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Solution to Can + Tab + Rig + Ian

Authors: Dan Katz and Jason Juang
Special acknowledgments to: Brandy Buckingham, Robbie Buckingham, Erin Rhode

Each set of pictures represents a set of three rebuses. The pictures and letters in each column have been alphabetized, so the solver muct sort out which elements go with which rebus. In these particular rebuses, all subtractions are performed on strings of consecutive letters within the overall string, which prevents some ambiguities.

Each of the sets of rebuses yields three types of answers: the name of a city, a noun, and a number. The rebuses and answers are listed below. The nationality associated with the city can be combined with the noun to produce a well-known two-word phrase or title. The number can be used as an index into that phrase to give a letter. The resulting letters spell the phrase ANTWERP BABY DEER. A baby deer is a fawn, and Antwerp is in Belgium, so the puzzle answer is BELGIAN FAWN. Which is apparently a breed of goat.

Fun fact: The original draft of this puzzle did not involve scrambled rebuses; instead, there were single rebuses that yielded foreign words, which were the translations of the second words in the appropriate national languages. However, one of our testers noted the existence of this Mystery Hunt puzzle from four years ago, which necessitated a full rewrite. The authors would like to acknowledge Erin Rhode who tracked down ALL of the images for the first version of the puzzle, most of which we had to throw away (though some of them were recycled for this version), and Robbie & Brandy Buckingham, who constructed rebuses for yet a THIRD version of the puzzle that we didn't end up using (if you found the nonparallelism of the final solution phrase a little inelegant, they had your back).

CUBAN CIGAR (9) = A
HAVANA HAM − M + VANE + TEA − ETE
CIGAR CLAM + PIG − LAMP + BOAR − BO
NINE C + LAWN − CLAW + WINE − W

DUTCH OVEN (9) = N
ROTTERDAM ROTTEN + ORD − NO + AM
OVEN DOVE − D + NICE − ICE
NINE NILE + GONE − LEG − O

EGYPTIAN COTTON (12) = T
CAIRO CAINE + TARO − NET − A
COTTON DE + EPCOT − DEEP + TON
TWELVE TWELLMAN − L + EVE − MANE

IRISH WOLFHOUND (6) = W
LIMERICK LIP + LOVE − PLO + GAME − VEGA + RICK
WOLFHOUND WOOL − O + FLASH − LAS + SOUND − S
SIX SCAR + DIP − CARD + O + LOX − POLO

SWEDISH MASSAGE (14) = E
STOCKHOLM STOOP + E + RACK − OPERA + HOLM
MASSAGE MARS − R + SLAM + PAGE − LAMP
FOURTEEN FOUL + ART − LA + SHEEN − SH

RUSSIAN ROULETTE (8) = R
MOSCOW MOSQUITO − QUITO + CAN + TOW − ANT
ROULETTE ROUGH + ANA − GHANA + LETTUCE − UC
EIGHT R + SLEIGH − RSL + TRAY − RAY

GREEK ALPHABET (8) = P
RHODES RASH − AS + ODIN + NES − INN
ALPHABET AL + PROM + AHAB − ROMA + ET
EIGHT EMO + THIGH − MOTH + TEAR − EAR

AMERICAN BANDSTAND (9) = B
CHICAGO CHICKEN − KEN + NATO − N + TOGO − TOTO
BANDSTAND BALI + END − LIE + STUMP − UMP + AND
NINE PAWN − PAW + INCA + RUNE − CAR − UN

BRAZILIAN WAX (11) = A
FORTALEZA FORD + IOTA − DIO + LEDA + LIZA − DALI
WAX WREN − REN + ALI + M + BOX − LIMBO
ELEVEN ELMO + ONE − MOON + S + HEAVEN − SHEA

AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK (14) = B
MELBOURNE MEL_B + COURT − C + ANNE − TAN
OUTBACK POUT − P + BRA + MACK − RAM
FOURTEEN FOAM + YURT − AMY + SATEEN − SAT

SPANISH FLY (10) = Y
BARCELONA BAR + CELL + OC + KONA − LOCK
FLY FAX + ELLA − AXEL + BELLY − LABEL
TEN CATS − CA + A + MEN − SAM

FRENCH DOORS (7) = D
NANTES NANNY + CAR − NYC + NOTES − ARNO
DOORS DOC + ASHORE − CASH + ROSS − EROS
SEVEN LOUSE − LOU + V + LICHEN − LICH

COLOMBIAN COFFEE (15) = E
BOGOTA BOY − Y + GO + TASTING − STING
COFFEE COFFIN − FIN + WIFE − WI + E
FIFTEEN FIRE + ALF − REAL + TEE + N

GERMAN MEASLES (8) = E
MUNICH MU + NILE + ARCH − LEAR
MEASLES MEAL + E + ISLES − LEI
EIGHT XENA − X + TIGHT − NAT

CHINESE CHECKERS (14) = R
SHANGHAI SHAQ − Q + KONG − KO + HAITI − TI
CHECKERS CHE + COVE − CO + S + PACKERS − VESPA
FOURTEEN FOREST − REST + YOGURT − YOG + KEEN − K