Fabrics
Liz Demicco
The twelve fabric answer words are: BOUCLE, CORDEROYS, EMBROIDERY, ETAMINE, ILLUSION, INKLE, INTERLININGS, LAMBSWOOL, MODACRYLIC, NAINSOOK, VOILES, and YORYU. These answer words are used with the compass in the top right hand corner of the MoASaT. Assign words to the Indian numerals inside the compass, based on the answer lengths. Then pluck letters according to the small numbers appearing on the compass. There are four different rings. Read in the appropriate direction (clued by the points on the compass):
Symbol | Number | Answer | Green | Blue | Red | Yellow |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
९ | 9 | CORDEROYS | 1: C | 9: S | 4: D | |
५ | 5 | YORYU | 1: Y | 4: Y | ||
१० | 10 | MODACRYLIC | 1: M | 2: O | 4: A | |
६ | 6 | BOUCLE | 1: B | 3: U | 6: E | |
१० | 10 | EMBROIDERY | 1: E | 4: R | 7: D | |
९ | 9 | LAMBSWOOL | 1: L | 4: B | 3: M | |
८ | 8 | ILLUSION | 1: I | 2: L | 6: I | |
८ | 8 | NAINSOOK | 1: N | 2: A | 6: S | |
७ | 7 | ETAMINE | 1: E | 6: N | 2: T | |
१२ | 12 | INTERLININGS | 1: I | 5: R | 12: S | |
५ | 5 | INKLE | 1: I | 3: K | 5: E | |
६ | 6 | VOILES | 1: V | 6: S | 3: I |
This spells out: "Cymbeline I iv your blank mistress is dead." Realizing that the "WS" in the center of the compass means "search Shakespeare", the word fitting in the blank is "unparagoned."
Answer: UNPARAGONED
Gems
Jeff Barrett
The six gem answer words are: PATRICIA, PELES TEARS, JN FORSTER, MARIA ALEXANDROVNA, JUBILEE, and HUERFANA. The gems metapuzzle involves the cities on the MoASaT and the longitude/latitude lines (the "WGS84/NAD83" above the compass rose cues which coordinate datum to use). Looking up the intersections of longitude and latitude lines gives six cities with gem names: Pearl, ID; Blue Diamond, NV; Peridot, AZ; Emerald, NE; Ruby, IL; and Sapphire, NC. Matching answer words to the city with the corresponding gem name and ordering W to E on the map gives:
Map city | Latitude | Longitude | Real city | Answer | Bigram |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABAKAN | 43°51'21" N | 112°39'8" W | Pearl, ID | HUERFANA | AN |
RIO DE JUAN | 36°2'47" N | 115°24'11" W | Blue Diamond, NV | JUBILEE | JU |
THOMASTOWN | 33°18'37" N | 110°27'17" W | Peridot, AZ | PELESTEARS | ST |
ICONIUM | 40°48'50" N | 96°50'5" W | Emerald, NE | PATRICIA | IC |
SUFFOLK | 42°18'57" N | 89°4'15" W | Ruby, IL | JNFORSTER | FO |
TEGUCIGALPA | 35°6'25" N | 83°0'11" W | Sapphire, NC | MARIA ALEXANDROVNA | AL |
The first letters of the city names spell out "ARTIST", while each city-gem pair shares a single bigram. The bigrams read in order spell out "AN JUSTIC FO AL" which leads to the answer METALLIC ("Metallica" minus the last letter).
Answer: METALLIC
Metals
Jaci Conrad
The eight metals answers are: SPOON, SURFER, SIXPENCE, DIABETES, FENNEL, SHOWER, SYRUP, TWENTIES. Each of these form a unique (or nearly unique) phrase with one of {gold, silver, bronze}: "silver spoon," "silver surfer,", "silver sixpence," "bronze diabetes," "bronze fennel," "golden shower," "golden syrup," "golden twenties." The associated metapuzzle is the small "coins" (circles) colored yellow, gray, and brown appearing around the edge of the MoASaT. Order the metal answers by the color/number of coins appearing around the edge of the map, starting in the upper left corner and moving clockwise. clockwise; then pluck the nth letter, where n=1 if gold, 2 if silver, 3 if bronze. This gives:
P | SILVER | SPOON |
U | SILVER | SURFER |
I | SILVER | SIXPENCE |
S | GOLDEN | SHOWER |
S | GOLDEN | SYRUP |
A | BRONZE | DIABETES |
N | BRONZE | FENNEL |
T | GOLDEN | TWENTIES |
Answer: PUISSANT
Rum
Albert Lin
The eight rum answers are: SIXTYSTONE, WILLIAMSBURG, FOREFRONT, BRIGGS, KLAKRING, TURTLE, JIMMY CLIFF, MEMPHIS BELLE. Each of these can be associated with a brand of rum. Symbols from each of those brands' labels (six ships, one plantation, and one black seal) appear on the MoASaT, with a path and a name of an explorer.
Putting the answers in the order given by the names of the explorers alphabetically, then plucking the nth letter, where n=number of times the path touched land, spells out the answer.
Answer Word | Rum | Explorer | Landfalls | Letter |
---|---|---|---|---|
TURTLE | Tortuga | Balboa | 1 | T |
WILLIAMSBURG | Colonial | Columbus | 6 | A |
JIMMY CLIFF | Jamaica Star | Coronado | 7 | L |
BRIGGS | Myers | Cortes | 3 | I |
SIXTYSTONE | Black Seal | de Leon | 1 | S |
MEMPHIS BELLE | Captain Morgan | de Luna | 1 | M |
KLAKRING | Frigate | Pizarro | 3 | A |
FOREFRONT | Vanguard | de Soto | 8 | N |
Answer: TALISMAN
Putting It All Together
The French Armada