Beijing: Solution

The wordsearch is a cryptogram with the following key:

	Ciphertext: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
	Plaintext:  rpwlkbtnuqyecodhvsxafzijmg

The translated grid is:

W H A T A B O T I N A M F A M I N E T E L M A H C H
I E N I M O R B E N J A M I N O V A S C O T I A O P
S G T H C E L E B R I T Y R A R B I L E O N A R D E
E N L D A O S A T U R N R E T S N E D L I U G R A S
M U B N O R U S U I L U J U P I T E R E H S A I G O
E O R A P B N S T N S U N E V O P R A H C A S S I J
R L I L H I A B N O D G A Y R O T A V R E S N O C N
C M T D E S R I E A T L H T U O M T R A D N E N O O
U O I N L O U L H E D U R T R E G N A I F O G T N R
R Q S U I N O L O P H T L E E R U A H A H T O L S T
Y U H O A A S I E E U T T P U L M H O U R L R E T H
P E C F N T E A A N I O O M U F M A T A H I D A R W
E B O W A T P R E L V N P B O R O N R K E M Y T U E
E E L E L A T D O P E Y E N E G Y X O S D G H H C S
L C U N P H E R O L L Z D P A E U A H I I N D E T T
S I M E O N M O E U M E E U E W N B N T R I E R I T
C L B T L A B O C F E E E L T D E I A E P A A M O E
O A I T H M E M N H L N R C I S N H O N H E T A N R
R T A L A E R T E S X S G H X G I P C N A C H N W R
N H X M O O R L L A B I X L R R R L I T W N T W O I
E P I T H A Y A I B M U L O C O O O H Y A O A I R T
L A L B E R T A T Y Y A O R Y U U D C Y I K R S K O
L N Y O B W O C S Y Y M Z I Z C L A U D I U S B E R
K A H O O L A W E I O D I N E H F P E N N Y L A R I
N A M E C I L O P R I N C E T O N Z T H E G I Z S E
P R I N C E E D W A R D I S L A N D I A K O L O M S

Probably the easiest way to get there is to take a word from the wordlist with an obvious pattern, like MANHATTAN, and place it in the grid; this will give enough letters to find another word, and so on. The wordlist is:

  1. Hawaii, Kahoolawe, Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai, Niihau, OAHU
  2. hydrogen, NITROGEN, oxygen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine
  3. Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, HAPPY, Sleepy, Sneezy
  4. Chico, Harpo, Groucho, ZEPPO, Gummo [oldest to youngest]
  5. Orbison, DYLAN, Harrison, Lynne, Petty [in order]
  6. Alice, Bananas, Celebrity, INTERIORS, Manhattan, September, Sleeper, Zelig
  7. Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, YALE
  8. WAR, Famine, Pestilence, Death
  9. Leonard, Adolph, Julius, HERBERT, Milton [oldest to youngest]
  10. Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, NEW BRUNSWICK, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon
  11. construction worker, cowboy, INDIAN, leatherman, policeman, the g.i.
  12. Claudius, Gertrude, Guildenstern, Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia, Polonius, ROSENCRANZ
  13. ballroom, billiard room, conservatory, dining room, HALL, kitchen, library, lounge, study
  14. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, NEPTUNE, Pluto
  15. asher, benjamin, dan, gad, issachar, joseph, judah, levi, naphtali, REUBEN, simeon, zebulun
  16. anger, envy, gluttony, greed, LUST, pride, sloth

(Note on #10: Nunavut was created in 1999, after this puzzle was written.)

As usual, read the unused letters in the wordsearch after finding the items on the list. The leftover letters read: "What is the last name of the author of the long poem entitled 'The Xxxx with a Yyyyyyyy Zzzz'?" Notice that one word in each of the 16 groups is capitalized. Those words do not appear in the grid. Their first letters, in order, are ONHZDIYWHNIRHNRL. Decrypting this using the same key used for the grid gives "dongluminousnose". This makes the question above "What is the last name of the author of the long poem entitled 'The Dong with a Luminous Nose'?" The poet is Edmund Lear, so LEAR is the answer.

Completed grid:

W H A T a-b-o-t-i-n-a-m f-a-m-i-n-e t-e-l-m-a-h c h
                                              | | |
I e-n-i-m-o-r-b-e-n-j-a-m-i-n-o-v-a-s-c-o-t-i-a o p
  |                                           | | |
S g T H c-e-l-e-b-r-i-t-y-r-a-r-b-i-l-e-o-n-a-r-d e
  |                                           | | |
E n L d A o s-a-t-u-r-n-r-e-t-s-n-e-d-l-i-u-g r a s
  |   |   | |                       |         | | |
m u b n o r u s-u-i-l-u-j-u-p-i-t-e-r-e-h-s-a i g o
| | | | | | |          /            |         |   |
e o r a p b n S T N s-u-n-e-v o-p-r-a-h-c-a-s-s-i j
| | | | | | |        /              |         |    
r l i l h i a b n o d g A y-r-o-t-a-v-r-e-s-n-o-c n
|   | | | | | |  \ X  |   |         |       | | | |
c M t d e s r i E a t l h-t-u-o-m-t-r-a-d n e n o o
|   | | | | | |  / \ \|   |         |     | |   | |
u O i n l o u l h e-d-u-r-t-r-e-g-n-a i F o g T n r
|   | | | |   |       |\  |    /|/  | |   | |   | |
r q s-u-i-n-o-l-o-p H t l e E r u A h a h-t-o-l-s t
| | | | | |   |       |  \|  / /|     |   | | | | |
y u h o a a s i e e U t T p u l m H O u R l r e t h
| | | | | | | |  X    |    / /  |\    |   | | | | |
p e c f n t e a a n i o O m u F m a T a H i d a r w
| | | | | | | |/   \| |  / /    |  \  |   | | | | |
e b o w a t p r E L v n p b O r o N r k e m y t u e
| | | | | | |/|     |\|/ /   /       \  |   | | | |
e e l e l a t d-o-p-e-y e n-e-g-y-x-o s d G h h c s
| | | |   |/| |     | |X   X         \ /|     | | |
l c u n P h e r O l l z d p a E u-a-h-i-i-n d e t t
| | |     | | |   |   |\|X   \       / \|   | | | |
s-i-m-e-o-n m o e u M e e u E w N b n T r I e r i t
  | |     | | | | |   |/|\ \   \   X \  |\  | | | |
c l b T L a b o c f E e e l t D e i a e p a a m o e
| | |     | | | | |  /| |  \ \  |X   \ \   \| | | |
o a i T H m e m n h l n r c i s n h o n h E t a n r
| | |       |   | |/  | | |  \ /| |\|  \|\  |\| | |
r t a l-a-e-r-t-e-s X s g h X g i p c n a c h n w r
| |             | |       |  /| | | |\ \|\ \   \| |
n h X m-o-o-r-l-l-a-b i X l r r r l i t w n t W o i
| |             | |   |   |/  | | | |  \|\|\ \  | |
e p I T H A Y a-i-b-m-u-l-o-c o o o h Y a o a i r t
| |             |     |  /|   | | | |   |\|\ \ \| |
l a-l-b-e-r-t-a t Y Y a o r Y u u d c Y i k r s k o
| |             |     |/  |   | | |     | |\ \  | |
l n y-o-b-w-o-c s Y Y m Z i Z c-l-a-u-d-i-u-s b e r
                |         |   | |         |  \  | |
k-a-h-o-o-l-a-w-e i-o-d-i-n-e h f p-e-n-n-y-l a r i
                |         |   |                \  |
n-a-m-e-c-i-l-o-p-r-i-n-c-e-t-o-n Z t-h-e-g-i Z s e
                                                  |
p-r-i-n-c-e-e-d-w-a-r-d-i-s-l-a-n-d i-a-k-o-l-o-m s