they pair with are the same lengths.
  8. "CROSS" YOUR HEARTS means move the position of the hearts to the corresponding boxes in the crossword.
  9. Those five hearts, in the order of the Jumble words, spell…
  10. ALPHA

Meta

  1. 1. First, cut off or fold back the right margin on each page.
    2. Orient each page so the P in the logo is facing the proper way. The front page should be oriented normally.
    3. Interleaf the pages: tuck the bottom 1/4 or so of each page under the next page. You'll end up with a 4x4 grid of pages. The middle intersection will make a bullseye out of the Target logos.
    4. Tape them together
  2. Time to use those strange black splotches. Next to each one, write the letter that's being obscured.
  3. You need to use the five pet names. It'll help to spin the resulting 16"x16" square so a given puzzle is oriented right while work on that puzzle's answer.
  4. The petsitter's note says "connect the dots".
  5. For each of the five pet names, draw an imaginary path between the black dots that represent the letters in the answer, in order. No letter of the alphabet is obscured by more than one black dot.
  6. Each of the five paths will spell a letter. POM POM will spell the same letter twice.
  7. The final answer is YELLOW.

Bonus

  1. Each horoscope describes a famous person. Most are fictional; a few are real.
  2. Every answer is a first name or single name.
  3. In order from Aries to Pisces, the horoscopes describe these people:
    JESUS
    THELMA
    KERMIT
    TARZAN
    LOT
    VENUS
    BJORK
    MAGNETO
    RUBYTUESDAY
    DAREDEVIL
    SUPERMAN
    GASTON
  4. Note that LOT is LEO. And RUBYTUESDAY is a SAGITTARIUS.
  5. Each name is the same length as its sign.
  6. Each name and correspondign sign shares one letter in one position. LOT / LEO shares an L.
  7. The 12 matched letters should be put in order according to the number of stars at the end of the horoscope, from 1 to 12.
  8. The 12 extracted letters spell OVER LAST STAR.
  9. Look at the letter immediately over the last — i.e. rightmost — star in each horoscope. In order from Aries to Pisces, they spell…
  10. UNSUBSCRIBE!