Summer Puzzle Hunt Wrap-up

What you get if you Google 'run bike fun wine'

Last Sunday, under sunny skies, 8 teams competed in my Summer Puzzle Hunt at the University of Washington.  Much running and biking around ensued, fun was had by all, and prizes were awarded.  You can view the clues and see how many you can figure out.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

Spoilers

The original Washington Elm scion, in front of Lewis Hall

Okay, I'm done waiting, time to give you the answers.

1, 2:   I think that I shall two times see/General Washington’s progeny.  (2 locations)

This is a takeoff on the Joyce Kilmer poem, Trees ("I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree.").  There's a particularly famous tree known as the Washington Elm, under which Washington took command of the American Army (except this probably didn't actually happen).  This tree is long gone, but scions of the elm were planted all over the country, including 2 in Seattle.  One is on the UW campus, between Clark Hall and the Communications Building, the other is in Evergreen Washelli cemetery up on Aurora.  More info is on Evergreen Washelli's page.

3: Find the coordinates of the final location of this geocache:
http://coord.info/GC1XKCM .

See Geocaching Puzzle of the Week, at the bottom of this post.

4:  In the thick fog, the Brontes lost their way/Their cargo (and their pen names) came through to save the day

This is based on an interesting story that appears in Paul Dorpat's Seattle Now and Then (and which I can't find anywhere online).  The Territorial University ordered a bell for its (at the time) only building, which was shipped to it aboard the bark Brontes.  It was foggy as the Brontes was approaching Seattle, and the ship got caught on the shallow mudflats (where SoDo is now) as the tide was going out.  The captain got the bright idea to summon help by ringing his cargo, the large bell.  People came running to see what the commotion was, and the ship was successfully pushed back out to sea before the tide went out.  This bell became the Denny Bell, now located at the top of Denny Hall.

What makes this story doubly interesting to me (and makes the riddle solvable), is that 'Bell' was the pen name adopted by all three Bronte sisters, to disguise the fact that they were female authors (frowned on at the time).  Charlotte Bronte was Currer Bell, Anne Bronte was Acton Bell, and Emily Bronte was Ellis Bell.  The winning team actually found the checkpoint using this information; the others who found it used the hint I provided at checkpoint 12.

I'm on a boat!  But not really (it was just a pier built to look like a boat)

5:  Holy Rip Van Winkle!  You had a big audition with E&E Productions scheduled for July 8, 1972, at the Showboat Theater.  But apparently your Mickey Mouse alarm clock didn’t go off, and you slept for 40 years!  Still, this could be your big break!  Better go see if they’re still there!  Knock ‘em dead!

The only difficulty here is figuring out where the Showboat Theater used to be located.  A cursory Google search says it was down by the water near the University Medical Center, which would be enough to solve it, as this was a manned checkpoint.  There's a picnic table east of the Ocean Sciences Building that has a sign commemorating the Showboat, and my wife, Elizabeth and our son Emmett were waiting there; participants who found them had to sing a song as an 'audition' to complete the checkpoint.

Don't mess with the monkey

6:  Visit Populus tremuloides, being careful to sneak past the monkey guards.

Populus tremuloides is the Latin name for quaking aspen.  The monkey guards are the statues outside the Medicinal Herb Garden, south of the Chemistry building.

7-8:  Repetitive building name, in more ways than one.  (2 locations)

There are a number of buildings with the same name:  two Gates Halls, two Allen Halls, not to mention a number of 'annexes'.  But even more repetitive than these are the two Hall Halls, better known as Hall Health (near the HUB) and Bejamin Hall Hall (on the Burke-Gilman west of the University Bridge).

9:

A straightforward orienteering checkpoint to the Ernest Conrad Dedicatory Manhole.  No, really.

This guy ain't gonna sell a lot of T-shirts

10:  Visit the home of the Sun Dodgers, circa 1919, and play a sport the current Sun Dodgers might be more comfortable with.

For a long time, the University of Washington football team was just known as 'the University of Washington football team', but then colleges started jumping on the 'mascot' bandwagon, and the UW had to join in.  By student vote, and to the regents' chagrin, UW's first official mascot name was the Sun Dodgers.  Anticipating future Nike revenue, this only lasted a few years before they changed it to the Huskies.  Nowadays, the Sundodgers is the name of the men's ultimate frisbee club team.

Back in these simpler times, the football team also played in a simpler stadium.  That is to say, not a stadium at all, but a cleared field on the northeast corner of campus known as Denny Field.  Denny Field is still there, although much of the real estate has been converted to tennis and handball courts, as well as dormitories.  This was a manned checkpoint, featuring a challenge I stole from a BEAST race.  You had to complete a hole of frisbee golf, with the twist that after each throw, you had to run back to the tee and then to the disk.  Could have been worse; during the BEAST race, you had to run to the disk, then back to tee, then back to the disk.

This one's definitely a copy

11:  Omar wanted to know if MOMA’s was a copy.

Omar is my son.  MOMA is the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  MOMA and the UW have one piece of art in common:  they both have a Broken Obelisk (MOMA's is in their sculpture garden, UW's is in Red Square, of course).

12: ESE ROAM RO RYEGROG EARN EGG’IASM KEDS FRO A THIN.  EB EQUIT DAN EPILOT.

It pays to study the old Canlis clues, as this is just a variant on a Canlis menu hide at Warren Magnuson's desk (Maggie's desk, an anagram of EGG'SIAM KEDS), which is normally located in an alcove in the Suzzallo Library Graduate Reading Room.  The desk is currently being renovated, but I camped outside the alcove anyway, at least until my laptop batteries ran low and I had to move to an outlet just outside the Reading Room.

I had two copies of Seattle Now and Then with me, and instructed people who found me (who were quiet and polite) that they could get a hint for either question 4 or 11.  If they chose 11, I gave them 'Barnett Newman', the name of the sculptor of Broken Obelisk.  If they chose 4, I gave them one of the books, and told them to look in the 30s (the story referenced above, Denny's Bell, is number 37 in the book).

Bonus Checkpoint

Doomed Prunus

Every time a team visited a checkpoint and verified it with the web application, they got a clue:  a word or two that together spelled out a bonus riddle for checkpoint 13.  In full, the riddle read:

Arrived in 1939, saved in 1964, replaced by 1959.  But where are/were the others?

I also tweeted 2 extra clues during the event.  The first clue:  'Prunus', which is the genus of trees such as apples, plums and cherries.  The second:  'Socratic confusion re: Psalm 145 (8)'.  This is a cryptic crossword clue with the answer 'acrostic' ('Socratic confusion' indicates an anagram of 'Socratic'. Psalm 145 is an acrostic.  You should read about cryptic crossword clues if you're serious about puzzle-solving).

If you took the first letter of the first word (the 'A' word) for all the checkpoints, it spells the acrostic 'Canal Reserve', the location of the bonus checkpoint.  The riddle refers to the Yoshino cherry trees in the quad, which were acquired for the Arboretum but actually planted in the Canal Reserve (where the original, small Montlake cut used to be) in 1939.  Most were moved in 1964 to avoid being bulldozed for highway 520, and the class of 1959 recently raised money to have replacement trees planted, as the original trees are getting near the end of their lives.  The riddle refers to the fact that a few of the trees (2-6) were left in their original place, as they were not in the path of the freeway.  You used to be able to see them in the section of the Canal Reserve west of MOHAI.  Omar and I visited the area the day before the Puzzle Hunt, and talked to the brother of a local landowner who was watering some plants.  He knew all about the cherry trees, as well as other original plantings, as he is a landscape architect, and he confirmed my observation that the Yoshinos all appear to be gone.  They would have disappeared soon, anyway, as this land is slated to be wiped out when the 520 bridge is replaced and the freeway re-aligned.

Next time

Lessons Learned

Although people had a good time, there were a couple of things that could definitely have been improved.  First of all, the questions were, on the whole, too hard.  A number of people didn't get any of them, which had to be disappointing.  I should have created a few 'gimme' questions, and made a few more a little easier.  Interestingly, I did think checkpoint #9 was a gimme, but even some of the people who were orienteers could not find it, likely because manholes are pretty inobtrusive.

Second, I had checkpoint volunteers sit around for 3 hours with not very many visitors.  I should have made the manned checkpoints (at least the Showboat and Sun Dodgers checkpoints) pretty easy, so that more people would go to them, more quickly.  That way, the volunteers should have been able to knock off early, and more people would have been able to take part in the fun/silly stunts at the checkpoints.

Combining these ideas, I should have made the manned checkpoint clues very easy, which would have been better for the volunteers and allowed more people to have more fun.

Also, registration was too slow.  I should have just had people sign in on a piece of paper with all their information, which would have been much quicker.  There were also a number of technical glitches with people being unable to log into the web application, which I think were caused by smartphones aggressively caching login credentials (most of these were cases where people tried to log in with a special id different from their usual Google id).  These could be averted by creating a toy application before the event solely to test login ids.

Gold doubloons and pieces of eight

Coming up  

(italics = new since last week)

• Renton River Days Duck Hunt III - now through July 24.  Follow the clues (posted on Facebook) to find rubber ducks hidden in Renton.  Bring your findings to Renton River Days (July 25-27).  The more you've found, the more chances you have to win a prize.
• Road to the NACCC - July 14.  Alleycat (to fundraise for next year's North American Cycle Courier Championships), followed by a concert.
• Evening Orienteering - Wednesday, July 18, Big Finn Hill Park, Kirkland.  With a big barbecue afterwards.
• Seafair Treasure Hunt - Thursday, July 19.  Thursdays through August  2, visit a Seafair info booth to find a 'treasure' and win a prize.  Locations vary.
• Pirate Treasure Hunt - Friday, July 20, 6pm.  Meadowbrook Community Center.  Family event, I imagine.
• Amazing Kitchen Race - July 21, 11am.  Scavenger Hunt + cooking competition.  Paging Menu Hunters Anonymous.
• Seattle Urban Beer Hunt - July 22, noon.  Photo scavenger hunt + beer + some other stuff.  Valuable prizes plus, hey, free beer.  21 and over only (duh).  Groupon discounts are out there, at least for one more day.
• Urban Bike Adventure - July 22.  Looks like a bike version of the Amazing Race.  Solve puzzles, bike to checkpoints, cash and other prizes.  I'd totally enter this except I have a prior commitment.
• Tour de Watertower - July 22.  A punishing race to all of Seattle's high hills ('cause that's where the watertowers are, baby).  Since the towers and the starting/ending points are widely known, this race favors speed and endurance over route planning.
• Choose Your Own Campus Adventure - July 22, UW.   Orienteering on campus, with a get-together at the Big Time Brewery afterwards (in the early afternoon, which means the Big Time is all-ages).
• Seafair Treasure Hunt - Thursday, July 26.  See Thursday, July 19.
• Seattle Night and Day Challenge, July 28-29, show up around 2:30 at Road Runner Sports in Green Lake.  See the interview above.  Basically a gigantic Street Scramble that covers most of Seattle and starts at 4pm, with options for 90 minutes, 3 hours, 7 hours, and 16 hours.  16 hours gets you a real 'night and day' experience.  I prefer the 7 hour option, which still gets you some night, but with less of the hangover after you pull an all-nighter.  If you clear the course (I almost did it once; forgot the Locks closed at 9pm, dammit), you'll go around 70-80 miles.  This will be my 9th Night and Day.
• Seafair Treasure Hunt - Thursday, August 2.  See Thursday, July 19.
• First Thursday Adventure Run - August 2, Road Runner Sports Green Lake.  As always, free, with thousands of dollars in prizes raffled off at the end.  Bonus:  July's run had a Slip and Slide and a bouncy house.
• Gumshoe 5K - August 3-12.  A charity event where you walk around Greenwood and solve a puzzle using clues you find along the way.
• Down the Rabbit Hole Alleycat and Sprint - August 4, Cool Guy Park.  Put on by the organizers of the UW alleycat earlier this year.  Should be fun.
• Choose your own Paddle Adventure - August 5, UW Waterfront Activities Center.  Canoe orientering.  Rent a canoe, or bring your own (kayaks are okay as well).  Don't forget the sunscreen, and watch out for thick lilypad patches and swans (those guys are nasty).  Note that this ends at 12:30, so the registration is open early (9-11am).
• BEAST race #4 - August 7, Issaquah.  Did I ever tell you about the time I was on a BEAST race in Maple Valley and the course got me so confused I ended up going to the other end of the Cedar River Trail before I realized I was heading east instead of west?  Bring a compass.
• Evening Orienteering - Wednesday, August 8, Luther Burbank Park, Mercer Island.  If it's sunny, bring your bathing suit and have a swim afterwards.
• Pirate P"arr"ty - August 8, Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center.  For the kids, includes a treasure hunt.
• Great Urban Race - August 11, starting at Jillian's.  Amazing-race style event.

Still going on

• Book Scavenger hunt - Seattle Public Library's Teen Summer Reading Program.  .
• Ready Player One Easter Egg Hunt - I cleared the second gate, so now I wait until August 1st for the chance to win a DeLorean.

Also

There seems to be a mini-trend of PR firms using treasure and scavenger hunts to promote movies, TV shows, and other items.  For example:  USA Network Launches Virtual Treasure Hunt

Geocache puzzle of the week:  Guardrail Multicache.  Really more of a puzzle than a multicache, and the final cache find has eluded me for weeks.  Still, solving the initial puzzle is a good way to spend a few minutes.  Stop by the guardrail at the end of 36th Ave NE near the Burke-Gilman, and look for something that doesn't belong.