Ecolocation
Kevin Wald
Both the title of the puzzle and the name "Gulielmus Baskervilli" (Latin for William of Baskerville) are clues that this puzzle refers to Umberto Eco's mystery novel The Name Of The Rose. In that book, there is a library consisting of a set of interconnected rooms, each with an assigned letter; these rooms constitute a map of the world, with the Latin names of various countries spelled out in consecutive letters. (See http://www.themodernword.com/eco/images/haft_library.gif for a picture.)
The map shown is the set of rooms corresponding to ANGLIA (England) in Eco's map, subdivided into lettered cubicles; the Latin names of various English cities are spelled out in consecutive letters. The Latin to the left of the 10x10 grid consists of clues to cities in the grid:
- Pascal in Urbs Atlantica = Pascal in Atlantic City. Answer: Lancaster = LANCASTRIA (Burt Lancaster played that role).
- Destinatio Uxoris Aquarum Sulis = Destination of the Wife of Bath. Answer: Canterbury = DUROVERNUM.
- Portus in Procella Perfecta = Port in The Perfect Storm. Answer: Gloucester = GLEVUM.
- Situs creationis Hobbitorum Snarkique = Site of the creation of the Hobbits and of the Snark. Answer: Oxford = OXONIA (where both JRR Tolkien and Lewis Carroll taught).
- Situs Templi Divi Claudii = Site of the Temple of the Divine Claudius. Answer: Colchester = CAMULODUNUM.
- Vocatio Feri scripsit = He wrote The Call of the Wild. Answer: London = LONDINIUM.
- Dux qui habebat decem milia virorum = Duke who had ten thousand men. Answer: York = EBORACUM (he marched them up to the top of the hill, and he marched them down again).
- "Capita" nummi cuprei = "Heads" of a copper coin. Answer: Lincoln = LINDUM.
- In Capillus Claudius hanc urbem canat = In Hair Claude sings of this city. Answer: Manchester = MANCUNIUM (in the song "Manchester, England").
- In eo maceraris = You're soaking in it. Answer: Cambridge = CANTABRIGIA.
The Latin above the 10x10 grid consists of clues to sequences of numbers, thus supplying one number for each column in the grid:
- Numerus commutationis telephonicae Jennyis = Jenny's telephone exchange number. Answer: 8 6 7 (as in 8 6 7 - 5 3 0 9).
- "Comprehendo" in Fumidus et Fur = "I understand" in Smokey and the Bandit. Answer: 10-4.
- Verba ante Contactus in titulo ab televisione publica = Words before Contact in a title from public television. Answer: 3-2-1.
- Statura Coolionis = Coolio's height. Answer: 5' 9".
Each number 1-59 is in a grid square, at the intersection of the row for some city X and the column for some number Y; in the map, the Yth letter of the name of city X is a cubicle with exactly one intercubicle wall. If you break through that wall (as hinted at in the intro quote), there is a letter on the other side; taking these letters grouped and punctuated as shown below the grid, you get:
IN NOMEN AD SMOOTUM XX, "DER"
INSERE, ET LINGUAS IN N ET
ROSAS IN A IN N COMMUTA
That is, "Into the name near Smoot 20, insert 'der', and exchange the tongues in N and the roses in A in N."
Near the "20" Smoot marking on the eastern walkway on the Harvard Bridge is a plaque in honor of Harry Houdini, which also mentions his real name Ehrich Weiss. If you:
- Insert "der", German for "the";
- Exchange the language of England and the language of Germany (England and Germany being the two countries that instersect in the original map at the room Eco marked N); and
- Exchange the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster (York and Lancaster being the two cities that intersect in this map at the cubicle marked A in the room Eco marked N)