Robots in Disguise
by Foggy Brume and Mike Selinker
Answer: WARREN BEATTY
These images represent the Secret Service codenames of various people, past and present. Each transformation is left-, center-, or right-aligned, indicating whether you are transforming the first name, whole name, or last name respectively.
Codename | Person | Transformation | Result | Ultimate Transformation | Result |
HAWKEYE | ZBIGNIEW Brzinski | Remove all my even letters, and I transform into a kind of publication. | ZINE | This publication is the starting point for the Ultimate Transformer. | ZINE |
CLAM CHOWDER | Ron NESSEN | Remove a bigram (two consecutive letters) from within me, and I transform into a local cable channel. | NESN | Find the channel’s initial bigram within the Ultimate Transformer. Replace it with the channel’s final bigram. | ZISN |
SUNSHINE | Marilyn QUAYLE | Say me out loud, and I transform into a bird. | QUAIL | Identify the two letters that appear in this step’s original transformer but don't appear in the bird. Add them in alphabetical order to the end of the Ultimate Transformer. | ZISNEY |
CELTIC | JOE BIDEN | Change my first letter into a new letter and anagram me, and I transform into an adjective meaning “faithful.” | OBEDIENT | Double this new letter, then add both of them to the Ultimate Transformer immediately before its last letter. | ZISNETTY |
SMURFETTE | KARENNA Gore | Add a new letter somewhere within me, and I transform into the last name of a literary title character. | KARENINA | Remove this new letter from the Ultimate Transformer. | ZSNETTY |
TURQUOISE | BARBARA Bush | Remove two nonconsecutive letters from me, and I transform into a cartoon character. | BABAR | Replace the Ultimate Transformer’s second consonant with this cartoon character. | ZBABARNETTY |
WOODCUTTER | Henry KISSINGER | Replace a well-known heavy metal band with a single letter, and I transform into another, lesser-known heavy metal band. | WINGER (KISS/W) | Remove the Nth letter of the Ultimate Transformer, where N is the number of members in the original lineup of the more well-known band. | ZBAARNETTY |
COPPERTONE | ROSE Kennedy | Add the letter P to the front of me and a four-letter adjective to the end of me, and I transform into a trial-related verb. | PROSECUTE | This verb is a kangaroo word (a word whose letters include its own synonym, like UnsiGhtLY or conTAmINaTe). Add the shorter synonym to the front of the Ultimate Transformer. | SUEZBAARNETTY |
SAWHORSE | AL GORE | Shift one of my bigrams to a different position within me, and I transform into a six-letter adjective. | GALORE | Add this adjective’s initial trigram to the Ultimate Transformer immediately after its sixth letter. | SUEZBAGALARNETTY |
RAINBOW | NANCY Reagan | Remove my first letter and anagram me, and I transform into a color. | CYAN | Add this color to the Ultimate Transformer immediately after its third consonant. | SUEZBCYANAGALARNETTY |
CAMEO | Joan MONDALE | Remove my Xth letter and anagram me, and I transform into something edible. | ALMOND | Remove the Ultimate Transformer’s Xth letter. | SUEZBCANAGALARNETTY |
SWORDFISH | Phillip CRANE | Replace my final bigram with a new letter, and I transform into something that’s in the same category as what I started as. | CRANE/CRAB | Find that new letter and that bigram within the Ultimate Transformer. Move that letter into the middle of that bigram. | SUEZCANAGALARNBETTY |
SNAPSHOT | Howard BAKER | Copy one of my bigrams, reverse it, and add this new bigram somewhere within me, and I transform into something a trucker might say. | BREAKER | Add this new bigram somewhere within the Ultimate Transformer such that when you’re done, it contains two pairs of doubled consonants. | SUEZCANAGALARRENBETTY |
RHYME | Maureen REAGAN | Remove a trigram from within me, and I transform into a cartoon character. | REN | Find both the trigram and the cartoon character within the Ultimate Transformer. Move the trigram into the cartoon character so this step’s original transformer appears within the Ultimate Transformer. | SUEZCANLARREAGANBETTY |
DENALI | Sarah PALIN | Reverse one of my bigrams, and I transform into a word meaning "ordinary". | PLAIN | Anywhere the new bigram appears within the Ultimate Transformer, reverse it so it becomes the original bigram. | SUEZCANALRREAGANBETTY |
DIAMOND | CHIP Carter | Replace my initial bigram with a new letter, and I transform into something into which I can be plunged. | DIP | Add this new letter to the Ultimate Transformer immediately before each occurrence of doubled letters. | SUEZCANALDRREAGANBEDTTY |
STRAWBERRY | Rose Mary WOODS | Replace my doubled letter with a new doubled letter, and I transform into things you don’t want in your garden. | WEEDS | Remove any palindromic sequence of three or more letters from the Ultimate Transformer if that sequence immediately follows a single instance of this new letter. | SUEZCANALDRRENBEDTTY |
DRILLER | TODD Palin | Replace one of my letters with a new letter, and I transform into a villain in a 2000 superhero film. | TOAD | Repeat this replacement as often as possible within the Ultimate Transformer. | SUEZCANALARRENBEATTY |
DRAGON | WALTER Mondale | Remove one of my letters that’s from the second half of the alphabet, and I become a word meaning “change.” | ALTER | Find a body of water within the Ultimate Transformer. Replace it with the removed letter. | WARRENBEATTY |
Your final result is WARREN BEATTY.