Whodunit?
by Joseph DeVincentis, with some clues by Dave Shukan and Mark Halpin
ANSWER: FATHER DAMIEN
Each of the clues in the left column is something done by a person whose name sounds like a short sentence in the same form as these clues. Each of those sentences is something done by a person in the right column.
Each number is a letter index into the full name of the person who links the two clues. The names get used twice, in different orders (the order of the clues on each side).
Left side clues:
| Clue | Who did it? | Letter |
|---|---|---|
| Serve as an indefatigable guide to the natural world (1) | MARY OLIVER | M |
| Have a theme song sung by Bert Parks (2) | MISS AMERICA | I |
| Star in "Miami Vice" (7) | DON JOHNSON | N |
| Become the richest man in the world (2) | BILL GATES | I |
| Star in "Sisters" (1) | SELA WARD | S |
| Write "Wild Thing" (5) | CHIP TAYLOR | T |
| Laugh it up with other Golden Girls (2) | BEA ARTHUR | E |
| Star in Giant (1) | ROCK HUDSON | R |
| Die, as he predicted, during the appearance of a comet (5) | MARK TWAIN | T |
| Win his first PGA tournament in the Spring of 2007 (2) | BOO WEEKLEY | O |
| Appear as the same character in three different Aaron Spelling series (5) | GRANT SHOW | T |
| Compose music for The Truman Show (2) | PHILIP GLASS | H |
| Play third base for the Boston Red Sox (4) | WADE BOGGS | E |
| Write Let's Roll! (1) | LISA BEAMER | L |
| Join *NSYNC (5) | LANCE BASS | E |
| Write a best-selling book on child care (8) | DOCTOR SPOCK | P |
| Create an animated series for MTV (4) | MIKE JUDGE | E |
| Star in "Head of the Class" (1) | RAIN PRYOR | R |
| Frequent Sherwood Forest (5) | WILL SCARLET | S |
Right side clues:
| Clue | What'd they do? | Letter |
|---|---|---|
| someone who couldn't afford to buy a Z4 (3) | LISA BEAMER | S |
| William II, with respect to Henry I (2) | RAIN PRYOR | A |
| Dudley Moore (6) | BEA ARTHUR | T |
| Gerald O'Hara, posthumously (7) | WILL SCARLET | A |
| the protagonist of a 1992 King Missile song (3) | DON JOHNSON | N |
| a sculptor of presidential busts (3) | CHIP TAYLOR | I |
| Les Moonves (4) | GRANT SHOW | N |
| a sound technician on "The People's Court" (1) | MIKE JUDGE | M |
| Waldorf, during the original run of "The Muppet Show" (3) | BOO WEEKLEY | O |
| Fanny Bowditch Dixwell (8) | MARY OLIVER | V |
| a waitress (3) | PHILIP GLASS | I |
| a shellacker at a trophy shop (2) | SELA WARD | E |
| Leonard McCoy (4) | DOCTOR SPOCK | T |
| Chesley Sullenberger (5) | ROCK HUDSON | H |
| Laura Ling (7) | MISS AMERICA | E |
| a cranberry harvester (6) | WADE BOGGS | O |
| Jeff Goldblum, in Final Jeopardy (1) | MARK TWAIN | M |
| a fencing contractor (8) | BILL GATES | E |
| a spear fisherman (3) | LANCE BASS | N |
This leads to the clues MINISTER TO THE LEPERS on the left and SATAN IN MOVIE THE OMEN on the right. These two clues work in the same way as the other clues in the puzzle, leading to the final answer FATHER DAMIEN.
Upon completing this puzzle, the following animated image is revealed on the round page:
Notes:
- Fanny Bowditch Dixwell married Oliver Wendell Holmes.
- Laura Ling is one of the American journalists held in North Korea for several months in 2009.
- The King Missile song is "Detachable Penis".
- Chesley Sullenberger is the pilot who successfully landed a plane on the Hudson River in 2009.
- The Final Jeopardy with Jeff Goldblum was in a "Saturday Night Live" Celebrity Jeopardy skit, and he writes a 2 as his answer. "Twain" means two, though nowadays it is only commonly heard in the expression "never the twain shall meet."