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Knots and Crosswords

by Matt Zinno

As the flavortext indicates, start with the "word puzzles" portion: the crossword-style clues. The crossword clues all lead to words or short phrases which are the code names of G.I. Joe characters (suggested by "Joe"). Each character has a real name, termed a file name ("pulled from his files"). (See an example, or a complete list.)

The centered flavortext and the form of "Naughts 'N' Crosses" are clues to take the center of that name, i.e. the middle initial.

  1. Angelina Ex: Billy Bob (Horatio T. Wesson)
  2. Battleship Variant: Salvo (David K. Hasle)
  3. Big Iron: Mainframe (Blaine L. Parker)
  4. Handset Noise: Dial Tone (Jack S. Morelli)
  5. How To Get From Drive To Reverse: Switch Gears (Jerome T. Jivoin)
  6. Lift Name: Otis (Theodore I. Smith)
  7. Navigator's Almanac: Skymate (Daniel T. Toner)
  8. Newsstand Face: Cover Girl (Courtney A. Krieger)
  9. '94 Busey Film: Drop Zone (Samuel C. Delisi)
  10. Peak Height: Altitude (John-Edward O. Jones)
  11. Plane Rotation: Barrel Roll (Dwight E. Stall)
  12. Pressure-Based Bomb: Depth Charge (Nick H. Langdon)
  13. Regis Offering: Lifeline (Edwin C. Steen)
  14. Rule: Law (Christopher M. Lavigne)
  15. Shell ?: Wildcard (Eric U. Scott)
  16. Show Nudity: Flash (Anthony S. Gambello)
  17. Star Trek Genre: Sci-Fi (Seymour P. Fine)
  18. Titanic Foe: Iceberg (Clifton L. Nash)
  19. To Jump From An Aircraft: Skydive (Lynton N. Felix)
  20. Unwelcome Follower: Stalker (Lonzo R. Wilkinson)

The letter for each numbered clue then gets written in all of the grid spaces with that number. Superimposing the grids will fill in all the squares with exactly one (distinct) letter. This gives the following grid:

SPINC
IRCLE
UNTIL
KNOTS
MATCH
Each grid space which has knots in it has two knots, one as an "A" and one as a "D". Each diagram also has an inner circle which crosses the knot in 6 places. By rotating this circle (nontrivially, i.e. "no rotation" is not valid), you can make the knots the same (up to ambient isotopy, the standard knot identity in knot theory). Measuring the rotations in a clockwise directions, there are 5 nontrivial rotations available. Each pair of knots therefore leads to two numbers, each in the range 1-5. These represent coordinates into the grid, one reading Across and the other reading Down.

With this, you can read the final message "KETCHUP OR PA SENATOR", and the answer is HEINZ.


Here are the knots used and available in each picture. Notation: first the number-letter code described above. Then I list the 6 knots that each one is currently (before the pipe) and can rotate to (after the pipe). Links are written simply as "L". (Since links are not knots, they are ignored for the solution.) Prime knots are written as a.b, where a-sub-b is the enumeration given to the knot in Knots and Links by Dale Rolfsen. Composite knots are written with "#" notation as is customary.
1A: (6.2 | 0, L, 5.2, 5.1, L)
1D: (0 | 4.1, L, 4.1, 0, L)
1-4, for an unknot 
K

2A: (0 | L, 0, 7.6, L, 7.5) 
2D: (9.20 | L, 7.5, 8.2, L, 5.2) 
5-2, for a 7.5 knot
E

3A: (8.21 | 4.1, 9.42, 8.21, 4.1, 9.42)
3D: (8.21 | 5.2, L, 8.21, 5.2, L)
3-3, for an 8.21 knot
T

4A: (4.1 | L, L, L, 0, 8.19)
4D: (5.2 | 8.19, 5.2, 3.1, 8.1, 3.1) 
5-1, for an 8.19 knot
C

5A: (0 | L, 3.1, 3.1, L, 4.1)
5D: (10.65 | 0, L, L, L, 4.1) 
5-5, for a 4.1 knot
H

6A: (6.2 | 3.1, 5.1, 7.4, 5.2, 8.20)
6D: (3.1 | 0, 0, 3.1, 0, 0)
1-3, for a 3.1 knot 
U

7A: (8.11 | L, 8.17, 6.1, L, 7.6)
7D: (0 | 8.17, L, 0, 5.2, L ) 
2-1, for an 8.17 knot 
P

(8 - no knots - represents a space)

9A: (7.2 | 10.65, L, 7.2, 10.65, L)
9D: ( 6.1 | 0, L, 3.1, 7.2, L) 
3-4, for a 7.2 knot
O

10A: (6.1 | L, 6.2, 0, L, 3.1)
10D: (6.2 | L, 6.2, 3#3, L, 3#3)
2-2, for a 6.2 knot
R

(11 - no knots - represents a space)

12A: (3.1 | L, 3.1, 0, L, 0)
12D: (3#3 | 3.1, L, 3#3, 3#5.1, L)
2-1, for a 3.1 knot
P 

13A: (0 | L, 4.1, 5.1, L, 6.2)
13D: (0 | 5#3, L, L, L, 4.1)
2-5, for a 4.1 knot
A 

14A: (0 | 5.2, L, 3.1, 3.1, L) 
14D: (5.2 | 5.2, L, 3#3, 4.1, L)
1-1, for a 5.2 knot
S

15A: (3#3 | L, 7.5, 9.46, L, 0)  
15D:  (0 | L, 0, 5.2, L, 5.2)
5-2, for an unknot
E

16A: (0 | 10.119, 8.7, 10.94, 8.13, 10.116)
16D: (8.7 | L, L, 8.7, L, L)
2-3, for an 8.7 knot
N

17A: (5.1 | L, 5.1, 5.2, L, 5.2)
17D: (3#3 | L, 0, 4.1, L, 5.1) 
2-5, for a 5.1 knot 
A

18A: (5.1 | L, 7.3, 5.1, L, 7.3)
18D: (0 | L, L, 5.1, L, L)
3-3, for a 5.1 knot
T

19A: (9.46 | L, L, 9.3, L, L)
19D: (5#4 | 0, L, 6.1, 9.3, L)
3-4, for a 9.3 knot
O

20A: (8.17 | L, 8.17, 0, L, 0)
20D: (8.14 | L, 8.17, L, 8.9)
2-2, for an 8.17 knot
R