Make YourOwn Metapuzzle
Solution
We are presented with a chat interface to talk with 10 (fictional) puzzle authors who give constraints for their puzzle answers after you help them out with some scavenger hunt tasks. In fitting these constraints, we realize that each of these puzzles can only have one possible answer (which is thematic to the title of the puzzle.)
| Title | Constraint 1 | Constraint 2 | Constraint 3 | Answer |
| Making A Choice | First 3 words of a b-side of a 1980 Ronnie Milsap Song | Has a 1-letter word | Contains a body part | HEADS I GO |
| Pre Cent Century | Nutrimatic Query AAAf AAAwA AAAsAA, Last word represents money involved in a crime | Middle word is a kind of headgear. | First word is a fraction. | HALF CROWN RANSOM |
| Organized Labor | Answer starts with a month, ends with a violent mass demonstration. | First two words rhyme. | Enumeration of 3 3 5. | MAY DAY RIOTS |
| What Are the Odds | Answer references a 60s game show with a modern revival. | Answer ends with a form of transportation, contains a room found in Clue | Contains the possessive form of someone’s name. | MONTY HALL'S CAR |
| Thinking Really Hard | Answer is an MTG card first printed in 2019, begins with a different MTG card. | Card is blue, the shorter card it begins with is 6 letters. | Card is a creature with mana value 5. | PONDERING MAGE |
| Spitting Bars | Answer is the title character of a 2009 video game. | A word in the answer is a word used in the title of one of the other puzzles here. | Answer contains a number, and is 9 letters long. | FIFTY CENT |
| The Puzzle | Answer is the title of a concert film. | Answer is three words, increasing in length, contains a synonym for “Final.” | Bob Dylan appears in the film. | THE LAST WALTZ |
| Delectable Crayons | First word is a synonym for chaos, sounds like the name of a Warhammer 40k faction (but isn’t one) | First word is 5 letters with a v in the third position, second word is a branch of the military. | First word begins with H, second word begins with M | HAVOC MARINES |
| Robert’s Rules | References a politically controversial action in parliamentary procedure. | Answer TETCBNs (contains a word used in the puzzle/title) | Answer is plural, 2 words, and the first word is 10 letters. | FILIBUSTER RULES |
| Escape from Samsara | Answer is alliterative, beginning with R, the second word contains a verb that teams do during puzzle hunts. | First word is a direction. | First word ends with T, second word begins with RE, answer is plural with enumeration 5 8. | RIGHT RESOLVES |
We must then “construct” a 10-answer metapuzzle. In constructing, we may realize these 10 answers already form a pure meta, where each answer clues a fraction. The denominator of each fraction is the length of a word in the answer, so the numerator provides an index into that word. Taking those letters in the round order produces the answer to the puzzle, GARAGE SALE.
| Answer | Fraction | Explanation | Index |
| HEADS I GO | 1/2 | The probability of getting heads when flipping a coin is 1/2. | G |
| HALF CROWN RANSOM | 2/6 | A half-crown is commonly denoted as two-and-sixpence, or 2/6. | A |
| MAY DAY RIOTS | 1/5 | May Day is May 1st, or 1/5. | R |
| MONTY HALL'S CAR | 2/3 | In the Monty Hall Problem, a player playing with the best strategy has a 2/3 chance of getting a car. | A |
| PONDERING MAGE | 3/4 | In Magic: The Gathering, Pondering Mage is a 3/4 creature. | G |
| FIFTY CENT | 2/4 | Fifty cents is two quarters. | E |
| THE LAST WALTZ | 3/4 | Waltzes are written in 3/4 time. | S |
| HAVOC MARINES | 2/7 | Havoc is the nickname for the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, abbreviated 2/7. | A |
| FILIBUSTER RULES | 3/5 | In the US Senate, a 3/5s majority is required for cloture to override a filibuster. | L |
| RIGHT RESOLVES | 2/8 | Right resolve is the 2nd of the steps of the eightfold path in Buddhism. | E |