2010 Meta
by Mike Sylvia
The answers from this round are:
| Puzzle | Answer |
|---|---|
| Banner Headline | PINOT BLANC |
| Confirmed Machine 925 | CLASSIFICATIONS |
| Fun With Numbers | RUN UP A SCORE |
| Great Minds Think Alike | KILLING THE AUDIENCE |
| Making Connections | COMMERCIAL AT |
| Puzzle From Loremipsumstan | THE EYE OF SAURON |
| Running in Circles | MECHANICAL IMPEDANCE |
| The Obligatory Dance Video Puzzle | BAD MOON RISING |
| Training Exercise | METROPOLITANIZED |
| TUO YRREJ PEEK | SILENCE OF THE LAMBS |
Entering these answers into the spaces of corresponding lengths in the provided grid and copying the indicated two letters from the indicated answers into each of the spaces on the outer edges of the grid gives:
The flavor text suggests looking at the letter pairs which are US states, top-level internet domains, and elements:
Taking each block as a Braille letter, starting at the upper left of each grid and reading clockwise, you get the three phrases CALL HUNT HEADQUARTERS / SAY DROP THE FOOLERY AND / ASK ABOUT THE RUNAROUND. Calling this in leads to the first-round runaround where teams learn the coin had jumped back in time, creating other puzzles as it went.
The answers from this round under the alternate history timeline are:
| Puzzle | Answer |
|---|---|
| Banner Headline | PINK LEMONADE |
| Confirmed Machine 925 | THE NOBEL PRIZE |
| Fun With Numbers | FEEL LIKE A MILLION |
| Great Minds Think Alike | BODY OF WORK |
| Making Connections | HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER |
| Puzzle From Loremipsumstan | GAME WARDENS |
| Running in Circles | DEPUTY CHIEF ENGINEER |
| The Obligatory Dance Video Puzzle | GENUINE ARTICLE |
| Training Exercise | WEST FALLS CHURCH VT |
| TUO YRREJ PEEK | REMAINS OF THE DAY |
Entering these answers into the acrostic gives:
The five event puzzles each led to relevant pieces of supplementary information:
- 1773 gave a different list of US state abbreviations
- 1786 gave a different Braille alphabet
- 1845 gave a different periodic table
- 1969 gave different top level internet domain codes
- 2005 described a company called Exor-Nabors with a logo that resembles the grid for this meta puzzle
Identifying the new letter pairs which are states, domains and elements yields:
Exor-Nabors, and the company's policy of "cross-referencing it with information from the employees across both nearby halls to get two new fresh perspectives" is an instruction to take the XOR of neighboring blocks:
Each block can now be read as a Braille letter in the new Mondrian code (ignoring color) to give the message LOOK AROUND ALL PERIODS / AND FILL YOUR CALENDARS / MAKE EVERY SECOND COUNT. Calling this in leads to the endgame.