Puzzle Potluck

Solution - The Square Table

ANSWER – AKBARKHAN

by Rajeev Nayak

The 9x9 grid of transformed words contains 9 different categories of words, with 9 words in each category. Each category has its own transformation rule that has been applied to every word in that category. After finding all of the categories, the big insight of this puzzle is that the words in each category have a clearly associated word. A few of the categories strongly suggest that they have an associated word (collective nouns, sidekicks, world capitals).

Category	Associated Word	Transformation
Birthstones	Month	Append T, append first letter Caesar shifted by 2 and 1 change first letter to D
Collective nouns	Animal	Change K's to T's, prepend first letter Caesar shifted by -1, prepend E, remove last letter
Main characters	Movie	Drop first letter, double third-to-last letter, double last 3 letters, reverse
Pokemon	Next evolution	Change K's to R's, double first letter, add 2 N's after first letter
Roman gods	Greek god	Change R's to M's
Sidekicks	Hero	Drop first letter, change A's and O's to E's
Songs	Artist	Change T's to V's, move 3rd letter to penultimate position, append an H
Stars	Constellation	Change second vowel to E, drop first vowel, swap last two letters
World capitals	Country	Change first letter to OD, change S's to ESS's

After discovering these properties, the next step is to fill in the question marks in the grid using the Guess box at the top. Since the grid contains the transformed original words, the "answer" to each one is the transformed associated word. The full grid is listed below with the transformed word → untransformed word → untransformed associated word → transformed associated word:

DUBYTTS RUBY JULY DULYTLK	BBOBBOOCKCINIMO DOMINICKCOBB INCEPTION NOINOIITPECN	ZBENESCHAMAIL ZUBENESCHAMALI LIBRA LBER	MEMCUMY MERCURY HERMES HEMMES	EOPARLIAMEN PARLIAMENT OWL ENOW	SNNSLOWPORE SLOWPOKE SLOWBRO SNNSLOWBRO	INHEENVDH INTHEEND LINKINPARK LIKINPARNKH	ENWEESLEY RONWEASLEY HARRYPOTTER ERRYPETTER	ODNTANANARIVO ANTANANARIVO MADAGASCAR ODADAGAESSCAR
EZOEZOOSRESYE KEYSERSOZE THEUSUALSUSPECTS STCSTCCEPSUSLAUSUEH	ODESSLAMABAD ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN ODAKIESSTAN	EBCONVOCATIO CONVOCATION EAGLE EDEAGL	KAMAPOLICREH KARMAPOLICE RADIOHEAD RAIOHEADDH	SRESU SIRIUS CANISMAJOR CNESMAJRO	EGGYNELSEN FOGGYNELSON DAREDEVIL EREDEVIL	DMETHYSTTCB AMETHYST FEBRUARY DEBRUARYTHG	VICTOMIA VICTORIA NIKE NIKE	RNNROFFING KOFFING WEEZING WNNWEEZING
VHSCIENVISEVH THESCIENTIST COLDPLAY CODPLALYH	EQRAFTE RAFTER TURKEY ESTURTE	UCKYBERNES BUCKYBARNES CAPTAINAMERICA EPTEINEMERICE	DQUAMARINETCB AQUAMARINE MARCH DARCHTON	PNNPIRACHU PIKACHU RAICHU RNNRAICHU	ODRUESSESSELESS BRUSSELS BELGIUM ODELGIUM	SUMSUMMIXA MAXIMUS GLADIATOR ROTROTTAIDAL	LPHERAZT ALPHERATZ ANDROMEDA NDREMEAD	MINEMVA MINERVA ATHENA ATHENA
MNNMANREY MANKEY PRIMEAPE PNNPRIMEAPE	APLOGIZOEH APOLOGIZE ONEREPUBLIC ONREPUBLIECH	EDUEDUUDEH THEDUDE THEBIGLEBOWSKI IKSIKSSWOBELGIBEH	ODMESSTERDAM AMSTERDAM NETHERLANDS ODETHERLANDESS	CEMES CERES DEMETER DEMETEM	RGELSU REGULUS LEO EL	ESTALEIDOSCOP KALEIDOSCOPE BUTTERFLY EABUTTERFL	DAPPHIRETUT SAPPHIRE SEPTEMBER DEPTEMBERTUT	IMMYELSEN JIMMYOLSEN SUPERMAN UPERMEN
ODAGREB ZAGREB CROATIA ODROATIA	EHNWETSEN JOHNWATSON SHERLOCKHOLMES HERLECKHELMES	DIAMONDTFE DIAMOND APRIL DPRILTCB	PLERSI POLARIS URSAMINOR RSEMINRO	IWNVIVVHAVWAAYH IWANTITTHATWAY BACKSTREETBOYS BAKSVREEVBOYCSH	SATUMN SATURN CRONUS CMONUS	RNNRARUNA KAKUNA BEEDRILL BNNBEEDRILL	ENOSTENTATIO OSTENTATION PEACOCK EOPEACOC	NEDNEDDRUDRELY TYLERDURDEN FIGHTCLUB BULBULLCTHGI
LPHECENTAUIR ALPHACENTAURI CENTAURUS CNTEURSU	DOPAZTVU TOPAZ NOVEMBER DOVEMBERTPO	ODERUESSALEM JERUSALEM ISRAEL ODESSRAEL	EBIN ROBIN BATMAN ETMEN	ASLASLL ELSA FROZEN NEZNEZZOR	EEFLAMBOYANC FLAMBOYANCE FLAMINGO EEFLAMING	AUMOMA AURORA EOS EOS	RNNRRABBY KRABBY KINGLER RNNRINGLER	WODERWALNLH WONDERWALL OASIS OAISSH
TEMMA TERRA GAIA GAIA	PLLXE POLLUX GEMINI GMEIN	RNNRADABRA KADABRA ALAKAZAM ANNALARAZAM	DLEDLEEIFNNIWSELU JULESWINNFIELD PULPFICTION NOINOIITCIFPLU	EMWISEGEMGEE SAMWISEGAMGEE FRODOBAGGINS REDEBEGGINS	DPALTQP OPAL OCTOBER DCTOBERTQP	ODUAGADOUGOU OUAGADOUGOU BURKINAFASO ODURKINAFAESSO	HEJUDYEH HEYJUDE THEBEATLES VHBEAVLEESH	ECDESCEN DESCENT WOODPECKER EVWOODPECTE
ETUNTINDNES UNKINDNESS RAVEN EQRAVE	JUPITEM JUPITER ZEUS ZEUS	SVESSEDOURVH STRESSEDOUT TWENTYONEPILOTS VWNVYONEPILOVESH	MNNMAGIRARP MAGIKARP GYARADOS GNNGYARADOS	DERIDOTTRQ PERIDOT AUGUST DUGUSTTCB	SETSETTABNAMRO NORMANBATES PSYCHO OHCOHCCYS	IDDYKENG DIDDYKONG DONKEYKONG ENKEYKENG	ODUENOESSAIREESS BUENOSAIRES ARGENTINA ODRGENTINA	NTERSE ANTARES SCORPIUS SCRPESU
HEWBECCE CHEWBACCA HANSOLO ENSELE	PNNPSYDUCR PSYDUCK GOLDUCK GNNGOLDUCR	PMOSEMPINA PROSERPINA PERSEPHONE PEMSEPHONE	ERSHREWDNES SHREWDNESS APE EZAP	ODOESSCOW MOSCOW RUSSIA ODUESSESSIA	ENERSANDMAVNH ENTERSANDMAN METALLICA MEALLICVAH	LDEBARNA ALDEBARAN TAURUS TERSU	ANAANAATNOMYNO TONYMONTANA SCARFACE ECAECAAFRAC	DARNETTIH GARNET JANUARY DANUARYTLK

The next step is to look at the words underneath the grid. There is exactly one word from each of the 9 categories. Changing each word to its transformed associated word yields a US city. Reading the first letters of the US cities spells AREACODES. The area code for each of the cities can be used to index back into the 9x9 grid above and pull out a letter, using the first digit as the row, the second digit as the column, and the third digit as an index into the transformed associated word at that position.

ENNERANS	EKANS	ARBOK	ANNARBOR	734	ANN[A]LARAZAM
RGLE	RIGEL	ORION	RENO	775	ODUR[K]INAFAESSO
EABARRE	BARREL	MONKEY	ELMONTE	626	DOVEM[B]ERTPO
MAMS	MARS	ARES	AMES	515	ODRO[A]TIA
NOSNOSSWADKCA	JACKDAWSON	TITANIC	CINCINNATI	513	OD[R]OATIA
ODAESSHINGTONDC	WASHINGTONDC	USA	ODESSA	432	I[K]SIKSSWOBELGIBEH
DMERALDTGF	EMERALD	MAY	DAYTON	937	PEMSEP[H]ONE
UIGI	LUIGI	MARIO	ERIE	814	EQR[A]VE
SMOVOHH	SMOOTH	SANTANA	SAVANNAH	912	E[N]SELE

Reading the letters extracted from the grid using the area codes gives the answer, AKBARKHAN.

Author's Notes

The original idea for this puzzle was to write a puzzle based on Sporcle, but when I started constructing it, it morphed into this totally different thing. The Guess box is the last remnant of the Sporcle idea.
There's a lot going on in this puzzle, but the hardest part of the construction by far was finding well-known US cities that only had a single area code (and whose first letters spelled AREACODES).
I initially had a list of a bunch of potential categories that included all of the final 9 except for movie characters. As I was combing through city names and area codes, I noticed that Cincinnati started with a repeated trigram, which seemed like a nice transformation mechanic. Then I removed the repeated trigram and noticed that reading it backwards almost spelled Titanic! After that I knew I had to add in a category with Titanic as an answer.
On the other hand, Roman gods and Greek gods was the very first category I came up with, so Ames/Ares was a really lucky coincidence that allowed the puzzle to have at least one category with a very simple transformation.
This puzzle was fully written before it was given a title. Since the puzzle itself is not at all thematic to our hunt, we came up with the title "The Square Table" just to connect it somehow. The story text for this puzzle was written later and inspired by the title.

Stats

120 solves
640 incorrect guesses
Most common incorrect guess: AREACODES (guessed 120 times)
First solve: Aviation Laws in 2 hours, 45 minutes, and 55 seconds