PUZZLE POTLUCK 3
Each of the banner phrases contains a word that has been anagrammed with an extra letter, and needs to be “smashed” in order to make a sensible clue.
| Original clue | Anagrammed Extra letter + word | Corrected clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
Aeon of the Mafia's "Five Families" | A + ONE | One of the Mafia's "Five Families" | GAMBINO |
It's lipread with a pear tree | L + PAIRED | It's paired with a pear tree | PARTRIDGE |
What the Prince of Awlets is to Cornwall | T + WALES | What the Prince of Wales is to Cornwall | DUKE |
2007 manticore film about Tristan | E + ROMANTIC | 2007 romantic film about Tristan | STARDUST |
A large mass of tenors; music genre | R + STONE | A large mass of stone; music genre | ROCK |
Pastele fast food item with a bun (hold the cheese!) | E + STAPLE | Staple fast food item with a bun (hold the cheese!) | HAMBURGER |
Like gelcaps that are shielded from sunlight | G + PLACES | Like places that are shielded from sunlight | SHADY |
Displaying a level of loafer, aggressive behavior | O + FERAL | Displaying a level of feral, aggressive behavior | FIERCE |
Reading the extra letters gives ALTEREGO, which hints that the answers to the clue phrases are all the last names of alter egos. As we are given the alter ego’s last name, we should care about the original person’s last name, which is also hinted by the flavortext referring to Hulk as Banner.
| Alter ego | Original person |
|---|---|
| Childish GAMBINO | Donald GLOVER |
| Alan PARTRIDGE | Steve COOGAN |
| Raoul DUKE | Hunter THOMPSON |
| Ziggy STARDUST | David JONES |
| The ROCK | Dwayne JOHNSON |
| Neil HAMBURGER | Gregg TURKINGTON |
| Slim SHADY | Marshall MATHERS |
| Sasha FIERCE | Beyonce KNOWLES |
The last names are the same number of letters as their corresponding clue phrase. Imagine each person hiding behind the banner and Hulk smashing through a word in each banner, leaving a hole. With this in mind, we line up the letters of each person's last name (e.g. Glover) with the words on the banner, and see which letter got punched out!
Taking the index of the word that was smashed as an index into the last name gives the answer: GO POSTAL.
Author's Notes
- This one could have used another revision. This was originally written as a "list of clues" puzzle, and the extraction mechanism was admittedly very tropey. The banners were added to provide a more thematic meaning to extraction - I envisioned each original person's last name lined up behind the banner and Hulk smashing a hole through one of the words, leaving one letter in each name exposed. This picture perfectly represents what I envisioned (courtesy of Purple Parliament of Puzzling!):Unfortunately the connection was still tough to make and the hints a little too obscure for some.
- The clues were written to be a bit ambiguous, as the intent was to use the fact that the answers were last names of alter egos and that the last names were the same number of letters as words in the clue to disambiguate. I think that the extraction mechanism was tough enough that having ambiguity in the clue answers only made it tougher to get.
- Some more obscure alter egos I learned about while creating this puzzle:
- Mona Lisa (Britney Spears)
- Joaquin Phoenix, the rapper (Joaquin Phoenix, the actor)
- Katy Beth Terry (Katy Perry)
- Jo Calderone (Lady Gaga)
- Johnny Kilroy (Michael Jordan)
- Nicki Minaj has many alter egos (19+!)
- Best Wrong Answers:
Wrong Answer Submitted by: IMALWAYSANGRY 16 teams YOUREMAKINGMEANGRY Soup Dumplings DROPITLIKETHENASDAQ Traitor Boys HULKSUREHASALOTOFNICEFRIENDSWITHSOMELOVELYALTEREGOS Needlessly 🐿️ Eating 🍽️ Squirrels
Stats
- 316 solves
- 3251 incorrect guesses
- Most common incorrect guess: ALTEREGO (guessed 318 times)
- First solve: Aviation Laws in 1 hour, 37 minutes, and 0 seconds