Within each set of ten clues, the answers to the right clues could be
produced if you typed the answers to the left clues on a standard QWERTY
keyboard, but you accidentally positioned one of your hands one position
too far inward. For example, if you typed NOTE with your right hand
misplaced, the T and E typed by the left hand would be correct, but the N
and O would instead come out as B and I, producing the word BITE.
(This puzzle was inspired by one of the authors accidentally doing this
and noticing the result was still a word. The other author types with two
fingers and is subsequently immune.)
The intended clue answers are, in order:
WAX | JET |
HIM | ESC |
PAL | GUN |
KEY | OAK |
ART | STY |
ROWS | DIRT |
YULE | NOSY |
DIVA | TYKE |
BOAT | TOED |
DORY | FIBS |
SOFA | DEBT |
PAYS | SKAT |
MILE | OATS |
DENY | NUKE |
SLAY | DOGS |
SWEET | DOTTY |
AGORA | GRUNT |
SORRY | SHOTS |
GRIMY | DERRY |
VEINY | BRINY |
FOLD | SORT |
VISA | FURY |
SPRY | BIDS |
DUET | BITE |
NOTE | GOLF |
The right clues are alphabetized and the left clues are not, suggesting
that the order of the left clues is important. Here are the matched pairs
in left-clue order, along with the hand that moves:
WAX | ESC | (L) |
HIM | GUN | (R) |
PAL | OAK | (R) |
KEY | JET | (R) |
ART | STY | (L) |
ROWS | TOED | (L) |
YULE | TYKE | (R) |
DIVA | FIBS | (L) |
BOAT | NOSY | (L) |
DORY | DIRT | (R) |
SOFA | DOGS | (L) |
PAYS | OATS | (R) |
MILE | NUKE | (R) |
DENY | DEBT | (R) |
SLAY | SKAT | (R) |
SWEET | DERRY | (L) |
AGORA | SHOTS | (L) |
SORRY | DOTTY | (L) |
GRIMY | GRUNT | (R) |
VEINY | BRINY | (L) |
FOLD | GOLF | (L) |
VISA | BIDS | (L) |
SPRY | SORT | (R) |
DUET | FURY | (L) |
NOTE | BITE | (R) |
Finally, the image at the bottom of the page is roughly keyboard shaped,
with a 0 in the left-hand position and a 1 in the right-hand
position. Interpreting left-hand pairs as zeroes and right-hand pairs as
ones, and reading the result in binary gives:
01110 = 14 = N
01001 = 9 = I
01111 = 15 = O
00010 = 2 = B
00101 = 5 = E
So the answer is NIOBE, who, like the Chemist, is known for crying.