Towers (solution)
by Scott Handelman
Solving the clues reveals 15 pairs of 5-letter anagrams. The left column provides the correct order, and the alphabetized right column needs to be reordered.
A bad joke teller might receive this Move the tiniest iota Like mosh pit dancers Kwame’s superpower Travels from World 1 to World 4 A Boolean value Without potty language or innuendo Gives two thumbs up, perhaps Time-bending video game from 2008 Get up Don’t agree to disagree Makes a sweater You might smear a shmear on one Deserve (as a reward) Turning point? |
GROAN→ORGAN BUDGE→DEBUG ROWDY→WORDY EARTH→HEART WARPS→WRAPS FALSE→FLEAS CLEAN→LANCE RATES→STARE BRAID→RABID ARISE→RAISE ARGUE→AUGER KNITS→STINK BAGEL→GABLE MERIT→REMIT HINGE→NEIGH |
A donation that can’t be returned Get the code running In need of an editor Word with “break” or “attack” Disguises a box’s contents A dog’s worst enemies Renaissance fair weapon Give the evil eye Fanatic Negotiation bargaining chip You might need it if you’re boring Evidence of needing a diaper change Actor who played a Butler Don’t punish It’s straight from the horse’s mouth? |
The title image of the puzzle has strong resemblance to a Tower of Hanoi puzzle (which is also clued by the title of the puzzle itself). Solvers should notice that in the image, letters are stacked in alphabetical order, and as soon as that becomes impossible, they begin again on the next stack.
Every solution word in the puzzle can be written in a similar way (for example, GROAN can be written as GR/O/AN and ORGAN can be written as OR/G/AN). There is never any ambiguity; every word fits in one way and uses all three pegs.
Using the Tower of Hanoi rules, solvers must figure out the fewest number of steps to move letters until the first word becomes the second. The number of moves is always between 1 and 26, which should lead solvers to an alphanumeric substitution.
GROAN→ORGAN = BUDGE→DEBUG = ROWDY→WORDY = EARTH→HEART = WARPS→WRAPS = FALSE→FLEAS = CLEAN→LANCE = RATES→STARE = BRAID→RABID = ARISE→RAISE = ARGUE→AUGER = KNITS→STINK = BAGEL→GABLE = MERIT→REMIT = HINGE→NEIGH = |
7 = 21 = 12 = 26 = 1 = 18 = 15 = 19 = 3 = 1 = 18 = 19 = 15 = 14 = 7 = |
G U L Z A R O S C A R S O N G |
The final clue reads GULZAR OSCAR SONG. Gulzar is the pen name of the lyricist of the 2008 Academy Award winning “Jai Ho” (Slumdog Millionaire). Therefore JAI HO is the solution (and is also a five-letter string that fits the Tower of Hanoi rule).