The Hunt Rules
The Hunt has been solved! The answer is benzene ring. Explanations are posted in italics.
Inspired by Mystery Hunt and the Ring Committee of 2004, we will release one clue every week for four weeks. At the end of the four weeks, by combining the four earlier answers, a final "answer" may be produced.
You may work in a team of 1-4 (or more, if you really prefer) people to solve these puzzles and submit the answer. There are two free rings at stake: the refund price of the two rings will be divided equally among the team members.
The hunt will consist of four clues, each of which will provide a unique solution. These four solutions will then be used together in a final clue on the fifth week of the puzzle. The first team to submit an overall answer to the puzzle, in addition to answers to the individual clues, in addition to a brief excerpt detailing how the team arrived at the answers will receive the grand prize.
The first team to respond with the correct answer at the end of this process will receive a refund equalling the price of two 10K gold rings, equally divided among the members. In the case that the first respondent is a one-person team, that person will only receive a refund equal to one 10K ring. In that case, the second-place team would receive a refund equalling the price of one ring.
Good hunting, and good luck!
Hunt -- Part One
i)
30, 60, 90, Pythagoras was clear
Find the length of this hypotenuse and you'll be one step near...er
ii)
Now, with the above building so geometrically grand,
Travel to the third floor and find the portrait of Walt Whitman
Several yards to the left is the oldest of the four,
Mark the year of his graduation and continue on for more!
Although metric is quite neat,
For the length you found above (i), use the UK unit ____
Take the root of the nearest integer square
Add its negative to a fifth of the year (ii) you found up there
Go to the building's lobby that is a tenth of this number
Stand among the steel triangle forest and peer across
To see a pronounced red symbol
Hold it for later
[Answer 1 is this red symbol] -- J
Hunt -- Part Two
All about this room, where words have been wrovght in
Stone, lists of names, brave
Combatants
Invite the svllen mind
In the lines the qvarry lies
"(1,22) (2,58) (1,3) (1,26) (2,8) (1,61) -
(1,15) (2,9) (2,27) (1,41)"
- RCM
i)
Have this number follow itself, with a one in between,
Find this room, turn around, and count the dots on the screen
ii)
Wait, there is more! For the letters are numbers! Let the acrostic be your aide
Find the sum of these 10, and you'll have it made!
Two sums you have done, i and ii, with great faith
Multiply together, (but not in your head)
Add three ones with a three, just to be safe
And go to this room, that fills us with dread!
Close you are! An answer approaches! To the front of the room with feet on fire!
Peer from the window overhead, and number the building whose sin makes you desire.
[Answer 2 is this building number] -- 54
Hunt -- Part Three
Mathematics, we learn, is more than just a state of mind,
By graphing with these constraints, a building you will find
X^2 + Y^2 + Z^2 = 1
Subject to
Z-X>0
Z-Y+X>0
Z+Y+X>0
i)
Stand at this building
Count the cones hanging above
Counting the cones above answers these things three
[Answer 3 is the three words associated with this number] -- Life, the universe, and everything
ii)
From this building number:
Throw the first character away: two numbers stand
Divide the second by three, add it to the end
Append triple three's and this 6 digit clue
Will carry you through
Hunt -- Part Four
Find the room where bronze faces stare
Famous innovators whose heritage we share
Their work, simplified for us to admire
Has been shifted into a puzzling mire!
i) XD=s
ii) 
iii) 
iv) For the fourth name I feel I may be screwed
I reckon I'll be counting sand with this old dude!
v) 
vi) I=C-BA
Six names you've found now, and six numbers from before [clue 3]
From the names in the order presented, take the appropriate letter
For a six letter word which will do you much better!
However
The first three letters seemingly risqué, and the last three lack sense anyway!
Shift the last three in the way that the symbols were shifted above
To find a solution any physics student would be proud of!
For the man who gave this notation its name
Find his and you'll be one step closer to fame!
[Answer 4 is the name of the physicist who created this notation] -- Paul Dirac
Final Puzzle
Where is the Acronym?
Using clue 3 as your guide
(2,1) (1,2) (1,4) (3,5)
Shift by 13, find its location, and go to its side!
The coordinates should correspond to UIEY, which, when Caesar ciphered 13 gives you HVRL: the High Voltage Research Lab, building N10, 155 Mass ave
a)
Take the answer from clue 2, divide it by 3
Find that letter of the building's name for answer a
54 / 3 = 18, the 18th letter of High Voltage Research Lab is 'C'
The Recently Departed
From the address of the building above, subtract dekaFUN
Where the FUNth letter of the alphabet is clue 1
Address is 155 Mass Ave, subtract 10 * J = 10 * 10 (J is the 10th letter of the alphabet) = 55
Go to this place down the way,
Find what keeps MIT from floating away
Giant anchors belonging to USS Wasmuth and USS Roper can be found at 55 Mass Ave
b)
With majestic beauty these behemoths rode the waves
Answer b is the average number of letters in their names
Average number of letters = (7 + 5)/2 = 6
Take the product of the call numbers of these giants so grand
For the ring comes quickly and is almost at hand!
Call Numbers are DD-147 and DD-338, product = 49686
Living with your Grandparents
Find the number of years clue 4 was around
And two 1's to the front, and a 1 overall
Divide the product from above by this
Find a building
Paul Dirac was alive 1902 - 1984 = 82 years, 82 -> 1183, 49686 / 1183 = 42
Go to the windows where the colored pipes shine
Look down and see what a mobile gas station would find
Small manhole in building 42 parking lot reads 'Diesel Fuel Tank #3'
c)
From this three word phrase, take the number of letters in the last two
That letter of the alphabet is answer c
Number of letters in last two words is 8, 8th letter of the alphabet is H
d)
Three buildings' places you can point to on a map!
Connect the dots and the answer will be a snap!
To this value of Italian descent,
add 'I' to find answer d as it was meant
On a map, the three locations make a "V," V + I = 6
e)
Take clue 2 and take away 6 times the number you found on the ground above
Remove a proton, and conjugate as a gerund
The plate said #3, so 54 - 6 * 3 = 36; taking away a proton gives you Bromine (Br), with 35 protons. Finally, conjugating Br gives you Bring
This is answer e
The Ring is at Hand!
a b c d, the puzzle is near complete!
Having come this far you must be quite 1337
Now, your knowledge of science you must e
The informal name of this structure is: _______
C6H6, BRING fill in the blanks to provide: Benzene Ring
"You are the master of Bag End now. And also, I fancy, you'll find a golden ring."
The Hunt has been solved! The answer is benzene ring. Explanations to come soon.