Anne
by Ian Tullis
Answer: DRAGON THEIR FEET
Here, "Anne" refers to Anne McCaffrey, who initiated the Dragonriders of Pern series. The list presents riders of unusual steeds. E.g., "There was an old man of Boulak, Who sate on a Crocodile's back…"
From each relevant animal, choose a "feeder" answer that's in the title of a Dragonriders book. Then use the number to index into that book. E.g. "An Old Man of Boulak (7)", find DRUMS in the Crocodile answers, decide it comes from DRAGONDRUMS, pick the seventh letter to get D.
| Rider | Critter | "Feeder" | Title | # | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| An Old Man of Boulak | Crocodile | DRUMS | DRAGONDRUMS | 7 | D |
| Solomon Fix | Rabbit | ALL | ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN | 10 | R |
| Phrixus | Sheep (Ram) | MASTER | THE MASTERHARPER OF PERN | 5 | A |
| Death | Horse | SINGER | DRAGONSINGER | 10 | G |
| Psycharpax | Frog | SONG | DRAGONSONG | 8 | O |
| Freyja | Pig | WHITE | THE WHITE DRAGON | 14 | N |
| Paikea Apirana | Whale | QUEST | DRAGONQUEST | 11 | T |
| Katy Perry | Lion | DOLPHIN | THE DOLPHINS OF PERN | 8 | H |
| Ganesha | Rat | FIRST | THE CHRONICLES OF PERN FIRST FALL | 12 | E |
| Channing "Chan" Walsh | Zebra | TIME | DRAGON'S TIME | 9 | I |
| Urashima Tarō | Turtle | DAWN | DRAGONSDAWN | 2 | R |
| Durga | Tiger | ? | ? | ? | |
| Alodi | Phoenix | LADY | MORETA DRAGONLADY OF PERN | 4 | E |
| Laozi | Ox | STORY | NERILKA'S STORY | 2 | E |
| W'Kabi | Rhino | FLIGHT | DRAGONFLIGHT | 12 | T |
Filling in the missing letter[s] yields the punny answer DRAGON THEIR FEET.
Once you know this puzzle's answer, you know that the Tiger-answer-book is a Pern book with the 10th letter F. Of the Pern novels, only The Skies of Pern matches. Of the words in that title, none of "The", "of", or "Pern" would clue a unique novel. Thus, the Tiger answer must be SKIES.