Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Impending Heist

A weekly meta crossword created by members of the forum. Difficulty levels will vary. Hints are usually available starting Wednesday, and solutions are posted on Sunday.
michaelm
Posts: 487
Joined: Fri Jan 24, 2020 3:21 pm

#81

Post by michaelm »

madhatter5 wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 3:41 am Solution:

The phrase Barnie heard, Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD., bags few lynx, is a perfect pangram (i.e. an anagram of the entire alphabet). The evildoers' code involved ciphering letters of the alphabet, using that sentence as the key:

Code: Select all

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
M R J O C K T V Q U I Z P H D B A G S F E W L Y N X

Using this code, we can decipher the circled letters in the grid:

TWDBKOQ -> FLORIDA

Thus, the heist was going to take place at FLORIDA BANK.
Was a huge Encyclopedia Brown fan growing up in the 70s.
Definitely had a crush on Sally!

I got caught up trying to convert the circled letters' position in the phrase to position in the alphabet or grid numbers, so never got the AHA.
Those dirty rotten litterbug thieves were PhDs compared to me.
Looking forward to similar story-linked puzzles in the future.
Thanks for the timewarping and heartwarming puzzle.
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KayW
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Posts: 3131
Joined: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:10 am
Location: Chicago

#82

Post by KayW »

I think familiarity with Encyclopedia Brown may have helped others solve this one more quickly. I'd heard of EB but never read any of the series. I eventually solved the meta, but had a moment of exceptional stoopidity in failing to recognize the phrase as a pangram. When another muggle who'd already solved asked how I was doing, I replied that I hadn't found the mechanism yet, but I astutely observed: "All the circled letters in the grid are in that odd phrase." The reply: "Yes. Yes they are." :roll: :lol:
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
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FrankieHeck
Posts: 839
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:57 pm
Location: West Virginia

#83

Post by FrankieHeck »

Al Sisti wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 2:06 am I started writing a kids' mystery for my grandkids when the pandemic started last year... I even tried to use a Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew-like font. Anyway, I'd mail them a chapter that usually had some kind of puzzle/code to solve, and they'd call me ("Mr. E.") and give me the answer/password which was my cue to send them the next chapter. Chapter 1 is here.
Your grandkids are so lucky to have you! How many chapters have you written? My boys would have loved something like that back in the day.
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Al Sisti
Posts: 2037
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 pm
Location: Whitesboro NY

#84

Post by Al Sisti »

FrankieHeck wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 6:05 pm
Al Sisti wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 2:06 am I started writing a kids' mystery for my grandkids when the pandemic started last year... I even tried to use a Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew-like font. Anyway, I'd mail them a chapter that usually had some kind of puzzle/code to solve, and they'd call me ("Mr. E.") and give me the answer/password which was my cue to send them the next chapter. Chapter 1 is here.
Your grandkids are so lucky to have you! How many chapters have you written? My boys would have loved something like that back in the day.
Eight so far. But I don't know if they've lost interest or (more likely) my daughter isn't pushing it as much as I hoped she would. My plan was to, yes, have them find a treasure (with a metal detector in my woods -- I'm building a treasure chest and ordered imitation pirate coins), but the lesson I wanted them to learn was that family is the greatest treasure of all. And thanks for the compliment; it means a lot... I never had grandparents growing up, so I never experienced that relationship until now.
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