Inscriptions

David Wilson

HINTS:

• Some of the clues are easier than others. Once you get a few of the clues, see if you notice any patterns.
• The fact that there are exactly 17 pairs is entirely coincidental.
• If you get a pair of clues correctly, see if you can do anything with that pair alone.

SOLUTION:

Each phrase clues a compound word (or common two-word noun). Take the first half of the first word from each pair and the second half of the second word from each pair, and they will also find a compound word (or common two-word noun). Thus:

UK torch = flashlight
CNN show = Crossfire
⇒ flashfire

soft drink released in 2002 = Vanilla Coke
solidified exhalation = dry ice
⇒ Vanilla Ice

Army hairstyle = buzz cut
playground fixture = seesaw
⇒ buzzsaw

dunk it, then drink = teabag
kids' construction = treehouse
⇒ teahouse

cataract = waterfall
page locator = bookmark
⇒ watermark

5pm headache = gridlock
hair crimper = curling iron
⇒ gridiron

often-abbreviated recorder = videocassette
final moves = endgame
⇒ video game

possible flag position = half-mast
cruel; unfeeling = coldhearted
⇒ halfhearted

rural bathroom = outhouse
to pass = overtake
⇒ outtake

rubber ducky's home = bathtub
66-168, e.g. = classroom
⇒ bathroom

Logan says there are no rules here = knife fight (reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
avant-garde? = cutting-edge
⇒ knife-edge

doctors' weakness, commonly = handwriting
covered bleachers = grandstand
⇒ handstand

War Emblem, e.g. = racehorse
to retrace one's steps = backtrack
⇒ racetrack

pedestrian location = crosswalk
intellectual of the arts = longhair
⇒ crosshair

Kentucky lawn = bluegrass
sharp of sight = eagle-eyed
⇒ blue-eyed

aural secretion = earwax
group of linked Internet sites = Web ring
⇒ earring

insect structure = anthill
carnivore = meat-eater
⇒ anteater

Next, take the two letters next to the boundary between the halves from each word just formed (that is, the last letter of the first half, and the first letter of the second half). Aligning on the word boundaries looks like this:

  flasHFire
vanillAIce
   buzZSaw
    teAHouse
  wateRMark
   griDIron
  videOGame
   halFHearted
    ouTTake
   batHRoom
  knifEEdge
   hanDStand
   racETrack
  crosSHair
   bluEEyed
    eaRRing
    anTEater

yielding HAZARDOFTHEDESERT and FISHMIGHTRESTHERE, which clue "sandstorm" and "seabed" (or, equivalently, "riverbed" or "waterbed") respectively. Piecing these together as before yields the final answer, "sandbed."

Flavor text clues: "see writing around the border" (final step--border between word halves), "put things together"

Answer: SANDBED

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2004 MIT Mystery Hunt